The potential of flexible micro pillars for measuring near wall flow phenom- ena was theoretically and experimentally investigated. The bending of the micro pillars is a measure for the local wall shear stress (WSS) or a visualisa- tion of near wall flow phenomena. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was chosen as material for the sensor. Within the thesis the experimental work with the shear stress sensor mainly has the focus on the transition to turbulence. Closely connected are improvements of the measurement techniques. The transition is thereby investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Another huge part of the thesis was the improvement of the reliability of the manu- facturing process of the micro pillars. For this purpose new manufacturing methods for single pillars and pillar arrays have been tested. Further on, dif- ferent detection methods for capturing the bending of the pillar were tested, too. The measurements of the transitional flow were performed at flat plate boundary layer in an oil channel. Ondina 913 was used as test fluid. The physical properties of the PDMS changed dramatically while longer exposed to Ondina 913. Hence, it was unfeasible to receive reproducible quantita- tive results. Better results were achieved if the pillars are used as flexible micro tufts revealing the flow and WSS topology directly at the wall quali- tatively. With the pillar sensor it was possible to detect turbulent spots in the transitional state of the flat plate boundary layer. Furthermore, coherent structures and their typical sign in the viscous sublayer could be identified and the occurrence of critical points and back flow could be experimentally verified.

The potential of flexible micro pillars for measuring near wall flow phenom- ena was theoretically and experimentally investigated. The bending of the micro pillars is a measure for the local wall shear stress (WSS) or a visualisa- tion of near wall flow phenomena. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was chosen as material for the sensor. Within the thesis the experimental work with the shear stress sensor mainly has the focus on the transition to turbulence. Closely connected are improvements of the measurement techniques. The transition is thereby investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Another huge part of the thesis was the improvement of the reliability of the manu- facturing process of the micro pillars. For this purpose new manufacturing methods for single pillars and pillar arrays have been tested. Further on, dif- ferent detection methods for capturing the bending of the pillar were tested, too. The measurements of the transitional flow were performed at flat plate boundary layer in an oil channel. Ondina 913 was used as test fluid. The physical properties of the PDMS changed dramatically while longer exposed to Ondina 913. Hence, it was unfeasible to receive reproducible quantita- tive results. Better results were achieved if the pillars are used as flexible micro tufts revealing the flow and WSS topology directly at the wall quali- tatively. With the pillar sensor it was possible to detect turbulent spots in the transitional state of the flat plate boundary layer. Furthermore, coherent structures and their typical sign in the viscous sublayer could be identified and the occurrence of critical points and back flow could be experimentally verified.