Abstract: Skin friction is a major part of the total resistance an object encounters when moving in a fluid. Due to the difficulty in theoretical analysis and the diversity of flow fields, direct measurement of skin friction is needed in various applications. This paper introduces a design of elastic body for strain-type skin friction sensors. A mechanical analysis of the sensor was carried out. The analysis showed that the radius of the sensor’s hole, the spacing between the parallel beams, and the thickness of the connecting beam are the main parameters affect ing the performance. Then representative combinations of the parameters were selected using the orthogonal experimental method. The strain distribution in the patch area was calculated by using FEM. New parameters were defined to coordinate conflicting optimization goals. The influence of each parameter was analyzed to determine an optimal combination.