High frame-rate imaging of surface pressure distribution using a porous pressure-sensitive paint

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the feasibility of a porous pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) for time-resolved surface pressure measurements in unsteady high-speed flows. The porous PSP was composed of bathophenanthroline ruthenium(II) complex, Ru(Ph2-phen) and a silica-gel thin-layer chromatography aluminium plate. The dynamic response of the porous PSP was characterized by a point-wise luminescence intensity measurement conducted in a shock tube facility. The result showed that the time constant of the porous PSP was 13.6 µs. The porous PSP was then applied to the surface pressure distribution imaging of an unsteady flow induced in a two-dimensional Laval nozzle by using a fast-framing complementary metal oxide semiconductor camera. It was clearly shown that the porous PSP well captured the shock-wave motion of the order of kilohertz during the starting process of the supersonic nozzle in a qualitative manner.