Application of novel pressure-sensitive paint formulations for the surface flow mapping of high-speed jets

Abstract

The principle of pressure-sensitive paints (PSPs) is based upon excitation of the luminophore molecules at a certain wavelength and the emission of this absorbed energy at a higher wavelength. By isolating these two wavelengths we insure that the results obtained are not affected by any background radiation. Various international research groups, such as: the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (Russia), the University of Washington, NASA Ames, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (USA), have developed their PSP formulations and some are commercially available. Two paints, which have been developed in-house at the Aero-Physics Laboratory (APL) at the University of Manchester, are studied here. One formulation uses hydrochloric acid (PSP1–HCl) and the other acetone as the solvent (PSP2–Ace). The current study employs the well known schlieren photography technique together with the relatively new PSP method, with comparison to discrete measurements, to examine the flow through a two-dimensional air-ejector system and examines the efficacy of the PSP formulations in providing an accurate global pressure field of the aforementioned setup. Detailed analysis of the errors and drawbacks involved in PSP measurements along with possible solutions to overcome them are also presented. Fully expanded jet Mach numbers in the range of 0.52 ⩽ M j ⩽ 1.36 were examined.