In-flight investigations of the unsteady behaviour of the boundary layer with infrared thermography

Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) has been well established in wind tunnel and flight tests for the last decade. Former applications of IRT were focused, in nearly all cases, on steady measurements. In the last years, requirements of unsteady IRT measurements (up to 10 Hz) have been formulated, but the problem of a very slow thermal response of common materials of wind tunnel models or airplane components has to be overcome by finding a surface modification with a fast thermal response (low heat capacity, low thermal conductivity and high thermal diffusivity). Therefore, lab investigations of potential material combinations and flight tests with a ‘low cost’ aircraft, i.e. a glider with a modified wing surface, were conducted. In order to induce unsteady conditions (rapid change of laminar-turbulent boundary layer transition), special maneuvers of a glider during IRT measurements were performed.