Pressure-sensitive paint in aerodynamic testing

Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) is a relatively new aerodynamic measurement tool with the unique capability of providing a field measurement of pressure over a test surface. An introductory review of this technology is presented, which is confined to the application of the PSP method to aircraft development wind tunnel testing. This is at present the primary application area and thus the focus of research on the use of the method, and is the authors' own area of research. Described are PSP fundamentals, the various elements comprising PSP technology, and current limitations and considerations in applying this technology. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the present capability of the method. The few publications currently available on this subject in the open literature are also referenced.     

Pressure-sensitive paint on a truncated cone in hypersonic flow at incidences

The flow over a truncated cone is a classical and fundamental problem for aerodynamic research due to its three-dimensional and complicated characteristics. The flow is made more complex when examining high angles of incidence. Recently these types of flows have drawn more attention for the purposes of drag reduction in supersonic/hypersonic flows. In the present study the flow over a truncated cone at various incidences was experimentally investigated in a Mach 5 flow with a unit Reynolds number of 13.5 × 10⁶ m⁻¹. The cone semi-apex angle is 15° and the truncation ratio (truncated length/cone length) is 0.5. The incidence of the model varied from −12° to 12° with 3° intervals relative to the freestream direction. The external flow around the truncated cone was visualised by colour Schlieren photography, while the surface flow pattern was revealed using the oil flow method. The surface pressure distribution was measured using the anodized aluminium pressure-sensitive paint (AA-PSP) technique. Both top and sideviews of the pressure distribution on the model surface were acquired at various incidences. AA-PSP showed high pressure sensitivity and captured the complicated flow structures which correlated well with the colour Schlieren and oil flow visualisation results.     

Decay of shock waves in a dusty-gas shock tube

A numerical study is performed for the unsteady nonequilibrium flow of a gas-particle mixture in a shock tube, where a semi-empirical formula for a single particle is assumed to calculate the drag and heat transfer rate of the particle cloud. To simulate actual flows of the mixture in which the size of the particles is distributed over a finite range, the motion of the particles is analyzed by dividing them into several groups according to their different diameters. It is shown that the particles of diameter larger than the average value cause a significant delay in the relaxation of the gas-particle flow. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical and the experimental results of the decrease in the shock propagation velocity, except for strong shock waves transmitted into dusty gas with a high loading ratio.     

Instability theory of shock wave in a shock tube

The instability theory of shock wave in a shock tube including the effects of tube wall and contact surface is studied. The experimental data of unstable shock wave coincide with one of instability criteria derived in the present paper.     

A shock tube research facility for high-resolution measurements of compressible turbulence

A new shock tube facility with a 30.5 cm (1 ft) inside diameter is currently in operation that allows for high-spatial-resolution measurements of compressible turbulence. Small scales of turbulence behave very differently from large scales when they interact with shock or expansion waves. Highly resolved measurements can provide new information on the interaction at small scales. Another notable characteristic of the present facility is the ability to control the flow velocity behind the reflected shock through the porosity of the reflecting wall. Tests showed good flow quality with sufficiently long observation times. Measurements of piecewise average skin friction over short segments of the tube indicated strong viscous effects very close to the diaphragm where the shock is developing. The skin friction and the shock propagation speed virtually remained constant inside the working section of the shock tube in all investigated flow cases, even in low Mach number cases where viscous effects are stronger. The experimental results are compared with numerical simulations, including the effects of the reflecting porous wall and viscous effects.     

Interaction of a shock with a sphere suspended in a vertical shock tube

Shock wave interaction with a sphere is one of the benchmark tests in shock dynamics. However, unlike wind tunnel experiments, unsteady drag force on a sphere installed in a shock tube have not been measured quantitatively. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of the unsteady drag force acting on a 80 mm diameter sphere which was vertically suspended in a 300 mm x 300 mm vertical shock tube and loaded with a planar shock wave of M _s = 1.22 in air. The drag force history on the sphere was measured by an accelerometer installed in it. Accelerometer output signals were subjected to deconvolution data processing, producing a drag history comparable to that obtained by solving numerically the Navier-Stokes equations. A good agreement was obtained between the measured and computed drag force histories. In order to interpret the interaction of shock wave over the sphere, high speed video recordings and double exposure holographic interferometric observations were also conducted. It was found that the maximum drag force appeared not at the time instant when the shock arrived at the equator of the sphere, but at some earlier time before the transition of the reflected shock wave from regular to Mach reflection took place. A negative value of the drag force was observed, even though for a very short duration of time, when the Mach stem of the transmitted shock wave relfected and focused at the rear stagnation point of the sphere.Received: 31 March 2003, Accepted: 7 July 2003, Published online: 2 September 2003     

Drag measurements in a hypervelocity expansion tube

A technique is described for the measurement of aerodynamic drag in a hypervelocity expansion tube in which the test flow period may be as short as 50 s. The technique is an application of the stress wave force balance first proposed by Sanderson and Simmons (1991). The experiments were conducted in a test flow of partially dissociated Carbon Dioxide where the flow speed was in excess of 7 kms. The validity of the technique is first demonstrated by comparing the forces measured on a range of sharp cones with those expected theoretically. Agreement to within 10% is achieved. Two re-entry type heat shield geometries were then tested with the experimental drag forces being compared with a Modified-Newtonian prediction. In both cases agreement to within 11% was obtained. Received 12 December 1995 / Accepted 29 April 1996     

The interaction between shock waves and foam in a shock tube

An experimental study and a numerical simulation were conducted to investigate the mechanical and thermodynamic processes involved in the interaction between shock waves and low density foam. The experiment was done in a stainless shock tube (80 mm in inner diameter, 10 mm in wall thickness and 5 360 mm in length). The velocities of the incident and reflected compression waves in the foam were measured by using piezo-ceramic pressure sensors. The end-wall peak pressure behind the reflected wave in the foam was measured by using a crystal piezoelectric sensor. It is suggested that the high end-wall pressure may be caused by a rapid contact between the foam and the end-wall surface. Both open-cell and closed-cell foams with different length and density were tested. Through comparing the numerical and experimental end-wall pressure, the permeability coefficients α and β are quantitatively determined.     

Nonideal effects behind reflected shock waves in a high-pressure shock tube

Abstract. Shock tubes often experience temperature and pressure nonuniformities behind the reflected shock wave that cannot be neglected in chemical kinetics experiments. Because of increased viscous effects, smaller tube diameters, and nonideal shock formation, the reflected-shock nonidealities tend to be greater in higher-pressure shock tubes. Since the increase in test temperature () is the most significant parameter for chemical kinetics, experiments were performed to characterize in the Stanford High Pressure Shock Tube using infrared emission from a known amount of CO in argon. From the measured change in vibrationally equilibrated CO emission with time, the corresponding ddt (or for a known time interval) of the mixture was inferred assuming an isentropic relationship between post-shock temperature and pressure changes. For a range of representative conditions in argon (24–530 atm, 1275–1900 K), the test temperature 2 cm from the endwall increased 3–8 K after 100 s and 15–40 K after 500 s, depending on the initial conditions. Separate pressure measurements using a shielded piezoelectric transducer confirmed the isentropic assumption. An analytical model of the reflected-shock gas dynamics was also developed, and the calculated 's agree well with those obtained from experiment. The analytical model was used to estimate the effects of temperature and pressure nonuniformities on typical chemical kinetics measurements. When the kinetics are fast (s), the temperature increase is typically negligible, although some correction is suggested for kinetics experiments lasting longer than 500 s. The temperature increase, however, has a negligible impact on the measured laser absorption profiles of OH (306 nm) and CH (216 nm), validating the use of a constant absorption coefficient. Infrared emission experiments are more sensitive to temperature and density changes, so nonuniformities should be taken into account when interpreting ir-emission data. Received 25 April 2000 / Accepted 8 September 2000     

Recent advances in shock tube/laser diagnostic methods for improved chemical kinetics measurements

Shock tubes combined with laser diagnostics provide state-of-the-art capabilities for studying the chemical kinetics of combustion processes. We report here several new concepts and methods designed to improve shock tube performance and modeling, extend shock tube operating regimes, provide access to low vapor pressure fuels, and quantitatively measure species time-histories using continuous wave laser absorption. These new methods are discussed in the context of studying ignition processes of hydrocarbon fuels at practical engine conditions; examples of the use of these methods to study the chemical kinetics of real fuels and to resolve current issues related to shock tube facility effects are given.      

Hot-wire method for measurements of turbulent mixing induced by Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in shock tube

A constant temperature hot-wire anemometry method is applied to the study of mixing zones induced by the interaction of a shock wave with Mach number 1.25 in air with air/helium (heavy/light), air/argon or air/krypton (light/heavy) initially plane interfaces. The single wire gauge is positioned at various locations along the shock tube axis. At the present stage of our investigation, although the analysis of the hot-wire signal is not achieved yet, we report the interesting concept of using hot-wire anemometry as a diagnostic method for shock tube studies of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. Based on this preliminary work, we discuss prospective experimental signal conversion, in order to provide some new results for this field of investigation, in particular for resolving characteristics of the turbulent mixing zone which is of most interest. Received 3 August 2000 / Accepted 15 February 2001     

Precursor vacuum-ultraviolet radiation ahead of strong shock waves in a shock tube

The profile and excitation mechanism of vacuum-ultraviolet radiation emitted from shock wave is investigated in a shock tube. For shock wave in argon, the rdiation is due to resonant transition excited by argon-argon collision in the shock front with excitation cross section coefficientS ^*=1.0×10⁻¹⁷ cm²·ev⁻¹ and activation energyE ^*=11.4 ev. For shock wave in air the radition is emitted from a very thin shock layer in which the mechanism ofX ¹∑→b ¹∑ of N₂ is excited with excitation cross sectionQ=2×10⁻¹⁶cm² and activation energyE ^*=12.1 ev. Institute of Mechanics, Academia Sinica     

Treating temperature-sensitivity effects of pressure-sensitive paint measurements

 While pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) is evolving into a viable alternative to conventional pressure taps for surface pressure measurements, the inherent temperature-sensitivity of the coating’s fluorescence intensity is a prominent drawback. Unless the PSP is applied to a temporally and spatially isothermal surface, this inherent temperature-sensitivity effect severely limits the accuracy of the two-dimensional pressure distribution obtained from the coating. In this study, the pressure- and temperature-sensitivity effects of three commonly used PSPs and two temperature-sensitive paints (TSPs) are evaluated over pressure and temperature ranges found in many compressible flow experiments. In addition, four PSP data reduction methods are compared by applying PSP to a transverse jet-in-crossflow experiment. Each data reduction method encompasses a different degree of temperature correction. Conventional pressure tap measurements are used to evaluate the accuracy of each method. Received: 27 January 1997/Accepted: 15 July 1997     

A study on characteristics of shock train inside a shock tube

Shock tubes are devices which are used in the investigation of high speed and high temperature flow of compressible gas. Inside a shock tube, the interaction between the reflected shock wave and boundary layer leads to a complex flow phenomenon. Initially a normal shock wave is formed in the shock tube which migrates toward the closed end of the tube and that in turn leads to the reflection of shock. Due to the boundary layer interaction with the reflected shock, the bifurcation of shock wave takes place. The bifurcated shock wave then approaches the contact surface and shock train is generated. Till date only a few studies have been conducted to investigate this shock train phenomenon inside the shock tube. For the present study a computational fluid dynamics(CFD) analysis has been performed on a two dimensional axi-symmetric model of a shock tube using unsteady, compressible Navier–Stokes equations. In order to investigate the detailed characteristics of shock train, parametric studies have been performed by varying different parameters such as the shock tube length, diameter, pressure ratio used inside the shock tube.     

Formation of particle jetting in a cylindrical shock tube

A dense, solid particle flow is numerically studied at a mesoscale level for a cylindrical shock tube problem. The shock tube consists of a central high pressure gas driver section and an annular solid powder bed with air in void regions as a driven section with its far end adjacent to ambient air. Simulations are conducted to explore the fundamental phenomena, causing clustering of particles and formation of coherent particle jet structures in such a dense solid flow. The influence of a range of parameters is investigated, including driver pressure, particle morphology, particle distribution and powder bed configuration. The results indicate that the physical mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is twofold: the driver gas jet flow induced by the shock wave as it passes through the initial gaps between the particles in the innermost layer of the powder bed, and the chaining of solid particles by inelastic collision. The particle jet forming time is determined as the time when the motion of the outermost particle layer of the powder bed is first detected. The maximum number of particle jets is bounded by the total number of particles in the innermost layer of the powder bed. The number of particle jets is mainly a function of the number of particles in the innermost layer and the mass ratio of the powder bed to the gas in the driver section, or the ratio of powder bed mass (in dimensionless form) to the pressure ratio between the driver and driven sections.