Study of density field measurement based on NPLS technique in supersonic flow

Due to the influence of shock wave and turbulence, supersonic density field exhibits strongly inhomogeneous and unsteady characteristics. Applying traditional density field measurement techniques to supersonic flows yields three problems: low spatiotemporal resolution, limitation of measuring 3D density field, and low signal to noise ratio (SNR). A new method based on Nano-based Planar Laser Scattering (NPLS) technique is proposed in this paper to measure supersonic density field. This method measures planar transient density field in 3D supersonic flow by calibrating the relationship between density and concentration of tracer particles, which would display the density fluctuation due to the influence of shock waves and vortexes. The application of this new method to density field measurement of supersonic optical bow cap is introduced in this paper, and the results reveal shock wave, turbulent boundary layer in the flow with the spatial resolution of 93.2 μm/pixel. By analyzing the results at interval of 5 μs, temporal evolution of density field can be observed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10672178)