Quantification of vapor screen analysis

The traditionally qualitative method of vapor screening is applied to the task of gathering quantitative density measurements in supersonic flows. Quantitative density information for flow around a two-dimensional biconvex airfoil at Mach 2.8 is extracted from digitized images of vapor screens by assuming a linear relation between particle density and scattering intensity. Intensity readings are calibrated through known conditions in the free stream and at the airfoil bow shock. The experimental results are compared to densities generated by a Euler code and determined to have errors of less than ten percent.