Laser Spark Evaluating Inflow (LASEI)

The LAser Spark Evaluating Inflow (LASEI) project strives to provide a robust and non-intrusive optical method for the measurement of local pressure, local temperature, and the flow angularity in wind tunnels based on the emission from a laser-induced spark generated using an Nd:YAG laser. The current study focuses on using integrated spectral emission from the spark to determine the local tunnel pressure while future studies will focus on using schlieren imaging to determine the flow angularity and the speed of sound. Once complete, LASEI will provide mean measurements of inflow conditions in regions of both subsonic and supersonic wind tunnels where conventional measurement techniques cannot be applied without disturbing the flow.