Measuring Global Surface Pressures on a Circulation Control Concept Using Pressure Sensitive Paint

This report will present the results obtained from the Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP) technique on a circulation control concept model. This test was conducted at the National Transonic Facility (NTF) at the NASA Langley Research Center. PSP was collected on the upper wing surface while the facility was operating in cryogenic mode at 227 K (-50 oF). The test envelope for the PSP portion included Mach numbers from 0.7 to 0.8 with angle of attack varying between 0 and 8 degrees and a total pressure of approximately 168 kPa (24.4 psi), resulting in a chord Reynolds number of approximately 15 million. While the PSP results did exhibit high levels of noise in certain conditions (where the oxygen content of the flow was very small), some conditions provided good correlation between the PSP and pressure taps, showing the ability of the PSP technique. This work also served as a risk reduction opportunity for future testing in cryogenic conditions at the NTF.