Patent — available for licensing
Calculation of Unsteady Aerodynamic Loads Using Fast-Response Pressure-Sensitive Paint (PSP)
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
Many important physical problems in aero-sciences involve unsteady, separated flows. The ability to measure and compute these flows has been a persistent challenge. Unsteady aerodynamics leads to unsteady loads which ultimately decrease system performance and shortens the system lifetime. Currently, dynamic pressure transducers are used to study unsteady flow in wind tunnel tests, which are expensive and do not provide accurate integrated unsteady loads on a wind tunnel model. NASA Ames has developed a first-of-its-kind technology to use a system comprised of fast-response pressure-sensitive paint (PSP), high-speed cameras, and high-powered excitation sources to collect data on pressure fluctuations on vehicle models in wind tunnels. Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) is an emerging optical technique used in wind tunnel testing to measure fluctuating unsteady surface pressures.