Application of Lifetime-Based Pressure-Sensitive Paint for Transonic Tests on a Generic Delta Wing Planform

Even on generic wind tunnel models the surface pressure distribution may show very complex structures, which cannot be detected by means of classical pressure transducers, due to geometrical and structural limitations. Therefore the systematic investigation of pressure distributions for validation of numerical results on a generic delta wing planform for a range of Mach numbers, angles of attack, and yaw angles is achieved by using the lifetime-based pressure-sensitive paint technique. The experiments were conducted in the transonic wind tunnel in Göttingen. The lifetime-based technique was adapted such, that besides static pressure distributions an RMS analysis can provide information about unsteady effects. Sources of errors are discussed and methods for improving signal-to-noise ratio and reliability of the lifetime system are presented.