Development of a Pressure Sensitive Paint System for Measuring Global Surface Pressures on Rotorcraft Blades

This paper describes the results from a proof of concept test to examine the feasibility of using pressure sensitive paint (PSP) to measure global surface pressures on rotorcraft blades in hover. The test was performed using the U.S. army 2-meter rotor test stand (2MRTS) and 15% scale swept rotor blades. Data were collected from five blades using both the intensity-and lifetime-based approaches. This paper will also outline several modifications and improvements that are underway to develop a system capable of measuring pressure distributions on up to four blades simultaneously at hover and forward flight conditions.