Advanced lifetime PSP imaging system for pressure and temperature field measurement

The newly designed lifetime imaging system (LIS), which was composed of a multi-gated CCD camera and LED illuminators, has been developed to measure simultaneously pressure and temperature field from luminescent lifetime decay of pressure-sensitive paint (PSP). The new system could reduce the measurement error due to shot noise of a CCD and laser speckle, compared to the previous lifetime imaging system. Optimization of PSP film thickness on white basecoat was also conducted for improving measurement accuracy, and could minimize the measurement error. As a verification test, pressure and temperature images on a simple delta wing were visualized by the newly designed LIS. The quality of the pressure image was considerably improved in comparison with that measured by the previous system. These results indicated that the new LIS was a practical measurement tool to acquire simultaneously pressure and temperature field on an aerodynamic model surface.