Development and Testing of Data Reduction Software for Measurements Using Pressure Sensitive Paints

The paper concentrates on post-processing of data necessary for pressure measurements using Pressure Sensitive Paints (PSP). The purpose of the study was to develop and test procedures for extraction of the surface pressure distribution from the images captured during PSP tests. The core issues addressed were reduction of the influence of model movement and deformation during wind tunnel run and synchronization between conventional pressure tap measurements and PSP data, necessary for in-situ calibration. In the course of the studies, two approaches on image registration were proposed: the first based on geometric transformation of control points pairs with cross-correlation tuning and the second based on similarity finding and estimation of geometric transformation of the images. Performance of the developed algorithm was tested with use of experimental set-up allowing for controlled movement of the imagined target with micrometer resolution. Both of the proposed approaches to PSP image resection proved to perform well. After testing of the software, the PSP system was used for determination of the pressure field on flat plate exposed to impinging jet. The presented procedures and results can be useful for research groups developing in-house PSP measurements systems for wind tunnel tests and internal flow investigations.