Measuring Surface Pressure on Rotating Compressor Blades Using Pressure Sensitive Paint.

Pressure sensitive paint (PSP) was used to measure pressure on the blades of a radial compressor with a 51 mm inlet diameter rotating at speeds up to 50 krpm using the so called lifetime method. A diode laser with a scanning-mirror system was used to illuminate the paint and the luminescent lifetime was registered using a photo multiplier. With the described technique the surface-pressure fields were acquired for eight points in the compressor map, useful for general understanding of the flow field and for CFD validation.