Development of Unsteady-PSP Data Processing and Analysis Tools for the NASA Ames Unitary 11ft Wind Tunnel
Jessica M. Powell, Scott M. Murman, Christina Ngo, Nettie Roozeboom, David D. Murakami, Jennifer Baerny, Ji Lie
Abstract
Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (unsteady-PSP) has recently proven that it can be an essential tool for assessing launch vehicle buffet loads by providing fine spatial coverage that naturally augments the data provided by discrete dynamic pressure sensors. These results have led to increased interest in using full-coverage unsteady-PSP data in the core development of distributed buffet load environments. This means acquiring unsteady-PSP data across the relevant parameter space and with high enough quality to be useful in quantitative analyses. For the most recent Space Launch System (SLS) buffet test, that amounted to hundreds of terabytes of data that needed to be quickly processed and easily distilled. All of this motivated the current development of a suite of tools to enable near-real-time processing and analysis of unsteady-PSP data. These tools are being developed for rigid models in the 11-by-11-foot transonic portion of the NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT), but with near-term plans to extend the capability for other applications and to deploy to other NASA wind tunnels. This paper highlights the current methodology and tool capabilities and shows examples from a recent SLS buffet test.