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A review of pressure-sensitive paint for high-speed and unsteady

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Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part G Journal of Aerospace Engineering · February 2008
DOI: 10.1243/09544100JAERO243

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 REVIEW PAPER 249

A review of pressure-sensitive paint for high-speed

and unsteady aerodynamics
J W Gregory1*, K Asai2, M Kameda3, T Liu4, and J P Sullivan5
1
Department of Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Ohio, USA
2
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan
3
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei,
Tokyo, Japan
4
Applied Aerodynamics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, College of Engineering
and Applied Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
5
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

The manuscript was received on 21 May 2007 and was accepted after revision for publication on 25 October 2007.

DOI: 10.1243/09544100JAERO243

Abstract: The current paper describes the development of pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) tech-
nology as an advanced measurement technique for unsteady flow fields and short-duration
wind tunnels. Newly developed paint formulations have step response times approaching
1 ms, making them suitable for a wide range of unsteady testing. Developments in binder tech-
nology are discussed, which have resulted in new binder formulations such as anodized alu-
minium, thin-layer chromatography plate, polymer/ceramic, and poly(TMSP) PSP. The
current paper also details modeling work done to describe the gas diffusion properties within
the paint binder and understand the limitations of the paint response characteristics. Various
dynamic calibration techniques for PSP are discussed, along with summaries of typical
response times. A review of unsteady and high-speed PSP applications is presented, including
experiments with shock tubes, hypersonic tunnels, unsteady delta wing aerodynamics, fluidic
oscillator flows, Hartmann tube oscillations, acoustics, and turbomachinery. Flowfields with
fundamental frequencies as high as 21 kHz have been successfully measured with porous
PSP formulations.

Keywords: pressure-sensitive paint, porous pressure-sensitive paint, unsteady aerodynamics,

high-speed flows

1 INTRODUCTION with initial tests demonstrating that PSP could suc-

Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) is a relatively new
measurement technique for global surface pressure
measurements in aerodynamic testing. The funda-
mental operating principle of PSP is oxygen quench-
ing of luminescence from the paint. Light intensity
emitted by the paint is measured by a photodetector,
and is inversely proportional to the local air pressure.
Conventional paint formulations were first applied to
wind tunnel testing in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
*Corresponding author: Department of Aerospace Engineering,
The Ohio State University, 328 Bolz Hall, 2036 Neil Ave,
Columbus, OH 43210, USA. email: jim.gregory@alumni.purdue.edu
cessfully resolve the chordwise pressure distribution
on a wind tunnel model [1]. The primary advantage
of PSP over traditional, point-measurement tech-
niques is high spatial resolution. PSP can provide a
global map of surface pressure with a spatial resol-
ution primarily limited by the pixel resolution of the
imaging device. Comprehensive reviews of PSP have
been written by Liu et al. [2], Bell et al. [3], and Liu
and Sullivan [4].
Typical paint formulations are comprised of the
luminescent molecule, known as the luminophore,
and a binder to physically adhere the luminophore to
the model surface. Conventional formulations typically
use a polymer as a binder material. The disadvantage of

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
250 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
the binder, however, is that it inhibits interaction of
atmospheric oxygen with the embedded luminophore
molecules to some degree. The slower response times
of conventional paints are largely governed by the
rate of diffusion of gas within the binder. Conventional,
polymer-based paint formulations can have response
times as slow as seconds or tens of seconds, making
them unsuitable for evaluating unsteady aerodynamic
phenomena. Many aerodynamic phenomena and
test facilities are inherently unsteady, requiring a
fast-responding pressure measurement system. Facili-
ties such as short-duration wind tunnels and shock
tubes require a paint formulation that will reach a
steady-state indicated value within the duration of the
test. Similarly, unsteady pressure phenomena in aero-
dynamic, acoustic, and turbomachinery testing require
fast-responding instrumentation. Thus, the conven-
tional paint formulations were insufficient for many
of these tests. This deficiency has motivated the devel-
opment of PSP for unsteady testing. This paper
describes the development and implementation of
PSP for short-duration and unsteady testing. The next
section details the relevant issues that govern the
paint response, and the chemistry and materials devel-
opment work that has been done to address these
issues and enhance the temporal response character-
istics of PSP. The following section discusses both
static and dynamic calibrations of the paint response.
Significant modelling work has been done – first to
develop compensators, and later to understand the rel-
evant dynamics of the gas diffusion processes. The rel-
evant modelling work is discussed in section four.
Various applications are discussed in sections five and
six, involving short-duration wind tunnels and
unsteady applications of PSP, respectively. The paper
is concluded with a discussion of future development
work and a concluding summary.
2 PAINT DEVELOPMENT
The temporal response characteristics of PSP are pri-
marily governed by the thickness of the paint formu-
lation and the diffusion coefficient of the binder
material. Previous modelling studies, to be discussed
in later sections of this review, have shown that the
one-dimensional diffusion equation governs the dis-
tribution of oxygen within the paint layer as a func-
tion of space and time. The time constant of the
paint response, given by
h2
tdiff /
Dm
indicates that the response time increases significantly
with paint thickness (h) and decreases with higher diffu-
sion coefficient (Dm). Some investigations have focused
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
on decreasing the thickness of the paint layer, whereas
others have increased the diffusivity coefficient.
Schairer [5] performed an analytical study on the
tradeoff between signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and fre-
quency response characteristics of PSP, as a function
of paint thickness. As mentioned earlier, frequency
response improves with thinner paint layers. How-
ever, as the paint thickness decreases, the lumines-
cence emitted by the paint also decreases, thus
degrading the SNR. To quantify this tradeoff, Schairer
defined an unsteady SNR as the ratio of the unsteady
signal amplitude to the steady noise. He found that
the unsteady SNR was a maximum for a paint thick-
ness corresponding to 1.25-dB attenuation of the
unsteady signal amplitude. This optimum thickness
was found to decrease as the unsteady frequency
increased.
The other strategy for improving the temporal
response characteristics of PSP is to increase the diffu-
sivity of gas within the paint binder. This approach
was initially attempted in order to develop PSP formu-
lations for cryogenic testing, where the fraction of
oxygen atoms in the test gas is quite small. Paint for-
mulations with very high oxygen permeability were
developed for these cryogenic applications [6–11],
and were subsequently applied to unsteady testing.
The slow response time characteristic of polymer-
based conventional PSP makes it a limited tool in the
measurement of unsteady flowfields. In order to over-
come this limitation, several attempts have been
made to find a new binder having a much larger diffu-
sion coefficient. The ‘porous’ material is a key to achieve
this goal. Figure 1 schematically describes the difference
between conventional polymer-based PSP and porous
PSP. For conventional PSP, oxygen molecules in a test
gas need to permeate into the binder layer for oxygen
quenching. The process of oxygen permeation in a
ð1Þ
Fig. 1 Comparison of porous PSP and conventional
PSP [14]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
polymer-binder layer produces slow response times for
conventional PSP. On the other hand, the luminophore
in porous PSP is opened to the test gas so that the
oxygen molecules are free to interact with the lumino-
phore. The open binder creates a PSP that responds
much more quickly to changes in oxygen concen-
tration, and thus pressure. A large effective surface
area due to the porous surface improves luminescence
intensity so that higher SNR images can be obtained.
There are various types of porous PSPs in use,
depending on the type of binder (mostly inorganic
material). Baron et al. [12] first showed that submilli-
second response times can be achieved by using a
commercial porous silica-gel thin-layer chromato-
graphy (TLC) plate. The luminophore is adsorbed
onto the silica gel particles on the TLC plate via inter-
molecular force. It was reported that the response of
this coating would reach several tens of micro-
seconds. Although this fragile PSP cannot be easily
used in wind tunnel testing, Baron’s work is con-
sidered epochal because it first demonstrated that a
short response time of PSP can be obtained by
using a porous material as a binder.
Asai et al. [6] developed another type of porous
binder by using anodized aluminium layer as a
binder, which was later improved by Sakaue [13, 14]
and called anodized-aluminium PSP (AA-PSP).
Mosharov et al. [15] also describe the development
of AA-PSP at TsAGI in Russia. The anodized alu-
minium layer is a porous material, in which there are
huge numbers of highly ordered micropores with uni-
form diameter and spacing. Various types of lumino-
phores such as ruthenium complexes, porphyrines,
and pyrenes can be adsorbed on the anodized alu-
minium surface by dipping or spraying. In contrast
to TLC-plate PSP, the AA-PSP can be applied to a
curved surface, because the anodized aluminium
layer can be formed on an arbitrary shape of alu-
minium. It is also noted that AA-PSP is free from the
chipping-off problem that occurs with the TLC-PSP.
Porous PSP such as TLC-PSP and AA-PSP have
response time of the order of 10 – 100 ms, so that
they can follow pressure fluctuations at frequencies
of at least several kilohertz. According to Baron et al.
[12], TLC-PSP with free base tetra (pentafluorophe-
nyl) porphyrin (H2TFPP) has a response time of less
than 25 ms. Mosharov et al. [15] reported that the
response time of AA-PSP was in a range of 18–90 ms,
depending on the luminophore used and on some
features of the anodization process. Sakaue and co-
workers [16] have shown that the time response of
AA-PSP with a ruthenium complex depends on the
layer thickness and can reach a response time of
the order of 10 ms. Kameda et al. [17] analysed the
principle of time response on porous AA-PSP and
the permeation of gas into micropores. This theoreti-
cal work has provided a guideline to modify AA-PSP
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
251
coating to have faster time response. The details of
Kameda’s theory are given in section four.
2.1 TLC plate
The TLC plate consists of a thin layer of adsorbent
material, usually silica gel or aluminium oxide on
an inert carrier sheet, usually aluminium foil or
glass. Baron et al. [12] used a commercial porous
silica TLC plate as the binder to make a fast time-
response PSP. The luminophore is applied directly
to a TLC plate by dipping or spraying. Although the
TLC-based PSP is fragile and limited to use on flat
plates, they are easy to prepare and emit relatively
bright luminescence. Sakamura et al. [18, 19] applied
TLC-PSP to measurement of pressure fluctuation due
to impingement of an air-jet, shock-propagation in a
shock tube, and starting process of a supersonic wind
tunnel. In the shock-tube experiment, a commercial
silica-gel TLC aluminium plate (MERK, Silica gel 60)
was used as a porous binder. The luminophore used
in this work, [Ru(dpp)3]2þ from GFS Chemicals, was
dissolved in dichloromethane, and the TLC plate
was then dipped in the solution to apply the lumino-
phore. It was reported that the linearity between Iref/I
and P/Pref is relatively good near atmospheric
pressure and the temperature sensitivity D(Iref/I)/DT
of this porous PSP is about 0.6 per cent/K in the
temperature range 285 – 300 K at 0.1 MPa, which is
comparable with widely used PSP coatings.
2.2 Anodized aluminium
Anodization is an electro-chemical process. The ano-
dized aluminium layer is formed on an aluminium
anode in an electrolytic solution. An aluminium
model is connected with a direct current power
supply as anode. Aluminium plate is used as the cath-
ode. Most commonly, dilute sulfuric acid is used
as an electrolytic solution. Self-ordered structure is
obtained by the anodization at a constant direct cur-
rent in the electrolyte at a constant temperature. The
oxide layer is formed as microscopic hexagonal cores
of alumina, each having a central hexagonal pore.
The film thickness can range from under a few micro-
metres to over 100 mm by changing the anodization
time. These micropores are formed not only on
pure aluminium but also on aluminium alloy or dur-
alumin that contains copper and magnesium.
Figures 2(a) and (b) show a schematic of an ano-
dized aluminium surface and a scanning electron
microscope (SEM) picture. Microscopic pores of
20 – 100 nm in diameter are distributed on the ano-
dized surface. In order to create such uniformly dis-
tributed micropores, it is necessary to conduct
careful pre- and post-treatments. The procedure
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
252 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan

developed by Sakaue et al. [13, 14, 20] is described as

follows (Fig. 3).

2.2.1 Pre-treatment (step 1 and step 2)

Degrease an aluminium surface with ethanol. Then

soak the model for 3 min in dilute sodium hydroxide
solution (3 wt%), rinse with distilled water, and dry well.

2.2.2 Anodization (step 3)

Anodize the model at a constant current density of

12.5 mA/cm2 in dilute sulfuric acid (1 mol/L), at a
constant temperature (5 – 10 8C). The applied voltage,
which depends on the solution temperature, is
20 – 25 V. Continuous stirring is needed to keep uni-
form concentration and temperature of the solution
during anodization.

2.2.3 Post-treatment (step 4)

In order to remove hydrates or oxidation layer from

the anodized surface, the model is soaked in a phos-
phoric acid solution (3 wt%) for 20 min at a constant
temperature (20 – 30 8C). Finally, the model is rinsed
with distilled water and dried in a desiccator.

Fig. 3 Preparation process for anodic porous

alumina [22]

2.2.4 Luminophore application (step 5)

The anodized model is then dipped into the dye sol-

ution to apply the luminophore. The dye solution is
[Ru(dpp)3]2þ with 1, 2-dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) as
solvent. The concentration of the dye is 0.3

1023 mol/L. One-minute long dipping is conducted
at 298 K.
The anodized aluminium layer is coated directly
on a wind tunnel model. One can coat an anodized
aluminium layer onto geometrically complicated
models by this process. Mérienne et al. [21] devel-
oped an anodizing procedure that was applied to an
aluminium tape. They adapted the anodizing pro-
cedure to a 25-cm long aluminium tape that has a
sticky side protected with a non-adhesive film. The
tape was rolled up around a cylinder connected to
Fig. 2 Schematic structure of anodized aluminium [22] the anode, immersed in the electrolytic solution and
and (b) SEM image of anodic porous alumina then anodized. Such tape can be easily placed on a
surface [14] model even when it is mounted in a wind tunnel.

Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 253

The time response of AA-PSP depends not only on

luminescence lifetime, which imposes an ultimate
limit on the time response, but also on the thickness
(pore-depth) of the anodized aluminium layer,
because oxygen permeation to the micropores exist-
ing on the anodized aluminium layer can be described
as a diffusive phenomenon. According to Kameda
et al. [17], the time response of AA-PSP can be
improved in two ways: (a) by reducing the pore
depth and (b) by expanding the pore diameter.
Hangai et al. [22] conducted a systematic investi-
gation on time response for AA-PSP having different
layer thickness (pore depth) and pore size (diameter).
Figure 4 shows the evolution of the anodized alu-
minium layer fabricated according to the above-
mentioned method for three different voltages, 15,
20, and 25 V. It is clear that the pore depth is pro-
portional to the anodizing time in all cases. At a
given current density, the rate at which the alumina
layer is formed is faster at higher anodization voltages. Fig. 5 SEM images of anodic porous alumina surfaces
On the other hand, the diameter of anodic porous anodized in sulfuric acid solution at different
alumina is proportional to the anodization voltage. anodizing voltages [22]
Figure 5 shows SEM images of the surface for anodic
oxide samples formed at different anodization vol- layer is observed. It is seen from Fig. 6 that the time
tages. At a given current density, the anodizing voltage response of AA-PSP coatings increases with increas-
decreases for higher electrolyte temperatures. It is ing pore depth of the anodized aluminium layer.
seen that the diameter of anodic porous alumina The pore diameter is constant at 25 nm. The response
increases with increasing anodization voltage. The time decreases from 40 to 2 ms by reducing the pore
average pore diameters for 15, 20, and 25 V are 18 + depth from 10 to 1 mm.
3, 21 + 4, and 25 + 3 nm, respectively. The effects of pore diameter on the response time
The effects of pore depth on the response time are are shown in Fig. 7. It is seen that, even though the
shown in Fig. 6. The time response of a PSP sample pore depth is kept constant, the response time
was evaluated from an image of a shock wave travel- decreases as the pore diameter increases. For the
ing in a shock tube at 610 m/s. In this experiment, cases of constant pore depth, the response time is
Pyrene butyric acid (PBA) was used as the sensor inversely proportional to the pore diameter that is
molecule. PBA is a fluorescent dye having a lifetime consistent with the theoretical model. Of all samples,
on the order of tens nanoseconds, so that a pure the PSP with the largest pore diameter (25 nm) and
effect of diffusion process in anodized aluminium the smallest pore depth (0.6 mm) showed the fastest
time response (1.8 ms). Improvement of response
time would be possible by increasing the pore

Fig. 4 Relation between pore depth and anodization Fig. 6 Effects of pore depth on time response (pore
time [22] diameter is 25 nm) [22]

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
254 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 7 Effects of pore diameter on time response (pore
depth is 7 mm) [22]
diameter further. The pore diameter increases in pro-
portion to the voltage for anodization. For the case of
sulfuric acid, the maximum voltage is around 27 V, so
corresponding pore diameter is limited from 30 to
50 nm. The pore diameter can be increased further
by using electrolyte other than sulfuric acid. For
example, anodic porous alumina with a pore diam-
eter of 100 nm can be fabricated by using phosphoric
acid as an electrolyte.
Porous aluminium surfaces are usually covered
with aluminium hydrate soon after anodization.
Such hydrate layer exists in gel-like form and causes
an adverse effect on stability and uniformity of
AA-PSP. To prevent aging of AA-PSP, the hydrate
later must be removed before dipping the model in
dye solution. This process can be done by soaking
the model in a phosphoric acid solution for 10 –
20 min at a constant temperature (20 – 30 8C). Care
must be taken not to exceed this immersion time
otherwise the anodized layer would be removed.
One of the major problems of AA-PSP is that it has
considerable humidity sensitivity due to the hydro-
philic nature of anodized aluminium. In order to sup-
press the humidity sensitivity, Sakaue et al. [23, 24]
developed a hydrophobic AA-PSP, in which amphi-
pathic molecules are adsorbed on the anodized
aluminium. A schematic description of the hydro-
phobic AA-PSP is shown in Fig. 8. Alkanoic acids
with the carbon chain lengths of six (hexanoic acid),
12 (dodecanoic acid), and 14 (myristic acid) can be
used as amphipathic molecules. A longer carbon
chain gives a better hydrophobic surface. The lumi-
nophores and the amphipathic molecules are separ-
ately adsorbed on the anodized aluminium. The
aluminium model was dipped first in the dye sol-
ution, then in the alkanoic acid solution. A hydro-
phobic nature was effectively achieved via this
procedure. The resulting PSP greatly reduces the
luminescence change caused by water adsorption
from a test gas. The response time increases because
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
Fig. 8 Schematic of hydrophobic AA-PSP: (a) Adsorption
of amphipathic molecules and PSP dyes (b)
Chemical adsorption of amphipathic molecules
[45]
of a reduction in pore size by hydrophobic mono-
coating. The response time of 150 ms obtained from
AA-PSP with myristic acid is a factor of three greater
than that of AA-PSP without hydrophobic monocoat-
ing. Results suggest that a longer hydrophobic sub-
strate gives better hydrophobic and steady-state
characteristics but reduces the time response.
Various types of luminophores including ruthe-
nium complexes, porphyrin, and pyrene derivatives
can be adsorbed on the porous aluminium by dipping
or spraying. There are two adsorption types; one is
physical and the other is chemical. In the physical
adsorption, the molecules are adsorbed onto the sur-
face of anodized aluminium by intermolecular (van
der Waals) force and weak electrostatic force. For
example, [Ru(dpp)3]2þ is adsorbed onto the anodized
aluminium by the physical adsorption. It is noted
that ruthenium complex is a polar molecule. The
adsorbed molecules can be removed from the surface
by polar solvents acting with stronger intermolecular
force on the luminophore than on the anodized alu-
minium. The TLC-PSP is basically the adsorptive
coating using this physical adsorption.
Amao et al. [25] developed the chemical adsorption
technique to form the pressure-sensitive coating on
anodized aluminium. They showed that the mol-
ecules with a carboxyl or sulfonic group such as tetra-
kis (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (H2TCPP), pyrene
butylic acid (PBA), and pyrene sulfonic acid (PSA)
can be adsorbed onto the anodized aluminium via
dehydrate ester reaction. Since the molecules are
adsorbed onto the anodized aluminium by chemical
bonding, the luminophore cannot be removed with
any polar solvents. Mérienne et al. [21] tested two
types of AA-PSP: PBA and PSA. They found that the
PBA-based coating had an aging problem associated
with desorption of water molecules adsorbed at the
surface. There was no stability problem observed
with the PSA compound. Emission spectra measured
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
from different samples of AA-PSP showed that a
higher luminescence level is obtained with PSA
samples. Sakaue [26] conducted extensive studies of
dipping deposition method on AA-PSP. Studies
included the solvent dependency on the application,
and the steady-state and unsteady-state characteriz-
ations, such as the luminescent signal level, pressure
sensitivity, and response time. Solvents were varied
by their polarity index. It was found that the solvent
in the dipping deposition greatly influences the lumi-
nophore application onto anodized aluminium, the
luminescent signal level, and the pressure sensitivity,
but does not greatly affect the response time.
2.3 Polymer/ceramic
Polymer/ceramic PSP (PC-PSP) is a hybrid formulation
that was developed specifically to improve the diffusiv-
ity of the binder material, thus allowing faster response
times. The formulation is a mixture of a high concen-
tration of ceramic particles with a small amount of poly-
mer to physically hold the ceramic particles to the
surface. The ceramic particles serve as binding locations
for the luminophore molecules. Ponomarev and
Gouterman [27] first proposed the concept of using a
polymer/ceramic hybrid formulation to improve the
frequency response of PSP. Scroggin et al. [28, 29] also
developed polymer/ceramic paints based on either Alu-
minium Oxide (Al2O3) or Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) par-
ticles in a small amount of polymer, resulting in the
highly porous structure seen in Fig. 9. The polymer/cer-
amic formulation was applied to a Mylar film through a
tape casting process. The tape casting process involves
the spreading of the ceramic slurry in a uniform, thin
layer over the Mylar surface through the use of a doctor’s
blade swept across the surface of the film. The resulting
binder layers ranged from 100 to 200 mm thick. Scroggin
found that the time response of the resulting paint
formulation decreased with decreasing fraction of poly-
mer. Polymer/ceramic films exhibited more robust
physical characteristics, however, when the polymer
Fig. 9 SEM image of polymer/ceramic binder
formulation from a tape-casting procedure [29]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
255
fraction was higher. The relative weighting of polymer
and ceramic particles were tailored to minimize time
response while maintaining a physically robust film.
Scroggin used both platinum(II) octaethylporphine
(PtOEP) and [Ru(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)3]
Cl2 ([Ru (dpp)3]2þ) as luminophores, where the lumi-
nophore was dissolved in a solvent applied to the
polymer/ceramic binder through a dipping process.
The Pt(OEP) luminophore exhibited greater pressure
sensitivity. The response times of the polymer/cer-
amic paint formulations developed by Scroggin were
on the order of 60 ms.
Soumagne-Schweyckart et al. [30] also developed a
PSP formulation based on hard particles, where
alumina was used to bind silica particles to the
model. Pyrene derivatives were used as the lumino-
phore, and the paint was airbrushed onto the
model. The step response of this formulation was as
fast as the solenoid valve could characterize, but the
surface roughness of the particles was quite high
(45 or 15 mm).
Gregory [31–33] further developed PC-PSP for test-
ing where a tape cast binder could not be used. In this
work, a sprayable formulation of the polymer/ceramic
was developed by diluting the solution with distilled
water and maintaining a low polymer weight fraction.
The ceramic slurry solution was prepared from dis-
tilled water, dispersant (D-3021, Rohm & Haas), and
TiO2 particles (DuPont R-900 TiPure). For every gram
of water, 1.72 g of TiO2 and 12 mg of dispersant were
added, and the solution was ball milled for 1 h. A poly-
mer emulsion (B-1000, Rohm & Haas) was then added
to the ceramic slurry by a weight fraction of 3.5 per
cent. This paint binder formulation was then stirred
for several minutes and then airbrushed over a
model surface in a relatively thin layer, on the order
of 5-mm thick. A luminophore solution, typically
Fig. 10 Schematic of PC-PSP structure, with the
luminophore adsorbed to the ceramic particles.
(Reprinted with permission from Gregory J.W.
Sullivan, J.P. Wanis, S., and Komerath, N.M.
Pressure-sensitive paint as a distributed optical
microphone array. J. Accoust. Soc. Am., 2006,
119(1), 251–261. Copyright 2006, American
Institute of Physics [97])
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
256 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 11 SEM images of silicon nanorod
structure [34]
[Ru(dpp)3]2þ dissolved in methanol, was then over-
sprayed on the polymer/ceramic binder. The resulting
structure of the PC-PSP is shown schematically in
Fig. 10. Gregory’s sprayable form of polymer/ceramic
exhibited response times as low as 25 ms.
2.4 Silicon nanorods
Another binder formulation currently under develop-
ment is based on nanofabrication techniques. Bencic
and VanderWal [34] are developing silicon nanorods
as a porous binder. The nanofabricated structure
shows promise as a binder material because of its
high surface area, as shown in the SEM images in
Fig. 11. Practical issues such as constructing a
binder large enough to cover a wind tunnel model
have yet to be worked out.
2.5 Poly(TMSP)
Poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne], abbreviated here
as poly(TMSP), is a high molecular-weight polymer
that was first synthesized by Masuda et al. [35]. It is
glassy material with a large free volume, having a low
diffusion barrier to oxygen. Figure 12 shows the chemi-
cal structure of poly(TMSP) and Table 1 compares the
properties of poly(TMSP) with those for a common
PSP binder, poly (dimethylsiloxane)(poly(DMS)). As
is seen, the diffusion coefficient (D) of poly(TMSP)
is comparable to that of poly(DMS), but this value is
extremely high compared with other glassy polymers.
On the other hand, the solubility (S) of poly(TMSP) is
seven times higher than that of poly(DMS). As a
result, the permeability (P ¼ SD) of poly(TMSP) to
oxygen amounts to larger than poly(DMS)
Table 1 Comparison of poly(TMSP) and poly(DMS) properties
O2 permeability
(cm3(STP) cm

Polymer 1010/cm2 s cm Hg)
Poly(DMS) 960 (35 8C)
Poly(TMSP) 7700 (30 8C)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
Fig. 12 Chemical structure of poly(TMSP)
approximately by a factor of eight. Having such high
oxygen permeability, poly(TMSP) exhibits much
porous faster time response than other polymer matrixes.
Asai et al. [7, 8] used poly (TMSP) as a binder for a
high performance PSP. This paint can be dissolved in
a common solvent like toluene or hexane. It is appli-
cable on model surface using a standard airbrush.
Platinum porphyrins such as PtOEP or PtPFPP can
be used as sensor molecules. Figure 13 shows the
time response of luminescent intensity for various
paints to a step change in pressure from vacuum to
one atmosphere. Figure 13(a) shows the reference
data obtained by a Kulitew pressure transducer.
Figure 13(b) to (d) represent data for poly(DMS)
(GP197w), AA-PSP, and poly(TMSP), respectively. It
is seen that poly (DMS)-based PSP is very slow and
its time constant is on the order of several seconds.
On the other hand, the response of poly(TMSP) PSP
is much faster compared with conventional polymer-
based paints, although it is slower than AA-PSP.
Teduka et al. [36, 37] conducted systematic study
on the response characteristics of poly(TMSP)-PSP.
Figures 14 and 15 represent the time response time
for poly(TMSP)-PSP for different conditions. The
response time of poly(TMSP)-PSP is on the order of
10 ms. This value would be sufficiently small for use
in intermittent wind tunnel where the test duration
is less than 1 s. It is noted that the response time of
poly(TMSP)-PSP is not dependent on temperature,
suggesting the classical diffusion theory does not
hold for poly(TMSP).
One critical issue for the poly(TMSP)-PSP is the stab-
ility of its pressure sensitivity [10]. A reduction in the gas
permeability of the poly(TMSP) was investigated by
Nagai et al. [38, 39] in terms of the membrane thickness
and the storage environment. The effects of
physical aging were observed with thinner membranes
and under vacuum conditions compared with storage
in air. To stabilize the permeability of the TMSP
membrane, a poly(1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne-co-1-
phenyl-1-propyne) [poly(TMSP-co-PP)] membrane
Solubility
coefficient
Diffusion (cm3(STP)
Glass transition
cm2/s
106 104/cm3 cm Hg) temperature 8C
40 (35 8C) 24 (35 8C) 2127
47 (30 8C) 170 (30 8C) .200
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 257

Fig. 14 Effect of coating thickness on time response

characteristics of poly(TMSP)-PSP, T ¼ 313.1 K.
(From Asai et al. [52], Copyright 2001, IEEE)

co-polymerized PSP. This PSP is composed of

a metallporphyrin of platinum tetrakis(penta-
fluorophenyl)porphyrin and a copolymer of poly
(1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne-co-3-pyridyl-1-propyne)
(PtTFPP-PSP). It is reported that PtTFPP-PSP visual-
ized a periodic unsteady flow of a 5-ms cycle, created
by a rotating disk. These new compounds, whose
chemical structures are illustrated in Fig. 16, could
improve the performance of current fast responding
PSP formulations.

2.6 Luminophore considerations

2.6.1 Lifetime

PSP is based on the oxygen quenching process of

luminescence. Here, a brief description of the fun-
damental photochemical processes involved in the
Fig. 13 Time response of various PSPs to a step change
in pressure, (a) kulite sensor (reference), (b)
PtOEP/poly(DMS), (c) AA-PSP, and (d) poly
(TMSP)-PSP [7]

was prepared by the same group. Poly(TMSP-co-PP)

has the same unit of poly(1-phenyl-1-propyne),
which membrane has stable permeability. The
poly(TMSP-co-PP) membrane containing 10 mol% PP
had both high permeability and good stability.
Hah et al. [40] synthesized a new co-polymer-
composed of poly(ethynylplatinumporphyrin) and
trimethylsilylpropyne. This PSP provides chemical
bonding of luminophore and polymer to create a
single compound so that it could eliminate lumines-
cent quenching due to aggregation of dye molecules
during evaporation process. Also, the preparation is
simple with uniform quality because of a single com- Fig. 15 Effect of temperature on time response
pound. Based on the work of Hah et al., Sakaue et al. characteristics of poly(TMSP)-PSP, h ¼ 8.2 mm.
[24] have introduced a similar luminophore-pendant (From Asai et al. [52], Copyright 2001, IEEE)

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
258 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 16 New copolymer-based PSPs. ((a) From
reference [40], copyright Wiley-VCH Verlag
GmbH & Co. KGaA, preproduced with
permission, and (b) from reference [24])
PSP is given [3, 4]. Then, a mathematical model will
be derived, which is used in practical PSP measure-
ments. For simplicity, the derivation is not rigorous
from a scientific point of view.
The processes of luminescence are described with
the aid of the Jablonski energy level diagram
(Fig. 17). This diagram shows the different photo-
excited states of a luminophore molecule with the
energy of each represented by its height above the
ground state S0. The molecule has its electrons
arranged in a different combination of the electron
orbits and spin orientations in each electronic state.
The states are divided into the singlet system (S0, S1,
S2, . . .) and the triplet system (T1, T2, . . .), which rep-
resent the different spin orientations.
Nearly all of the molecules are in the ground state at
room temperature. The molecule is then excited by
absorbing a photon from the excitation light. The
excited electrons return to the ground state via radia-
tive and radiationless processes. Emitting a photon
by radiative process is called ‘luminescence’. Fluor-
escence is the luminescence via the transition from
S1 to S0, whereas phosphorescence is that from T1 to
S0. The radiationless processes include internal
conversion, intersystem crossing, and quenching.
The quenching is caused by bimolecular interaction
Fig. 17 Jablonski diagram [102]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
of the excited molecules with the surrounding
components. Oxygen is an extraordinarily effective
quencher. The rate of all the radiationless processes
depends on temperature, whereas this is not the case
for luminescence. Hereafter, all radiationless processes
except oxygen quenching are referred to as ‘thermal
deactivation’.
The instantaneous number of molecules at each
state is governed by the first-order rate equation
@n
¼ kn ð2Þ
@t
where n is the number of the molecules per unit
volume and k is the rate constant. Each of the
processes described in Fig. 17 has an associated rate
constant. The solution of equation (2) is n ¼ n0
exp(2kt), where n0 denotes the initial number of
molecules. Thus, the number of molecules decays
exponentially. The characteristic decay time is rep-
resented by the reciprocal of the rate constant 1/k.
The number of excited molecules per unit volume
n* is governed by
dn

þ kE þ kT þ kQ n ¼ F a ð3Þ
dt
where the subscripts E, T, and Q denote emission of
luminescence, thermal deactivation, and oxygen
quenching, respectively. a is the rate of absorption
of photons by the luminophore. F* is the fraction of
absorbed photons that produce luminophore mol-
ecules in the excited state.
The rate of luminescence emission is linearly pro-
portional to the excited molecules and the rate con-
stant of emission, e ¼ kEn*. Thus, equation (3)
becomes
de e
þ ¼ k E F a ð4Þ
dt t
where t denotes the ‘lifetime’ of luminescence, which
is
1
t¼ ð5Þ
kE þ kT þ kQ
The rate constant of emission is an intrinsic value
of the luminophore, which is independent of its sur-
rounding environment, including temperature. On
the contrary, the rate constants of thermal deactiva-
tion and quenching depend on the environment.
The rate constant of thermal deactivation depends
on temperature T. The dependence is approximated
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
by the Arrhenius law
 
DET
kT ðT Þ ¼ kT1 exp  ð6Þ
RT
where kT1, DET, and R are the rate constant at infinite
temperature, the activation energy, and universal gas
constant, respectively.
The rate constant of quenching is linearly pro-
portional to the concentration of oxygen [O2]
kQ ¼ kQ ½O2  ð7Þ
where kQ denotes the factor depending primarily on
the properties of the binder (discussed later).
Note that kT is almost independent of the binder of
the luminophore. Thus, the lifetime without oxygen
quenching ([O2] ¼ 0)
1 dt
t0 ¼ ð8Þ
kE þ kT ðT Þ
is regarded as intrinsic to the luminophore. This value
imposes an ultimate limit on the time response of the
PSP. This limit becomes important for the time
response of porous PSP; however, it is relatively
unimportant for the time response of polymer-based
PSP, which is governed by slow oxygen diffusion in
the binder.
2.6.2 Sensitivity
If the oxygen concentration is varied much slower
than the lifetime t0, the emission rate at the constant
illumination is governed by the steady solution
(de/dt ¼ 0) of equation (4)
e e0
¼ ð9Þ
t t0
where e0 denotes the emission rate without oxygen
quenching. The ratio of emissions is
e0 t kE þ kT ðT Þ þ kQ ½O2 
¼ ¼ ¼ 1 þ KSV ½O2  ð10Þ
e t0 kE þ kT ðT Þ
Equation (10) is known as the Stern – Volmer equa-
tion where KSV ¼ t0kQ denotes the Stern – Volmer
constant. The Stern – Volmer equation indicates that
the emission rate is inversely proportional to the con-
centration of oxygen. Thus, the maximum intensity of
luminescence is obtained in the oxygen-free
conditions.
When the PSP layer is exposed to a steady pressure
field, the oxygen concentration in the layer is pro-
portional to the partial pressure of oxygen gas on
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
259
the layer surface (Henry’s law)
½O2  ¼ SpO2 ¼ SxO2 p ð11Þ
where S is the solubility of oxygen in the binder, xO2 is
the mole fraction of oxygen in the gas (xO2 is 0.21 for
air), and p is the pressure. The solubility of diatomic
gas in the polymer binders is not affected by the
temperature range used in the wind tunnel [41],
although, in general, it depends on temperature.
The proportional factor kQ depends on the reaction
mechanism of luminophore and oxygen. Assume that
the luminophore is uniformly distributed in the
binder and the diffusion of oxygen in the binder con-
trols the colliding rate of the oxygen molecules to the
luminophore. Such a situation can be described by
the Smolchowski equation
dn
¼ 4psaD½O2 n ð12Þ
Thus, the proportional factor kQ is equal to 4psa D. s is
the sum of molecular radii of oxygen and of the lumi-
nophore. D is the sum of the diffusivities of oxygen and
of luminophore (usually negligible) in the binder. a is
the probability of reaction. kQ is a function of tempera-
ture due to the temperature dependence of the diffu-
sivity of oxygen in the binder, whose relation is
described using the Arrhenius relation
 
DED
DðT Þ ¼ D1 exp  ð13Þ
RT
where D1 and DED denote the diffusivity at infinite
temperature and the activation energy of diffusion,
respectively.
Combining equations (10) and (11), the relation
between the emission rate and the pressure can be
obtained
e0 kE þ kT ðT Þ þ kQ ðT ÞSxO2 p
¼ ð14Þ
e kE þ kT ðT Þ
The pressure sensitivity ep, which is defined as the
relative change of emission rate per unit pressure, is

p @e  kQ ðT ÞSxO2 p
ep ;  ¼
e @p T kE þ kT ðT Þ þ kQ ðT ÞSxO2 p
1
¼ 1 þ
 ð15Þ
1 þ t0 ðT ÞkQ p; T
The sensitivity has negative value because the
emission rate decreases as the pressure increases.
Equation (15) implies that the maximum sensitivity
(¼ – 1) can be obtained when the rate constant kQ
(¼ kQSxO2p) is much larger than the intrinsic lifetime
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
260 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
of luminescence t0. This condition can be achieved
by using the binder with large solubility and (or)
large gas diffusivity.
The luminescent intensity I detected by optical
devices is proportional to the total emission flux per
unit surface area
ðd
I ¼C e dz
0 nearly unity triplet quantum yield, so that no fluor-
where d the thickness of the PSP layer and C a con-
stant depending on the experimental setup. To elim-
inate an ad hoc parameter like C, generally the ratio of
intensities at known and unknown pressures are
used. A reference intensity Iref is measured at p ¼
pref and T ¼ Tref. Then, the intensity at arbitrary
pressure and temperature I(p, T ) is
Iref e p

 ¼
ref  ¼ AðT Þ þ BðT Þ
I p; T e p; T pref
kE þ kT ðT Þ
AðT Þ ¼
;
kE þ kT ðTref Þ þ kQ pref ; Tref


kQ pref ; T
BðT Þ ¼

kE þ kT ðTref Þ þ kQ pref ; Tref
This relationship is referred to as the Stern – Volmer
equation, which is frequently used in practical PSP
measurements. The sum of the coefficients A and B
is equal to unity at T ¼ Tref. The coefficient B has
similar meaning to equation (15), so that B can be
used to represent the pressure sensitivity.
Fig. 18 Common PSP dyes
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
2.6.3 Common luminophores in use
Three families of luminophores are commonly used in
PSP measurement (Fig. 18): (a) metalloporphyrin, (b)
ruthernium complexes, and (c) pyrene derivatives.
2.6.3.1 Metalloporphyrin. Metalloporphyrins have a
high-quantum yield of phosphorescence emission.
ð16Þ The high phosphorescent yield results from the
escence is emitted from them. They are very sensitive
to oxygen. Platinum tetra(pentafluorophenyl)porphine
(PtTFPP, distributed from Frontier Science), shown in
Fig. 18(a), is now widely used in PSP measurements.
Absorption and emission spectra of PtTFPP in a poly-
mer binder (fluoroacrylic polymer (FIB), distributed
by Innovative Scientific Solutions, Inc.) is shown in
Fig. 19 [3]. The absorption spectrum has a global maxi-
mum at 392 nm and two much lower maxima at 506
and 538 nm. The first maximum corresponds to exci-
tation from S0 to S2 and the following two to S1. The
maximum of emission spectrum is obtained at at
650 nm. The lifetime of luminescence at vacuum and
atmospheric conditions (at 300 K) are 85 and 10 ms,
respectively [41]. These values are much longer than
the lifetimes of ruthenium complexes and pyrene
ð17Þ derivatives (shown later). PtTFPP is relatively
photo-stable: the decay of luminescent intensity with
continuous illumination is 1.5 per cent/h [42].
2.6.3.2 Ruthenium complexes. Luminescent tran-
sition-metal-ligand complexes are commonly used
as oxygen sensors in analytical chemistry. Many
ruthenium (II) complexes with a-diimine ligands
exhibit single, charge-transfer luminescences, high-
photochemical stability, and rather long-lived, exci-
ted-state decays [43]. Among them, [Ru(dpp)3]2þ
(tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium (II)
dichloride, distributed by GFS Chemical), shown in
Fig. 18(b), is frequently selected as the dye for PSP
measurements.
Fig. 19 Absorption and emission spectra of PtTFPP in
FIB [3] (data compiled from references [103]
and [42])
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 261

The remarkable advantages of [Ru(dpp)3]2þ for PSP

measurements are flexible excitation, single emission
peak, large oxygen sensitivity, and photochemical
stability. [Ru(dpp)3]2þ has an absorption spectrum
peak at 500 nm and exhibits a broad absorption
band around the peak (Fig. 20), which enables the
use of various visible (blue or green) light sources
such as light-emitting diode (LED) arrays or an
argon-ion laser. Its emission spectrum has a peak at
646 nm, which is well separated from the absorption.
The single emission is in contrast to phosphorescent
organic molecules, which exhibit some degree of flu-
orescence and phosphorescence with a very different
oxygen-quenching sensitivity. Its lifetime of 1.8 ms
at vacuum and 0.13 ms at atmospheric air is suitable
for application to unsteady pressure measurements
[44]. The high photochemical stability is preferable
in practical wind tunnel testing. A drawback of
[Ru(dpp)3]2þ is its large temperature sensitivity.
Figure 21 shows the Stern–Volmer plot and
temperature dependency of the AA-PSP with
[Ru(dpp)3]2þ [17, 45]. The ruthenium AA-PSP has a
large pressure sensitivity (the Stern–Volmer coefficient
B, the slope of Fig. 21(a), is 0.8). However, it has –1.5
per cent/8C of temperature sensitivity at p ¼ 100 kPa
and T ¼ 293 K. The decay of luminescent intensity
with continuous illumination is 3.7 per cent/h [17]. Fig. 21 Pressure (a) and temperature (b) sensitivities of
Recently, Sakaue et al. [23] developed a novel fab- Ruthenium AA-PSP. Chemisorption of myristic
rication procedure to reduce the temperature sensi- acid is effective to reduce the temperature
tivity (as well as humidity sensitivity) of the sensitivity. (Data assembled from references
ruthenium AA-PSP. They applied alkanoic acid (e.g. [17] and [45])
myristic acid) onto the anodized aluminium surface
simultaneously with the dye. Figure 21 shows that
the application can dramatically reduce the tempera- quenching plays a role in their deactivation mechan-
ture sensitivity to – 0.5 per cent/8C whereas its high ism. They also display strong fluorescence with high
pressure sensitivity is retained. quantum yield and low temperature sensitivity
( 0.2 per cent/8C at p ¼ 1 bar) [46]. However, they
usually exhibit severe photodegradation due to subli-
2.6.3.3 Pyrene derivatives. Polycyclic aromatic mation/evaporation or due to UV irradiation [47].
hydrocarbons are also used in oxygen sensing. Absorption and emission spectra of a pyrene-based
Among them, pyrene and its derivatives are frequently AA-PSP is shown in Fig. 22 [48]. Pyrene-1-butyric acid
used in PSP measurements. In contrast to almost all (PBA) was chemically adsorbed onto porous ano-
the organic fluorophores, they have a long fluor- dized alumina surface via dehydration process [17,
escence lifetime (t0  200 ns), so that oxygen

Fig. 20 Absorption and emission spectra of Fig. 22 Absorption and emission spectra of PBA on
[Ru(dpp)3]2þ on anodized aluminium [48] anodized aluminium [48]

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
262 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
49]. The absorption spectrum has twin peaks at
328 and 344 nm. The emission spectrum has a
global maximum at 464 nm and two much lower
maxima at 379 and 386 nm. Although absolute
values are slightly different from the literature [50],
the global and local maxima are attributed to the
excimer formed from two pyrene molecules and the
monomer of pyrene molecules, respectively. The
excimer formation of PBA is reduced by
co-chemisorbed hydrocarbon with a long alkyl
chain [50]. The excimer formation is also suppressed
using the pyrene derivatives with longer hydrocarbon
chains (e.g. decanoic or dodenanoic acids) [50].
3 CALIBRATIONS
Calibrations of PSP response can be performed either
a priori or in situ. Static calibrations involve the
determination of the sensitivity of the paint response,
relating intensity ratio to a pressure ratio (typically
referenced to atmospheric conditions). Dynamic cali-
brations involve the determination of paint frequency
response, indicating the amplitude attenuation and
phase delay as a function of applied waveform fre-
quency. Both calibrations provide essential infor-
mation for test planning.
3.1 Stern – Volmer static calibrations
Porous PSP formulations exhibit unique pressure
response behaviour, as shown in the AA-PSP cali-
bration curves of Fig. 23. The theoretical pressure
response of PSP is governed by the Stern–Volmer
relationship [1, 51], often expressed as shown in
equation (17). This description of the PSP behaviour
typically holds for conventional paint formulations
over a wide range of pressures. For porous PSPs such
as anodized aluminium, however, the linear Stern–
Volmer expression is only applicable to higher press-
ures about ambient. As conditions approach vacuum
Fig. 23 Typical calibration curves for porous PSP, showing the response of AA-PSP doped with
various luminophore molecules [20]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
the pressure sensitivity increases for porous paints,
as shown in Fig. 23. This is because the open structure
of the paint allows the luminophore molecules to be
mostly quenched at the higher pressures, thus
decreasing the sensitivity of the PSP at conditions
near atmosphere. Another typical calibration curve
for PC-PSP is shown in Fig. 24. Here the pressure
response is linear over a wide range of pressures,
but the PSP response of this particular paint formu-
lation exhibits significant temperature sensitivity.
3.2 Dynamic calibrations
With the development of porous PSP, there has been
a need for accurate characterization of the response
times of PSP. Dynamic calibration methods have
been developed to meet this need. The dynamic cali-
bration methods currently in use are described as fol-
lows, and summarized in Table 2. The ideal dynamic
calibration device should provide a known flowfield
at sufficiently high frequency, where the paint
response may be directly compared to a known stan-
dard. Dynamic calibrations should provide infor-
mation about the signal amplitude and phase delay
as a function of frequency; thus establishing the
limits of the paint response or enabling dynamic
compensators to be built.
3.2.1 Shock tube
The most common unsteady calibration device is the
shock tube [16, 22, 36, 37, 52, 53]. The shock tube is a
device with two components, the driver section and
the driven section, separated by a diaphragm
(Fig. 25). The driver section is at an elevated pressure
and the driven section is at a much lower pressure.
When the diaphragm is burst, the pressure differen-
tial between the two sections creates a travelling
compression wave that moves down the tube and
an expansion fan that moves up the tube. The shock
wave created by the burst diaphragm provides a
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 263

Fig. 25 Typical experimental setup of shock tube for

response time calibration of PSP [20]

Fig. 24 Typical calibration curves for PC-PSP [31]
rapid step change in pressure. The magnitude of the
pressure jump is related to the speed of the propagat-
ing shock wave, which depends upon the pressure
differential between the driver and driven sections.
When PSP is calibrated in the shock tube, it is
mounted flush with the wall of the tube, allowing
the shock wave to pass undisturbed over the paint
surface. A reference pressure transducer is mounted
in the wall of the shock tube, and a laser is used for
point measurement of the PSP signal. The lumines-
cent signal from the paint is monitored with a photo-
multiplier tube, and the step response of the paint is
recorded as the shock passes the measurement point
[16]. Alternatively, an image-intensified charge
coupled device (CCD) camera may be used with full-
field illumination to image the passage of the shock
wave [52].
The shock tube is well suited for response time
measurements. It creates a large-amplitude pressure
change, and the pressure change occurs quite rapidly.
A disadvantage of this setup is that frequency
response data such as phase delay and amplitude
attenuation are not obtainable.
3.2.2 Solenoid valve

The solenoid valve is another common method of

Table 2 Summary of dynamic calibration techniques PSP response time calibration [12, 15, 52, 54 – 58].
An enclosed test cell is constructed with a PSP
Calibration Time Pressure sample inside at a given pressure, as shown in
method scale (DT ) change (DP) Reference
Fig. 26. The solenoid valve, which is connected to
Shock tube 1 ms 1 atm Sakaue and an external supply of a different pressure, is quickly
Sullivan [16] opened to create a step change in pressure. The open-
Asai et al. [52]
Hangai et al. ing time of a typical solenoid valve is on the order of a
[4, 22] few hundred microseconds [12].
Teduka et al.
[36, 37, 53]
Solenoid valve 1 ms 1 atm Mosharov et al.
[15]
Baron et al.
[12]
Carroll et al.
[54]
Asai et al. [52]
Fonov et al.
[55, 56]
Winslow et al.
[57, 58]
Loudspeaker 10 ms 0.012 atm Jordan et al. [59,
60]
Bencic [61]
Periodic shock 200 ms 1 atm Bencic [61]
generator
Pulsating jet 667 ms 2.5 atm Sakamura et al.
[18] Fig. 26 Typical experimental setup of a solenoid valve
Fluidic oscillator 25 ms 1 atm Gregory et al. [31,
62, 63]
for response time calibration of PSP. (From
Asai et al. [52], Copyright 2001, IEEE)

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
264 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Solenoid valves have the advantage of being com-
mercially available, and the test cell is relatively
simple to construct. The valves have a characteristic
ringing noise, however, that lasts in the order of
tens of milliseconds (Fig. 14). This characteristic ring-
ing, along with the relatively slow opening time of the
valve, requires corrections to determine the time
response of any paint faster than a few milliseconds.
In addition, the solenoid valve does not give any
direct indication of frequency response.
It should be noted that Carroll et al. [54] have
applied sinusoidal and sawtooth pressure fluctu-
ations in a similar test cell. In this manner, they
were able to obtain phase delay and amplitude
attenuation data to a given pressure input. The
pressure fluctuation frequency for these tests was
limited to a few Hertz, however. This low frequency
is not high enough to adequately characterize the fre-
quency response of some of the faster paints available
today.
3.2.3 Loudspeaker
Loudspeakers have been used to generate an oscillat-
ing sound pressure wave in a test calibration chamber
[59 – 61]. These devices consist of a sound source that
creates pressure waves, which propagate down a test
cell, often setting up a pattern of standing waves. The
speaker can be driven with any desired waveform to
produce the pressure waves. The loudspeaker cali-
bration setup can be driven to large frequencies, on
the order of tens of kilohertz. The amplitude of the
pressure fluctuations, however, is rather small – on
the order of 150 dB SPL. The ability to determine
the input waveform allows the researcher to obtain
phase delay and amplitude attenuation data in the
frequency domain.
3.2.4 Periodic shock generator
A new calibration facility that uses rotating shock
waves is currently under development by Bencic at
NASA Glenn Research Center [61]. The dynamic cali-
bration rig capitalizes on an existing supersonic visu-
alization wind tunnel at NASA Glenn. A calibration
insert has been designed which contains a ring with
up to eight pins that rotates about a PSP sample.
The shock waves created by the pins traverse across
the paint sample at a speed proportional to the
rotational speed of the ring. With the ring rotating
at 25 000 rpm, and with eight pins installed, the facil-
ity creates an array of shock waves moving at 3.3 kHz.
The shock waves create a large-scale change in
pressure, allowing for amplitude and phase infor-
mation to be obtained in the frequency domain.
This facility is currently under construction, and has
not yet been used for dynamic calibrations of PSP.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
3.2.5 Pulsating jet
Sakamura et al. [18] have developed a pulsating jet
setup for dynamic calibrations of PSP. Pulsating jets
are created by chopping a jet of fluid with a chopper-
wheel. This type of calibration setup features a high-
dynamic pressure source, which provides good
response on the PSP sample. The pulsating frequency
is limited by the dimensions of the chopper wheel,
the number of slots that are cut in the chopper
wheel, and the rotational speed of the wheel. Current
calibration facilities are limited to pulsing frequen-
cies of 1.5 kHz. This type of setup, however, does
allow for phase and amplitude data to be obtained
in the frequency domain, through direct comparison
with a reference pressure transducer.
3.2.6 Fluidic oscillator
Fluidic oscillators have been used by Gregory et al.
[31, 62, 63] as a dynamic calibration device. The
fluidic oscillator, commonly found in automotive
applications as a windshield washer fluid nozzle,
produces an oscillating jet when supplied with a
pressurized fluid. The frequency of the oscillating
jet increases with the supply pressure, with typical
operating ranges on the order of 1 – 10 kHz. The size
of the oscillator also determines the oscillation
frequency, with smaller devices producing higher-
frequency oscillations. The advantage of the fluidic
oscillator is that it can provide high dynamic press-
ures and high frequencies. If a reference transducer
is placed in the flowfield, then the PSP response
may be directly compared with the known pressure
time history. The flowfield of a typical fluidic oscil-
lator is shown in the schlieren images in Fig. 27.
When used for dynamic calibration purposes, the
PSP sample can be positioned such that the oscillat-
ing jet impinges on the PSP surface. Typical cali-
bration data from this arrangement is shown in
Fig. 27 Schlieren images of the fluidic oscillator flow
field at two phase positions in the oscillation
cycle [62]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 265

4 RESPONSE TIME MODELLING

4.1 Time response of conventional PSP

Fig. 28 Dynamic response calibration data of
TLC-PSP, calibrated with a fluidic oscillator
[62]
Fig. 28, where power spectra from a Kulite pressure
transducer are directly compared with data from
PSP based on TLC plate.
3.3 Temperature sensitivity
PSP possesses an unfortunate, inherent characteristic
of temperature sensitivity, which is one of the most sig-
nificant challenges affecting data quality. This inherent
sensitivity of PSP luminescence to temperature is due
to both the temperature dependence of the non-
Fast time response of PSP is typically required for
measurements in hypersonic facilities and unsteady
flows. Time response of PSP is mainly determined
by oxygen diffusion through a polymer layer, whereas
the luminescent lifetime of PSP imposes an ultimate
physical limit for an achievable temporal resolution
of PSP. In a thin homogenous PSP layer, the oxygen
concentration can be described by the one-
dimensional, unsteady diffusion equation with the
zero-flux condition at the solid wall. The general sol-
ution for PSP response to a change of oxygen concen-
tration can be obtained using the Laplace transform
[4]. The special solutions for a step change and a
sinusoidal change of oxygen have been used for PSP
dynamical analysis by a number of researchers [15,
54, 55, 57, 58, 68].
For a step change of oxygen, the trigonometrical-
series-type solution for the oxygen concentration
[O2] across a polymer layer given by Carroll et al.
[54] is
½O2 ðt; zÞ  ½O2 min
½O2 max  ½O2 min
X
1

radiative decay rate of the luminophore, as well as the ¼1 ½Ak cosðlk zÞexpðl2k Dm tÞ ð18Þ
temperature dependence of the oxygen diffusivity of k¼1

the paint binder [44]. Therefore, PSP formulations

must be calibrated for temperature sensitivity as well where Dm is the diffusivity of oxygen mass transfer, t
as pressure sensitivity. An ‘ideal’ paint formulation is time, and z is the coordinate directing from the wall
will possess a temperature sensitivity that is indepen- to the polymer layer, Ak ¼ 22(21)k/(hlk), lk ¼ (2 k 2
dent of pressure. The temperature-dependence of 1)p/(2h), [O2]max ¼ [O2] (t, h), and [O2]min ¼ [O2]
oxygen diffusion in the binder has been shown to be (0, z). Similarly, Winslow et al. [57] used the
the predominant factor for many traditional paint trigonometrical-series-type solution for a sinusoidal
formulations, and is a key characteristic of porous change of oxygen
PSP formulations. The temperature sensitivity of a
typical porous PSP formulation is shown in Fig. 24. ½O2 ðt;zÞ½O2 0 ¼
If left unaccounted for, temperature effects can be a  
significant source of error in PSP measurements [64]. 4X 1
ð1Þk1 ð2k 1Þpz
½O2 1 cos sinðv t  bk Þcosðbk Þ
Various strategies have been developed for coping p k¼1 ð2k 1Þ 2h
with the temperature sensitivity of PSP. Researchers ð19Þ
have used dual-luminophore PSP formulations to sim-
ultaneously sense pressure and temperature, infrared where
cameras to measure the temperature distribution
over a model, or temperature-sensitive paint on half  
of a symmetric model to provide both temperature 1 4h2 v
bk ¼ tan
and pressure distributions [65–67]. All of these tech- p2 ð2k 1Þ2 Dm
niques involve a determination of the temperature dis-
tribution on the model, and a subsequent accounting The constants [O2]0 and [O2]1 are given in the initial
for the temperature field in a correction of the pressure and boundary conditions [O2] (0, z) ¼ [O2]0 and [O2]
data. These methodologies are particularly important (t, h) ¼ [O2]0 þ [O2]1sin(vt).
for situations where there are significant temperature Mosharov et al. [15] also presented the
gradients in space and time, and where the trigonometrical-series-type solution of the diffusion
temperature-sensitivity of the paint is substantial. equation in a similar form to equation (18) for a

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
266 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan

step change at a surface. Note that they defined a of the order of 0.1–1 s. Therefore, a conventional
coordinate system in such a way that the air –paint non-porous polymer PSP has slow time response,
interface was at z ¼ 0 and the wall was at z ¼ h. For and it is not suitable to unsteady pressure
a sinusoidal change of oxygen [O2](t, 0) ¼ [O2]0 þ measurements.
[O2]1 sin(vt) at the air – paint interface, they gave a
solution composed of two harmonic terms, that is
4.2 Optimum thickness
0
½O2 ðt; zÞ ¼ ½O2 0 þ ½O2 1 ½X ðg; z Þ sinðvtÞ Schairer [5] studied the pressure response of PSP
þ Y ðg; z0 Þ cosðvtÞ ð20Þ based on the solution of the diffusion equation,
equation (20), given by Mosharov et al. [15]. In a sim-
where g ¼ (vh 2/Dm)1/2 is a non-dimensional fre- pler notation, the luminescent intensity integrated
quency and z0 ¼ z/h is a non-dimensional coordinate over a paint layer is expressed as
normal to the wall. The coefficients in equation (20) ðh
are expðb zÞ
IðtÞ ¼ C dz ð23Þ
0 a þ k½O2 ðt; zÞ
X ðg; z0 Þ
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi where b is the extinction coefficient for the excitation
cos h½ 2 g ð1  z0 =2Þ cosðg z0 = 2Þ light, C is a proportional constant, and a and k are the
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi
þ cos½ 2 g ð1  z0 =2Þ cos hðg z0 = 2Þ coefficients. In the quasi-steady case, the indicated
¼ pffiffiffi pffiffiffi
cos hð 2 gÞ þ cosð 2 gÞ pressure by PSP is
Y ðg; z0 Þ
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi ½Iref =IðtÞ  A
sin h½ 2 g ð1  z0 =2Þ sinðg z0 = 2Þ pPSP ðtÞ ¼ ð24Þ
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi B
þ sin½ 2 g ð1  z0 =2Þ sin hðg z0 = 2Þ
¼ pffiffiffi pffiffiffi where the Stern –Volmer coefficients are determined
coshð 2 gÞ þ cosð 2 gÞ
from steady-state calibration of PSP. As indicated by
ð21Þ equation (24), coupled with equations (21) and (23),
the indicated pressure pPSP(t) is a non-linear function
These trigonometrical-series-type solutions, which of the true pressure that sinusoidally varies with time,
are often obtained using the method of separation p(t) ¼ p0 þ p1 sin(vt), although the diffusion
of variables, should be equivalent to the general equation is linear. However, if the amplitude of the
convolution-type solution in these special cases. unsteady pressure is small compared with the mean
The solutions of the diffusion equation give a clas- pressure (p1 p0), the PSP response can be linearized
sical square-law for the diffusion timescale tdiff and it is given by
through a homogenous PSP layer, that is
pPSP ðtÞ ¼ p0PSP þ p1PSP sinðv t þ fÞ
; ð25Þ
h2 ¼ p0 þ p1 ½aðgÞsinðv tÞ þ bðgÞcosðv tÞ
tdiff / ð22Þ
Dm
where
This square-law estimate is actually a phenomenologi-
cal manifestation of the statistical theory of the Brow- ð
d lnð10Þ 1 d h
nian motion. Interestingly, this estimate is still valid aðgÞ ¼ 10 X ðg; hÞdh
1  10d 0
even when the diffusivity of a homogeneous polymer ð
d lnð10Þ 1 d h
is concentration-dependent. In this case, the solution bðgÞ ¼ 10 Y ðg; hÞdh
for the oxygen concentration distribution can be 1  10d 0
expressed by this similarity variable j ¼ z/(2t 1/2) [69]. ð26Þ
Clearly, the Boltzmann’s scaling indicates that the
timescale for any point to reach a given concentration The quantity d ¼ bh/ln(10) represents the optical thick-
is proportional to the square of the distance (or thick- ness of the paint layer. The unsteady amplitude ratio
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ness). Using the solution of the diffusion equation for a and phase shift are given by p1PSP/p1 ¼ ða2 þ b2
step change of pressure, Carroll et al. [70] estimated and f ¼ tan21(b/a). Figure 29 shows the attenuated
the mass diffusivity Dm for oxygen in a typical silicon amplitude ratio p1PSP/p1 at different frequencies for
polymer binder and gave Dm ¼ 1.23 2 1.88
d/h ¼ 0.01 mm21 and Dm ¼ 103 mm2/s.
1029 m2/s over a temperature range of 9.9–40.2 8C. The paint thickness affects both the frequency
For a 10-mm thick polymer layer having the diffusivity response and the SNR of PSP. As the thickness
of Dm ¼ 10210 2 1029 m2/s, the diffusion timescale is increases, the luminescent signal from PSP and thus

Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
Fig. 29 The unsteady amplitude ratio as a function of
the paint thickness for d/h ¼ 0.01 mm21 and
Dm ¼ 103 mm2/s [5]
the SNR increase, whereas the frequency response of
PSP decreases as a result of the attenuation of the
unsteady amplitude ratio. Hence, there exists an opti-
mum thickness that balances the two conflicting
requirements to achieve both high frequency
response and SNR. Considering the unsteady
luminescent signal I(t) ¼ I0 þ I1sin(vt), Schairer [5]
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the unsteady signal amplitude I1 ¼ I0
introduced
p
ða 2 þ b2 Þ and then the unsteady SNR, SNR0 ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffipffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
I1/ ðI 0 Þ ¼ ðI 0 Þ ða2 þ b2 Þ. Figure 30 shows the nor-
malized SNR0 as a function of the relative thickness h/
h(21.25 dB), where h(21.25 dB) is the thickness that
corresponds to 1.25 dB (p1PSP/p1 ¼ 0.866) attenu-
ation of the unsteady amplitude ratio as illustrated
in Fig. 29. Thus, an empirical estimate for the opti-
mum thickness is hop/h(21.25 dB)  1 that corre-
sponds to the maximum value of the normalized
SNR0 . As shown in Fig. 31, the optimum thickness
hop  h(21.25 dB) decreases with the unsteady
pressure frequency for a given diffusivity and relative
optical thickness. Figure 31 indicates that the
Fig. 30 The normalized SNR’ as a function of the
relative paint thickness for d/h ¼ 0.01 mm21
and Dm ¼ 103 mm2/s [5]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
267
Fig. 31 The optimum thickness as a function of the
unsteady pressure frequency for d/h ¼
0.01 mm21 [5]
optimum thickness is less than 5 mm for Dm , 16

103 mm2/s when the pressure frequency is 100 Hz.
For
p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffisuch a thin paint layer, the absolute SNR (/
ðI0 Þ) is so low that accurate measurement of the
luminescent emission becomes difficult. This indi-
cates that a conventional polymer-based PSP is not
suitable to unsteady measurements.
4.3 Diffusion timescale of porous PSP
Compared with a conventional homogeneous PSP, a
porous PSP has a much shorter diffusion time ran-
ging from 18 to 500 ms due to enlarged air-polymer
interface [16, 71]. Interestingly, recent measurements
of the response time for three polymers, GP197,
GP197/BaSO4 mixture and poly(TMSP), have
showed that the classical square-law does not hold
for a porous PSP [52, 53]. As shown in Fig. 32,
measurements gave the power-law relations for the
diffusion timescale tdiff / h 1.83 for GP197, tdiff /
h 1.07 for GP197/BaSO4 mixture, and tdiff / h 0.29 for
poly(TMSP) at 313.1 K. For a porous anodized alu-
minium (AA) surface, the power-law relation is tdiff
/ h 0.573 [14, 16]. For the GP197 silicone polymer,
the power-law exponent is close to 2 as predicted
by the classical estimate for a homogenous polymer
film. However, the power-law exponent for the
porous materials GP197/BaSO4 mixture, poly
(TMSP), and AA-PSP is significantly .2. In addition,
Fig. 33 shows that the power-law exponent for the
polymer poly(TMSP) linearly increases with tempera-
ture over a temperature range of 293.1 – 323.1 K.
In order to understand the time response of a porous
PSP, from a standpoint of phenomenology, Liu et al.
[72] derived the expressions for the effective diffusivity
and diffusion timescale of a porous layer. Diffusion in a
porous material can be considered as a diffusion pro-
blem in a two-phase system made up of one disperse
phase and one continuous polymer or other material.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
268 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 32 The power-law relationship between the
response time and coating thickness for three
polymers GP197, GP197/BaSO4 mixture and
poly(TMSP) at 313.1 K, and AA surface at
about 300K. Experimental data are from
references Teduka [53], Asai et al. [52], and
Sakaue [14]. (Reproduced from Liu et al. [72];
reprinted by permission of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.)
In PSP, the disperse phase is composed of numerous
pores filled with air. Consider an element of a porous
polymer layer of the length l, width l, and thickness
h, as shown in Fig. 34. The coordinate z is normally
directed to the polymer layer from the upper surface
Fig. 33 The exponent of the power-law relation
between time-scale and coating thickness for
the polymer poly(TMSP) as a function of
temperature. Experimental data are from
references Teduka [53] and Asai et al. [52].
(Reproduced from Liu et al. [72]; reprinted by
permission of the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
Fig. 34 Element of a porous binder layer [72]
(reprinted by permission of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.)
of the layer. It is assumed that many cylindrical (tube-
like) pores are distributed and oriented in the
z-direction in the element. The effective radius and
depth of a pore are denoted by rpore and hpore, respect-
ively. The radius of a pore is much larger than the size
of a molecule of oxygen. In general, the depth of a pore
is smaller than or equal to the layer thickness, i.e.
hpore 4 h. For simplicity of expression, the normal
directional derivative of the oxygen concentration
[O2] at the air-polymer interface is denoted by vn
(z) ¼ @[O2]/@n.
The effective diffusivity Dmeff of the porous polymer
layer with many cylindrical pores is given by a balance
equation between the mass transfer through the
apparent homogenous upper surface and the total
mass transfer across the air-polymer interface, that is
Dmeff l 2 vn ð0Þ ¼ Dm ðl2  Npore p rpore
2
Þvn ð0Þ
2
þ Dm Npore p rpore vn ðhpore Þ
ð hpore
2
þ Dm Npore 2p rpore vn ðzÞdz ð27Þ
0
where Npore is the total number of the pores in the
element and Dm is the diffusivity of the polymer con-
tinuum. The integral term in equation (27) is the total
mass transfer across the peripheral surface of the
pores in the element. Thus, the effective diffusivity
Dmeff is given by
Dmeff 2
¼ 1 þ ½vn ðhpore Þ=vn ð0Þ  1Npore p rpore l 2
Dm
ð hpore
2 2 1
þ Npore 2p rpore l vn ð0Þ vn ðzÞdz ð28Þ
0
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008

In a simplified case where vn (z) ¼ const. across the
thin layer, equation (28) becomes
Dmeff 1
¼ 1 þ 2 aV rpore h
Dm
where aV ¼ Nporeprpore2
hporel 22h 21 is the volume frac-
tion of the cylindrical pores in the polymer layer.
Equation (29) indicates that an increase of the effective
diffusivity is proportional to the volume fraction of the
pores and a ratio between the polymer layer thickness
and the radius of the pore. Equation (29) for Dmeff is
valid only for an ideal porous polymer layer with the
straight cylindrical pores oriented normally. Neverthe-
less, this model can be generalized for real porous
polymers where topology of the pores is often highly
complicated.
For more realistic modelling, the topological struc-
ture of a pore is considered as a highly convoluted
and folded tube in a polymer layer while the cross-
section of the tube remains unchanged. The integral
in equation (29) should be replaced by an integral
along the path of a highly convoluted tube-like
pore. In this case, the concept of the fractal dimen-
sion should be introduced because the length of a
highly convoluted tube is no longer proportional to
the linear length scale of the tube in the z-direction
(e.g. hpore). According to the length-area relation for
a fractal path, the integral along the path is pro-
portional to Adpore
fr
/2 or hdpore
fr
, where dfr (1 4 dfr , 2)
is the fractal dimension of the path of a pore and
Apore / h2pore is the characteristic area covering over
the path. Loosely speaking, the fractal dimension rep-
resents the degree of complexity of the pore pathway.
In order to take the fractal nature of pores into
account, equation (28) is generalized using a Rie-
mann – Liouville fractional integral of the order dfr,
that is [73]
 
Dmeff vn ðhpore Þ 2
¼1þ Npore p rpore l 2
Dm vn ð0Þ  1
ð hpore
2 2 1
þ Npore 2p rpore l vn ð0Þ vn ðzÞðdzÞdfr
0
In a simplified case where vn(z) ¼ const. across a thin
layer, a generalized expression for Dmeff is
1  dfr 1
Dmeff 2 aV rpore hpore
¼1þ hdfr
Dm Gð1 þ dfr Þ h with temperature in a temperature range of 293.1 –
where G(1 þ dfr) is the gamma function. Here, hpore is
interpreted as a linear length scale of a convoluted
tube in the z-direction and aV is the volume fraction
of the apparent cylindrical pores. Equation (31)
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
Review of PSP 269
clearly shows that the effective diffusivity Dmeff is
not only proportional to h dfr, but also related to the
porosity parameters aV r21 pore and hpore/h. For dfr ¼ 1,
equation (31) is simply reduced to equation (29) for
ð29Þ the straight cylindrical pores.
For a porous polymer layer where diffusion is Fick-
ian under some microscopic assumptions, the diffu-
sion equation is still a valid phenomenological
model as long as the diffusivity Dm is replaced by
the effective diffusivity Dmeff. Hence, an estimate for
the diffusion timescale of a porous PSP layer is
h2 =Dm
tdiff / dfr 1 dfr
1 =Gð1 þ d ÞÞðh
1 þ ð2 aV rpore fr pore =hÞ h
ð32Þ
which clearly illustrates how the fractal dimension dfr
and the porosity parameters aV r21 pore and hpore/h
affect the response time of a porous PSP. For aV
r21
pore  1 or hpore/h  1, equation (32) naturally
approaches to the classical square-law for a hom-
ogenous polymer layer.
On the other hand, for aV r21
pore  1 and hpore/h  1,
another asymptotic estimate for tdiff is a simple
power-law
h2dfr =Dm
tdiff / ð33Þ
ðNpore =l2 Þrpore
Equation (33) is asymptotically valid for a very
porous polymer layer. The exponent in the power-
law relation between the response time tdiff and
thickness h deviates from 2 by the fractal dimension
dfr due to the presence of the fractal pores in the
polymer layer. Equation (33) provides an expla-
nation for the experimental finding that the expo-
nent q in the power-law relation tdiff / h q is .2
for a porous PSP. In addition, equation (33) indi-
cates that the diffusion timescale is inversely pro-
portional to the number of pores per area and
radius of pores. This relation can serve as a useful
tool to extract the fractal dimension of the tube-like
pores in a very porous polymer layer from measure-
ð30Þ ments of the diffusion response time. For example,
the fractal dimension dfr of a pore in the polymer
poly(TMSP) is dfr ¼ 1.71, whereas for GP197/BaSO4
mixture the fractal dimension dfr is close to one.
In addition, based on the experimental results
shown in Fig. 33, it is known that the fractal
dimension dfr for poly(TMSP) linearly decreases
ð31Þ
323.1 K. This implies that the geometric structure
of a pore in poly(TMSP) may be altered by a temp-
erature change. Note that the diffusivity Dm of
oxygen mass transfer is also temperature-
dependent, but it is independent of the coating
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
270 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
thickness h. Therefore, the experimental results in
Fig. 33 mainly reflect the temperature effect on the
geometric structure of pores in the polymer rather
than the diffusivity.
4.4 Time response of AA-PSP
Figure 35 shows a schematic description of the
adsorption of luminophores onto a porous anodized
aluminium. Here it is assumed that the luminophores
exist in the micropores. The permeation of gas into
micropores is important to understand the time
response of the adsorptive pressure-sensitive coat-
ings on porous anodized aluminium, because diffu-
sion into binder is the most severe limit on the time
response.
Let the gaseous transport through a single capillary
pore is considered. It is assumed that the pore has a
straight cylindrical shape. A good review on this sub-
ject is found in the literature [74]. The mechanism of
transport depends on the Knudsen number
l lisions with the pore walls. This process is known as
Kn ¼
d Knudsen diffusion.
where d is the diameter of micropore, and l is the
mean free path of gas molecules. Except for Kn  1,
the gas in the pore is no longer treated as a
continuum.
When the gas is composed of rigid, non-attracting
spherical molecules of diameter sd, the mean free
path is given by
1 where Dkg and Dgg denote the Knudsen and bulk dif-
l ¼ pffiffiffi 2
2psd n
where n denotes the number of molecules per unit
volume [75]. Since the perfect gas law is applicable
for the thermodynamic behaviour of the gas, the
number of molecules is given by
p
n¼
kT
in which k is the Boltzmann constant. Substituting
Fig. 35 Schematic of porous AA-PSP
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
equation (36) into equation (35) yields
k T
l ¼ pffiffiffi 2 ð37Þ
2psd p
The diameter of molecules sd is 3.617
10210 m
for air [75]. The Boltzmann constant k is 1.38

10223 J/K. When the pressure p is 1 atm (101.3 kPa)
and temperature T is 20 8C (293.15 K), the mean free
path l ¼ 68.7 nm. On the other hand, the diameter
of micropores is within the range of 20 to 100 nm
[16, 17]. Therefore, the Knudsen number for the pre-
sent case is
Kn 5 1 ð38Þ
Equation (38) indicates that the gas in the micro-
pore is no longer treated as a continuum. When the
mean free path of gas molecules exceeds the diameter
of pores, the gaseous transport is dominated by col-
ð34Þ
An effective diffusion coefficient can be deter-
mined for the gaseous transport phenomena in con-
tinuum, transition, and rarefied gas flow regime.
The effective diffusion coefficient is
Dkg Dgg
Deff ¼ ð39Þ
Dkg þ Dgg
ð35Þ
fusion coefficients, respectively. This expression is
known as the Bosanquet formula.
The Knudsen diffusion coefficient Dkg is given by
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
d 8RT
Dkg ¼ ð40Þ
3 pM
ð36Þ
where R and M are the universal gas constant and the
molecular weight of the gas, respectively. Note that
the Knudsen diffusion coefficient is in linear pro-
portion to the diameter of the micropore.
The bulk diffusion coefficient Dgg can be estimated
by taking the Chapman – Enskog theory as
T 3=2
Dgg ¼ 2:63
107 ð41Þ
pM 1=2 sd2 V
where Dgg is given in (m2/s), T is taken in (K), p is in
(bar), M is in (g/mol), and sd is in (10210 m) [76]. V
denotes the collision integral for diffusion, which is
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
a function of temperature, and is given by
C1 C3 C5
V¼ þ þ
ðT  Þc2 expðC4 T  Þ expðC6 T  Þ
C7
þ ð42Þ
expðC8 T  Þ
where
T  ¼ kT =1; C1 ¼ 1:060 36; C2 ¼ 0:156 10;
C3 ¼ 0:193 00; C4 ¼ 0:476 35; C5 ¼ 1:035 87;
C6 ¼ 1:529 96; C7 ¼ 1:764 74; C8 ¼ 3:894 11;
and the characteristic Lennard –Jones energy is 1.
Figure 36 shows the effective diffusion coefficient
for different diameters of a micropore. The par-
ameters appearing in equations (39) to (42) are taken
for air as R ¼ 8.314 J/(mol K), M ¼ 28.97 g/mol, s ¼
3.617 10210 m, and 1 ¼ 97.0 K [75]. There are three
lines in Fig. 36. Two solid lines represent the effective
diffusion coefficients for p ¼ 10 kPa and for p ¼
100 kPa, whereas the temperature is 293.15 K. The
bulk diffusion coefficient is estimated as Dgg ¼ 198

1026 m2/s for p ¼ 10 kPa and Dgg ¼ 19.8 1026 m2/s
for p ¼ 100 kPa. A broken line represents the Knudsen
diffusion coefficient.
As evident from equation (39), it is the smaller of
the two diffusion coefficients that has the greatest
effect on the value of Deff. When pore sizes fall in
the Knudsen flow regime, Deff must equal to Dkg,
because Dkg  Dgg. Since the mean free path is in
inverse proportion to the pressure as shown in
equation (36), the flow in micropore is close to the
Knudsen flow in the low-pressure environment.
Therefore, the effective diffusion coefficient for p ¼
10 kPa coincides with the Knudsen diffusion coeffi-
cient in the range where d , 100 nm.
Fig. 36 Effective diffusion coefficient for gas
permeation in a straight cylindrical pore, T ¼
293.1 K [17]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
271
Roughly speaking, the effective diffusion coeffi-
cient is approximately 3
1026 m2/s in the case
where d ¼ 20 nm. This value is much higher than
the diffusion coefficient for a polymer binder, which
is typically less than O (1029 m2/s).
The characteristic time for the diffusion phenom-
ena tdiff is given by
h2
tdiff ¼ ð43Þ
Deff
where h denotes the thickness of binder. Typically,
the AA-PSP has h ¼ 10 mm, so that tdiff ¼ 33 ms.
This value is comparable to the lifetime of lumines-
cence. Thus, the pressure-sensitive coating on
porous anodized aluminium overcomes the diffu-
sion barrier problem in the PSP with polymer
binder.
4.5 Non-linear quenching kinetics
Modelling of the gas diffusion within the paint
binder, and the resulting indicated pressure from
PSP have allowed for the development of compensa-
tors. Winslow et al. [58] developed both a linear
empirical model and a physics-based model for
simulating the response of conventional paint formu-
lations. Their physical model solved for the distri-
bution of gas concentration within the paint layer
as a function of time, and determined the indicated
pressure response from PSP to an arbitrary pressure
time history. Their model results agreed very well
with experiments using step changes in pressure, as
well as a sawtooth waveform. Winslow et al. also pre-
sented results showing the effects of nonlinear static
calibration curves on the dynamic response of PSP.
Model results indicated that the paint step response
varies, depending on the direction of the step
change in pressure.
Drouillard and Linne [77] also employed physical
diffusion models for the quenching kinetics of PSP.
Their work involved application of the model to
lifetime-based measurements, including the develop-
ment of lifetime techniques for unsteady pressure
measurements. Their models incorporated the opti-
cal attenuation of light through the paint binder
due to Beer’s Law, and showed that this had only a
mild effect on the results. As the paint thickness
was increased beyond 45 mm, however, the effects
of optical attenuation became much more signifi-
cant. Drouillard and Linne also quoted a value of
300 – 1000 mm2/s for the mass diffusivity of Uni-FIB
paint.
Gregory and Sullivan [63] also employed
diffusion-based models to investigate the nonlinear
quenching kinetics of PSP formulations. Their work
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
272 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
showed through modelling and experiments that the
unsteady response that the unsteady response of
PSP is affected by the nonlinear nature of the
Stern – Volmer calibration. A calibration that is
highly non-linear causes the paint to respond
quickly to a decrease in oxygen concentration
(pressure decrease) and relatively slowly to oxygen
sorption (pressure increase). They also showed that
this observed affect is more pronounced for larger
changes in pressure, particularly if the pressure
change covers the nonlinear portion of the Stern –
Volmer curve at low pressures. Ultimately, it was
found that these non-linear effects only become sig-
nificant when the characteristic time scale of the
flowfield is faster than the response time of the
paint. Gregory and Sullivan used the unsteady flow-
field of a fluidic oscillator (Fig. 27) to verify the
model predictions and evaluate the response
characteristics of PC-PSP and fast FIB PSP. Exper-
imental results with PC-PSP demonstrated no fre-
quency roll-off at 1.59 kHz, indicating that the
diffusion coefficient is at least 8.4
106 mm2/s.
Results with the fast FIB paint formulation demon-
strated the non-linear response characteristics pre-
dicted by the diffusion model. The fast FIB results
indicated a much slower response to an increase
in oxygen when compared with argon or nitrogen
at the same conditions, as shown in Fig. 37. A quan-
titative comparison between the fast FIB results and
the diffusion model showed good agreement and
Fig. 37 Comparison of diffusion model with
experimental results for nitrogen and oxygen
jets from the fluidic oscillator with Fast FIB
PSP. The PSP response to both nitrogen and
oxygen is significantly attenuated from the
input waveform, and the nitrogen response is
faster that the oxygen response [63]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
yielded a diffusion coefficient of 633 mm2/s and a
time constant of 1.6 ms for the 1-mm-thick fast FIB
paint.
5 HIGH-SPEED APPLICATIONS
5.1 Short-duration wind tunnels
One challenging area of PSP is application in hyperso-
nic wind tunnels for testing hypersonic vehicles such
as re-entry capsules and space planes. Various types
of complex flow phenomena are involved in hyperso-
nic flow, including shock-wave/shock-wave inter-
actions, shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction, flow
separation, jet impingement, and boundary-layer
transition. The complexity of these phenomena
sometimes poses serious problems for the stability
and control of hypersonic reentry vehicles. Thus, sur-
face pressure measurements are considered as one of
the most critical requirements in hypersonic wind
tunnel testing.
Applications of PSP to hypersonic tests are not easy
because high-enthalpy flows may produce such a
large temperature increase on a model that the temp-
erature effect of PSP is overwhelming. The tempera-
ture effect of PSP in a conventional blowdown
hypersonic wind tunnel can become comparable to
the pressure effect, making it difficult to compensate
for temperature. The shock tunnel is a hypersonic
wind tunnel featuring the short flow duration. Its dur-
ation is of the order of several to several tens of milli-
seconds; thus the temperature effects of PSP are
usually negligible because of small heat load due to
the short flow duration. An increase in the surface
temperature in such shock tunnels is around several
Kelvin. Thus, the temperature effect is almost negli-
gible for thin PSP coatings of which heat mass is
negligible.
Using thin layers of polymer-based LPS-F1 paint,
Borovoy et al. [78] measured the pressure distribution
on a cylinder at Mach 6 in a shock wind tunnel with
duration of 40 ms (TsAGI UT-1), and achieved
reasonable agreement with the theoretical solution
and pressure transducer measurements. The achie-
ved accuracy was about 10 per cent. Similarly,
Hubner et al. [79 – 81] measured the pressure distri-
butions on a wedge and an elliptic cone at Mach 7.5
in 48-inch hypersonic shock tunnel at Calspan
(48-inch HST) with a run-time of 7–8 ms. They used
a polymer-based PSP composed of [Ru(dpp)3]2þ and
poly(DMS). The PSP characteristic response time
was 3 – 6 ms. To reduce the temperature effect of
PSP, they applied PSP directly on the metal model
surface rather than a white basecoat. For a very thin
layer of PSP without a white basecoat, however, the
luminescent intensity of PSP was so low that the
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
accuracy of the acquired pressure image was limited.
Overall pressure uncertainty estimated from shock
tube measurements ranged up to 5 per cent over
one atmosphere.
Nakakita et al. [82] used anodized aluminium (AA)
PSP to measure the pressure fields on expansion
corner and compression corner models at Mach 10
in the NAL 0.44-m Hypersonic Shock Tunnel with a
duration of 30 ms. More recent measurements in a
hypersonic shock tunnel were made using AA-PSP
on a generic wing-body model [83] and a com-
pression corner model [84]. AA-PSP with a probe
molecule [Ru(dpp)3]2þ was used since it has a very
short response time of about 30 – 100 ms. Further-
more, because AA-PSP on aluminium models was
binder-free and aluminium models have high ther-
mal conductivity, an increase of the surface tempera-
ture was relatively small (.2 8C) in most parts of the
model during a run in the shock tunnel.
Figure 38 shows an optical system for the wing-
body model test conducted by Nakakita and Asai
[83]. The measurement system was set at the front
of an optical window of the test section and 1.3 m
away from the model. A highly stable continuous
xenon lamp (fluctuation of the light intensity was
much less than 1 per cent) was used as an illumina-
tion light source and the illumination light was trans-
mitted through a light guide and projected onto the
model by a lens at the exit of the light guide.
A cooled 14-bit CCD camera (Hamamatsu C4880-07)
was used to detect the luminescent emission from
PSP. The spatial resolution of the CCD camera was
1008
1018 pixels. To separate the illumination
light from the luminescent emission, a band-pass
filter (460 + 50 nm) was placed between the exit of
the light guide and the condenser lens; another band-
pass filter (600– 800 nm) was mounted on the front of
the camera lens to eliminate the illumination light
from being collected by the CCD camera. The
exposure time for the camera was 20 ms. In this
Fig. 38 Optical system for PSP measurements and
calibration in the NAL 0.44-m shock tunnel
(viewed from the ceiling) [83]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
273
experiment, the exposure time was adjusted by con-
trolling illumination light. A mechanical shutter
(UNIBLITZ VS25) was used to control the exposure
time. It is noted that, due to the high luminescent
intensity of AA-PSP at low pressure conditions, the
integration time for the CCD camera is relatively
short. Thus, high-quality images were obtained with-
out using an image intensifier.
Figure 39 shows the wing body model installed in
the NAL 0.44-m Hypersonic Shock Tunnel and its
drawing. The material of this model is aluminium
and aluminium alloy. The nose and wings are made
of pure aluminium, and the fuselage is made of
aluminium alloy to maintain structural strength.
There are ten pressure taps connected to Kulite
(XCS-093-5A) pressure transducers on the model sur-
face to provide reference pressure data for compari-
son. In this study, a priori calibration was used to
calculate pressure from the PSP emission. A cali-
bration curve was obtained on site during evacuation
of the vacuum tank in which the test model was
installed. In this method, the actual test model can
be used for calibration so that one can avoid uncer-
tainties due to calibration condition and optical
system. Also the pressure sensitivity of AA-PSP can
be calibrated on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
Figures 40 and 41 show typical schlieren images
and PSP images along with a comparison plot of
PSP data with pressure tap data at the angle of
attack of 08. The total temperature was 1180 K, total
pressure was 3.4 MPa, Pitot pressure was 7800 Pa,
and Mach number was 10.4. In Fig. 41, pressure dis-
tributions on the wing body model for various
angles, (a) full view, (b) close-up view of the inter-
action region, and (c) side view, are shown. Pressure
profiles from the model nose to the wing tip along
the stagnation line are also shown for comparison
with pressure transducer data. The local pressure
was normalized by the Pitot pressure P02 behind the
normal shock. It is seen that PSP data are in good
agreement with the pressure tap data. The measure-
ments were repeatable and the standard deviation
was about 160 Pa (2.0 per cent of P02). Owing to the
high spatial resolution of the CCD camera and the
high SNR obtained by eliminating a use of an image
intensifier, the aerodynamic phenomena on the
wing-body model can be understood in detail. A
shock wave generated from the model nose is inci-
dent on the wing, and interacts with the bow shock
in front of the wing leading edge (Fig. 40). The shock-
wave/shock-wave interaction on this model was
found to be categorized as Type VI. The expansion
wave caused by the triplet point was incident to
model surface and decreased local pressure.
Sakaue et al. [85] applied AA-PSP in the Purdue
Mach 4 Quiet Flow Ludwieg Tube to measure surface
pressures on a hemisphere and an axisymmetric
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
274 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 39 Experimental model; (a) model installation, (b) model dimenstions and pressure
transducer locations [83]
scramjet inlet model. The Ludwieg tube has a short
run time (about 3 s), with the stagnation conditions
dropping every 100 ms. The pressure distribution on
the model surface is on the order of hundreds of Pas-
cals. A blue LED array was operated in pulsed mode
and its duration was set at 200 ms. A CCD camera
was exposed during the entire test duration. A
610 nm high-pass filter and an IR rejection filter
were mounted on the camera. Results from AA-PSP
showed good qualitative comparison to CFD results.
Uncertainty estimates based on the AA-PSP cali-
bration, and pressure uncertainty from a referenced
instrument showed that the measured pressures on
the hemisphere and scramjet inlet models had
pressure uncertainties around 4– 6 per cent.
5.2 Shock tubes
Shock tubes were used to characterize the time
response of porous PSP as well as to study shock-
induced unsteady phonemena. Using a shock tube,
Fig. 40 Schlieren photographs at a ¼ 08; (a) side view,
(b) top view [83]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
Sakaue et al. [14, 16, 71], Teduka et al. [36], Sakamura
et al. [18], and Kameda et al. [17] measured the
response time of porous PSP that is on the order of
several to several tens microseconds. Hubner et al.
[80] also used a small-scale, low pressure-ratio
shock tube to evaluate response time characteristics
of a polymer-based thin-film PSP.
Asai et al. [52] and Teduka [53] used a shock tube to
study unsteady phenomena caused by interaction
between a moving shock wave and a circular block.
Nishikawa et al. [86] and Miura et al. [87] studied
propagation of a blast wave using PSP. The character-
istic time of these unsteady or transient phenomena
is on the order of microseconds so that use of
fast responding porous PSP is indispensable. The
porous PSP excels at capturing the shock-wave
motion of the order of kilohertz, but the short run-
time limits the exposure time of a CCD camera to col-
lect photons and reduces the possibility of improving
the SNR. Thus, to capture instantaneous images or
acquire sequential images of an unsteady pressure
field in a shock tube, sophisticated optical equipment
such as an image intensifier must be employed.
Asai et al. [52] and Teduka [53] demonstrated the
feasibility of [Ru(dpp)3]2þ AA-PSP for time-resolved
unsteady pressure measurements. Figure 42 shows
a schematic of the experimental setup for the shock
tube tests. The cross-section of the tube was
73.9 mm circular. A circular block of 12 mm diameter
was installed vertically in the centre of a PSP-coated
part flush mounted on the shock tube wall. Cali-
bration of PSP was made by adjusting the test section
pressure prior to running the shock tube. Full-field
measurements were acquired using a cooled CCD
camera (14bits) with an image intensifier that can
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 275

Fig. 41 PSP images and pressure distribution on the wing body model at Mach 10 and an angle of
attack of 08. (a) full view, (b) close-up view of the interaction region, (c) side view, (d)
centre-line pressure profile compared with pressure transducer data [83]

be gated at successive instants after incidence of a

moving shock wave. Illumination for PSP was pro-
vided by a pair of xenon flash lamps. Sequential
images were obtained from 475 to 530 ms in an inter-
val of 5 ms by changing the delay time from run to
run. The camera gating time was set at 10 ms.
Figure 43 shows a time sequence of images of an
unsteady pressure field induced by a moving shock
wave interacting with the stationary circular block,
where the shock speed was 610 m/s. Because the
observation window flush mounted on the surface
of the tube acted like a two-dimensional concave
lens, the images were compressed vertically so that
a circular section of the cylinder looked like an ellipse.
As shown in Fig. 43, a curved high-pressure region
induced by the reflected shock was formed in the
front of the block after the incident plane shock Fig. 42 Schematic of an experimental setup for
impinged on the block. At the same time, a part of time-resolved PSP measurements in a shock
the incident shock continued travelling downstream tube. (From Asai et al. [52], Copyright 2001,
after it was deflected, and expansion waves were IEEE)

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
276 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan

Fig. 43 Sequential images of unsteady pressure field induced by interaction between a moving
shock wave and a circular cylinder block, where the speed of the shock is 610 m/s and
the interval between two images is 5 ms. (From Asai et al. [52], Copyright 2001, IEEE)

generated. A pair of symmetric vortices, which are
visualized as the low-pressure regions in Fig. 43,
formed and grew behind the circular block. Care
must be taken in interpreting these images, however,
because [Ru(dpp)3]2þ AA-PSP had a time lag of sev-
eral tens of ms. This error can be reduced if a Pyrene-
based AA-PSP coating were used, because it has a
much shorter response time.
Sakamura et al. [19] applied a fast-response porous
PSP technique to the surface pressure imaging for an
unsteady flow induced in a two-dimensional Laval
nozzle during its starting process at a frame fre-
quency of 5 kHz. The porous PSP used in that work
was composed of [Ru(dpp)3]2þ and a commercial
silica-gel TLC plate. The time constant of the PSP
for pressure fluctuations was 13.6 ms. The experiment
was performed in a two-dimensional Laval nozzle
that was attached to a high-pressure air reservoir
through a quick-opening valve and allowed to dis-
charge into the atmosphere. Flow was started by
opening the valve between the nozzle and the reser-
voir. The PSP was installed on a nozzle side wall
and illuminated by two LED lamps that supplied
blue light at a peak wavelength of 460 nm through
an optical window. The intensity of the luminescence
emitted from the PSP was measured by using a
fast-framing complementary metal-oxide semicon-
ductor camera with 12-bit depth (Vision Research,
Phantom V7.0) through an optical high-pass filter.
The camera system can acquire 512
256 pixel
images at frame frequencies up to 16 kHz. In the cur-
rent work, the imaging of the surface pressure distri-
bution was performed at a frame frequency of 5 kHz
and an exposure time of 180 ms.
Figure 44 shows temporally-resolved ratioed
images obtained during the flow starting process
in the nozzle. The images are pseudo-coloured to
clarify the flow features, so that low pressure is
blue and high pressure is red. High colour-gradient
at the throat indicates high pressure-gradient
directly. From the present results, it is found that a
rapid flow evolution on the order of kilohertz can
be well captured by the present PSP imaging
system with high spatial and temporal resolution.
It is noted that the present results reveal that the
symmetry of the pressure field is no longer kept
when the starting shock wave moves upstream.
Such flow features are extremely difficult to obtain
from pressure tap measurements. The present
result clearly indicates the superiority of the use of
PSP in unsteady flow testing over such conventional
methods.

Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 277

Fig. 44 Temporal evolution of ratioed images showing the starting process of a supersonic Laval
nozzle [19]

6 UNSTEADY APPLICATIONS

6.1 Unsteady delta wing flow

Kameda et al. [45] measured ‘non-periodic’ unsteady
pressure distribution on a delta wing in the 0.6-m
transonic wind tunnel at the Institute of Space and
Astronautical Science of Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (ISAS/JAXA). The transonic flow over a delta
wing is unsteady and non-periodic due to complex
shock wave/vortex interaction.
Figure 45 shows a schematic of the delta wing model.
The model had 658 sweep, no camber, 150-mm root
chord and sharp leading edge. The AA-PSP was used
with the [Ru(dpp)3]2þ dye. The hydrophobic coating
[23] was applied on the AA-PSP to suppress water
deposition in the micropore, which substantially
alters the PSP response. In order to correct the temp-
erature dependency of the PSP signal, the temperature Fig. 45 Delta wing model. Square symbols with circled
distribution was instantaneously measured using numbers indicate the location of pressure
a temperature-sensitive paint (TSP). Dichlorotris transducers [45]
(1,10-phenanthroline)ruthenium(II) [Ru(phen)] was
selected as the TSP dye to use a single light source for
illuminating both the PSP and the TSP. Four pressure Figure 46 shows a schematic of the measuring
taps were placed on the delta wing model. Miniature instruments. The model was illuminated with a blue-
pressure-transducers (Kulite XCQ-062-25A) were green light source, which was a 6-W, multi-line
placed behind the taps. The diameter of the taps was argon-ion laser through a liquid-light guide. The
0.5 mm. emission was detected with a thermoelectrically

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
278 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 46 Experimental setup for unsteady delta wing
testing [45]
cooled 10-bit CCD high-speed video camera (Shi-
madzu HPV-1) through an optical bandpass filter
(transmission wavelength 650 + 50 nm) and an
image intensifier (Hamamatsu C7786). A priori cali-
bration method was used to convert the lumines-
cence intensities into the pressure and temperature
distributions.
The experiment conditions were a free-stream
Mach number of 0.9, a total pressure of 150 Pa, and
a total temperature of 297 K. The angle of attack of
the delta wing was 208. The images were recorded
every 1 ms. One hundred and two images were
recorded per each blowing. The exposure time of
each shot was 0.5 ms.
Several instantaneous pressure distributions are
displayed in Fig. 47. The high-pressure region
behind the terminating shock waves moved back
and forth due to shock-wave/vortex interaction. The
pressure-time history measured by the AA-PSP was
compared with the pressure transducers as shown
Fig. 47 Snapshots of pressure distribution the elapsed time was counted from the beginning of
the photographing [45]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
in Fig. 48. The PSP data represent the spatially aver-
aged data around each pressure tap (whose location
is found in Fig. 45). The area is 5 pixels
10 pixels
(3.5 mm
7 mm). The pressure-time histories of
PSP measurement agree quantitatively well with the
transducers. The spectra of the pressure are shown
in Fig. 49. The spectra of PSP measurement also
agree quantitatively well with the transducers. The
dominant frequencies are 40, 95, and 170 Hz, which
represent the frequencies of the movement of the
first terminating shock wave.
The present data are the first satisfactory one for the
non-periodic unsteady PSP measurement. However,
there was a slight difference (1 kPa) between the
PSPs and the transducers. This difference was caused
by the shot noise of the detection devices and the
uncertainty of calibration curve for pressure-intensity
relation. The error from the shot noise also affects the
temperature distribution calculated from the TSP
signal. Thus, the accuracy will be improved using low-
noise and high-sensitivity detectors.
6.2 Fluidic oscillator
Gregory et al. [88–90] and Sakaue et al. [71] have used
porous PSP to study the flowfield of fluidic oscillators,
ranging from micro to meso-scales. Fluidic oscillators
are devices that produce an oscillating jet when sup-
plied with a pressurized fluid. They have no moving
parts, and the production of oscillations is based
purely on the internal fluid dynamics of the device.
The unsteady, periodic nature of the flowfield external
to the device was not fully understood, so PSP was
employed as a diagnostic to investigate the behavior
of the oscillating jet at various flow conditions.
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 279

Fig. 48 Comparison of pressure –time histories between PSP and Kulite pressure transducers.
The number indicates the pressure at the locations specified in Fig. 45 [45]

Fig. 49 Comparison of spectra between PSP and Kulite pressure transducers [45]

Sakaue et al. [71] used a small-scale fluidic oscil- parallel to the jet exit, as shown in Fig. 52. Strobed
lator as a demonstration of the response character- illumination was phase-locked to the oscillation
istics of several PSP formulations. The oscillator cycle of the oscillator through microphone measure-
was operated with nitrogen gas at a primary fre- ments. The pulse width of the excitation light was set
quency of 5 kHz. They used anodized aluminium at 2.48 ms for 9.4-kHz oscillations and 1.0 ms for
(AA-PSP), TLC plate (TLC-PSP), and polymer/cer- 21-kHz oscillations. Typical results are shown in
amic (PC-PSP), all with [Ru(dpp)3]2þ as the lumino- Fig. 53 for the fluidic oscillator flowfield at an oscil-
phore. The paint sample was positioned adjacent lation frequency of 9.4 kHz. With successive time
and parallel to the jet exit such that the oscillating delays of 20 ms between images, the PSP clearly
jet flowed over the paint sample, as shown in resolves the rich temporal and spatial structure of
Fig. 50. The PSP data acquisition was performed the oscillating jet. Each pixel in the data set rep-
with a long camera exposure time and phase-locked, resents an individual time history of the gas concen-
pulsed illumination. The exposure time was of the tration at that location. Examples of this time history
order of seconds, while the pulse width of the exci-
tation light was 12 ms. Typical results with AA-PSP
are shown in Fig. 51. These results illustrate the capa-
bility of porous PSP for resolving the unsteady fluctu-
ations of gas concentration in the flowfield of the
fluidic oscillator at a rate of 5 kHz.
As a follow-on study, Gregory et al. [90] used
AA-PSP to study the flowfield of a micro fluidic oscil-
lator. The micro fluidic oscillator is of the same
design as that used in Sakaue’s study [71], but with
much smaller length scales. The width of the jet
nozzle on the micro fluidic oscillator measures only
325 mm wide. Furthermore, the oscillation frequency
of the micro-scale oscillator ranges up to 22 kHz.
Porous PSP is an ideal measurement technique for
the flowfield of the micro fluidic oscillator – the Fig. 50 Setup of the fluidic oscillator with porous PSP.
small scale and high frequencies involved demand (From Sakaue et al. [17]; reprinted by
instrumentation with high spatial resolution and permission of the American Institute of
fast frequency response. AA-PSP was positioned Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.)

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
280 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 51 Phase-locked AA-PSP measurements of the fluidic oscillator flowfield. (From Sakaue et al.
[17]; reprinted by permission of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.)
record are shown in Fig. 54, with the 9.4- and
21.0-kHz oscillations normalized and directly com-
pared. The high spatial and temporal resolution of
the PSP provides similar time history records
throughout the entire measurement plane.
6.3 Oscillating airfoil
PSP has also been used for investigations of the
unsteady pressure distribution on oscillating airfoils,
albeit at relatively low frequencies. Fonov et al. [56]
used a Fast Binary PSP to determine the fluctuating
Cp distribution on a NACA 0012 airfoil at Mach 0.3
and an oscillation frequency up to 20 Hz. The
measured step response time of their paint formu-
lation was 2.6 ms, limiting the ability of the paint to
resolve the higher harmonics of the oscillatory
pressure field. The thickness of their paint sample
was 2– 6 mm, near the lower limit of thicknesses poss-
ible with a binary paint. Due to these characteristics
of their paint formulation, Fonov et al. employed a
model to compensate for the frequency response
characteristics of the paint. Trinks [91] also used
PSP for a similar experimental investigation of an
oscillating airfoil at 15 Hz.
Fig. 52 Experimental setup for AA-PSP measurements
of the micro fluidic oscillator flowfield [90]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
6.4 Hartmann tube
Porous PSP has also been employed by Gregory and
Sullivan measurements of the oscillating shock
wave and propagating non-linear acoustic waves pro-
duced by a Hartmann tube [92]. The configuration of
a Hartmann tube involves an underexpanded jet
impinging on a shallow cavity with depth, diameter,
and spacing approximately equivalent to the jet
diameter. Flow from the jet alternately fills and
exhausts from the cavity, forcing the shock in front
of the cavity back-and-forth. The oscillation fre-
quency of the shock movement depends on factors
such as the cavity depth, nozzle spacing, and jet
pressure ratio. The oscillating shock in turn serves
as an acoustic source similar to a dipole, radiating
high-intensity sound. Both the oscillating shock and
the resultant propagating acoustic waves have a fre-
quency on the order of 10 kHz for the particular geo-
metry tested by Gregory and Sullivan [92]. The
experimental setup for these experiments is shown
in Fig. 55. A microphone was used to phase-lock the
pulsed illumination with the shock oscillations,
whereas the camera shutter remained open for sev-
eral seconds. A flat plate painted with PC-PSP was
positioned at the edge of the jet.
The oscillations of the shock wave are captured by
the PSP have a frequency of 9.1 kHz for a 2.47 jet
pressure ratio, as shown in Fig. 56. Each successive
image, separated by a delay of 24 ms, shows the oscil-
latory motion of the shock as flow alternately enters
and leaves the cavity. The resultant acoustic field gen-
erated by the oscillating shock wave is shown in
Fig. 57. Here, the oscillating shock acts as a dipole
source, generating a propagating acoustic wave
along the plane of the PSP sample. Each successive
image, separated by 16 ms, shows the strong, non-
linear acoustic wave propagating away from the
source, as indicated by the arrows.
6.5 Acoustics applications
PSP has recently been developed for acoustics appli-
cations, where the primary developmental challenges
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
Fig. 53 Micro fluidic oscillator flowfield measured by AA-PSP at an oscillation frequency of
9.4 kHz. Each image is separated by a subsequent phase delay of 20 ms [90]
are sensitivity and frequency response. The advent of
porous PSP formulations has effectively addressed
the frequency response limitations of the paints. Sen-
sitivity, however, is a more difficult challenge to
address. Due to the inherent characteristic of absol-
ute pressure measurement, PSP must resolve a very
small pressure fluctuation modulated on a relatively
large mean value (atmospheric pressure). The ratio
of these two quantities is on the order of 1000 for
recent acoustics applications of PSP.
McGraw et al. [93] used a paint formulation based
on platinum tetra(pentafluorophenyl)porphine
(PtTFPP) with a small amount of polymer applied to
a TLC plate to develop a phosphorescent micro-
phone. Their work used PSP at the end of a standing-
wave tube as a one-dimensional optical microphone.
The advantage of this configuration is that the
pressure field on the PSP sample is uniform for a
given instant in time, allowing for the light intensity
to be integrated over a large area, thus significantly
improving the SNR. In this configuration, McGraw
et al. were able to resolve pressure fluctuations as
Fig. 54 Time history records of the jet oscillations at
two operating frequencies of the micro fluidic
oscillator [90]
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
281
low as 6 Pa at frequencies ranging up to 1.3 kHz.
The disadvantage of this configuration, however, is
the inability to acquire two-dimensional measure-
ments of pressure.
In similar tests in a standing-wave tube, Virgin et al.
[94] used a PSP formulation composed of PtTFPP in a
poly (tBS-co-TFEM) binder. They established a noise
floor of 127 dB SPL, with a frequency response of
22.5 dB/octave and a 458 phase delay. As in the
work of McGraw et al. [93], the PSP was applied to
the end of the tube (measuring 400 in diameter in
this case), allowing for integration of light intensity
over a large one-dimensiional surface.
Sakaue [20] also used PSP in a standing wave tube
for acoustics measurements. Sakaue’s PSP formu-
lation was anodized aluminium with PtTFPP lumino-
phore, positioned along the length of the standing
wave tube. The resonance tube was driven at a very
high sound pressure level of 172 dB, and the resulting
acoustic field and streaming behaviour were effec-
tively observed with the PSP.
Several researchers have used PSP for unsteady
pressure measurements in very low speed flows,
where pressure fluctuations can be as low as the
high-amplitude acoustic pressure fluctuations
Fig. 55 Experimental setup for Hartmann tube
measurements [92]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
282 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan

Fig. 56 PSP image sequence showing shock wave oscillation for the flat resonance cavity at times
(a) 0 ms, (b) 24 ms, (c) 48 ms, (d) 72 ms, (e) 96 ms, and (f) 116 ms [92]

Fig. 57 PSP image sequence showing acoustic wave propagation for the flat resonance cavity at
times (a) 0 ms, (b) 16 ms, (c) 32 ms, (d) 48 ms, (e) 64 ms, and (f) 80 ms. Arrows indicate
leading edge of propagating acoustic wave [92]

Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP 283

Fig. 59 Pressure time–history comparison between

PSP, Kulite pressure transducer measurements,
and linear theory. PSP data were taken from
one corner of the resonance cavity, and the
Kulite transducer was also corner-mounted.
Errorbars on the PSP data indicate an average
uncertainty of +12.5 Pa. (Reprinted with
permission from Gregory, J. W., Sullivan, J. P.,
Wanis, S., and Komerath, N. M. Pressure-
sensitive point as a distributed optical
microphone array. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 2006,
119(1), 251–261 [97]. Copyright 2006,
American Institute of Physics)

discussed here. McGraw et al. [95] also used their

PtTFBB/TLC plate paint formulation to resolve the
unsteady pressure fluctuations on a square cylinder
due to vortex shedding. They were able to measure

Fig. 58 PSP image sequence showing acoustic wave

propagation for the flat resonance cavity at
times (a) 0 ms, (b) 16 ms, (c) 32 ms, (d) 48 ms,
(e) 64 ms, and (f) 80 ms. (Reprinted with
permission from Gregory, J. W., Sullivan, J. P.,
Wanis, S., and Komerath, N. M. Pressure-
sensitive point as a distributed optical
microphone array. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 2006,
119(1), 251 – 261 [97]. Copyright 2006,
American Institute of Physics)

Fig. 60 Turbocharger experimental setup [33]

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
284 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan
Fig. 61 Unsteady wall pressure about compressor
blades, normalized with respect to inlet total
pressure [33]
pressure changes as low as 230 Pa at a frequency of
95 to 125 Hz for a Reynolds number of 8.9
104.
Nakakita [96] applied AA-PSP for the measurement
of pressure distributions on a circular cylinder in
flow at 33 m/s. Nakakita resolved the 165-Hz vortex
shedding with a high-speed camera operating at
rates as high as 2 kHz using an innovative
point-by-point FFT frequency analysis technique.
Unsteady pressures as low as 250 Pa (rms) were
resolved with this technique.
Gregory et al. [97] developed PC-PSP for high-
frequency acoustics testing in a resonance cavity.
In this work, they applied the PSP to the back wall
of a cavity and excited two-dimensional resonant
mode shapes with a corner-mounted speaker. The
Fig. 62 Steady blade pressure data, normalized with
respect to inlet reference pressure, P/Pref [33]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
data acquisition was performed with the camera
shutter open for an extended period, and pulsed
excitation phase locked with the driving waveform.
One hundred images were averaged for the both
the reference and speaker-on test conditions. Typi-
cal results of the mode shape measurements
for the (1, 1, 0) mode are shown in Fig. 58 for three
different phase positions within the cycle of the driv-
ing waveform, each separated by 908. A two-
dimensional low-pass FIR spatial filter was applied
to reduce the noise in the image. The modal struc-
ture is clearly resolved, with the high and low press-
ures fluctuating in the corners and the node lines
remaining fixed on the horizontal and vertical cen-
terlines of the cavity. In Fig. 59, pressure measure-
ments with PSP in one corner of the resonance
cavity are also compared with measurements from
a Kulite pressure transducer. PSP results nearly
follow the Kulite measurements, within the uncer-
tainty limitations of the data set.
6.6 Turbomachinery
Turbomachinery testing is another significant area
ripe for application of PSP. There have been several
studies involving the use of PSP for measurement of
steady pressures in turbomachinery. Investigations
such as those of Liu et al. [98], Torgerson et al. [99],
Bencic [100], Jordan et al. [59, 60], or Navarra et al.
[101] have effectively implemented PSP and TSP for
measurement of steady pressures in the rotating
frame of reference. Very few investigations, however,
have attempted to resolve the unsteady pressure fluc-
tuations inherent in turbomachinery. Gregory et al.
[31 – 33] used PC-PSP in a turbocharger compressor
rotating at 100 000 r/min. Their measurements used
pulsed illumination that was phase locked to the
rotation speed of the turbocharger, as shown in
Fig. 60. The resulting data included measurements
of the unsteady wall pressures, steady pressures on
the rotating compressor blades, and unsteady
pressure fluctuations on compressor blades sub-
jected to an inlet pressure distortion, as shown in
Figs 61 and 62.
7 CONCLUSION
PSP has been developed for unsteady pressure
measurements and application to short-duration
flows in high-speed testing facilities. PSP provides
global pressure distributions with very high spatial
and temporal resolution. Conventional paint formu-
lations have been limited to step response times on
the order of seconds, whereas the development of
porous PSP formulations has enabled step responses
approaching 1 ms. The time response of PSP is
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
 Review of PSP
governed by gas diffusion within the paint layer,
such that the thickness of the paint and the diffusiv-
ity of the binder determine the paint response. PSP
binders such as anodized aluminium, TLC plate,
and polymer/ceramic all have highly porous struc-
tures with large surface area, thus enabling rapid
response times. Polymer binders with very high gas
permeability, such as poly(TMSP), have also been
developed. Dynamic calibration techniques such as
shock tubes, solenoid valves, loudspeakers, or fluidic
oscillators have been used to characterize the fre-
quency response limitations of the new paint formu-
lations. Modelling work has also been done to
determine the optimum thickness of PSP, to develop
dynamic compensators, to describe the complex dif-
fusion phenomena in porous binders, and to inves-
tigate non-linear quenching behaviour in paint
binders. Upon development of paint formulations
with rapid response times, PSP has been applied to
various high-speed facilities such as shock tubes,
Ludweig tubes, and short-duration hypersonic
flow. Porous PSP formulations have also been
applied to many unsteady flowfields such as
unsteady shock/vortex interaction on a delta wing
model, oscillating shocks, and propagating acoustic
waves from a Hartmann tube, oscillating jets from
fluidic oscillators, resonant acoustics, oscillating air-
foils, and unsteady flow in turbomachinery. The
highest fundamental frequencies tested in these var-
ious experiments range up to 21 kHz, whereas the
pressures tested were as low as 100 Pa in acoustics
testing.
Significant strides have been made in the develop-
ment of PSP for unsteady measurements, yet a sub-
stantial amount of work remains to further develop
the technology. Future work should focus on
increasing the brightness of the luminescence
emitted by the paint formulation. This will enhance
the SNR and facilitate real-time detection
of pressure fluctuations. Further development of
low-noise sensors will also improve the SNR of
real-time PSP measurements. Another area for
improvement involves the sensitivity of PSP. This
development will allow for enhanced measurement
of acoustic-level pressures, and lower the
minimum-detectable level. Temperature sensitivity
remains a problem for porous PSP formulations,
and may be addressed through the development of
bi-luminophore paint formulations suitable for
unsteady measurements. Finally, a robust dynamic
calibration technique must be developed. Ideally
this would involve a flowfield large enough to
cover a region of the PSP as well as a co-located
unsteady pressure transducer. The calibration
device will provide unsteady pressure fluctuations
that will fully exercise the frequency response
characteristics of the fastest paint formulations,
JAERO243 # IMechE 2008
285
and provide a pressure jump in both the negative-
and positive-going directions.
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 Review of PSP 289

91 Trinks, O. Development and application of a 102 Kameda, M. and Asai, K. PSP/TSP. In Noninvasive and
fluorescence-lifetime method for determination of visualizing techniques (in Japanese) (Eds S. Ogawa and
non-stationary flow phenomena on a compressor T. Ueno), 2007 (NTS, Tokyo).
blade using pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) (in 103 Tanji, H. O. Photophysical properties of platinum tetra
German). Dissertation Universitat Gottingen, Institut (pentafluorophenyl)-porphyrin in liquid and FIB poly-
fur Stromungsmechanik des DLR, Gottingen, mer. Chem. 499 Report, University of Washington,
Deutschland, 2000 . Seattle, WA, 1998.
92 Gregory, J. W. and Sullivan, J. P. Characterization of
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Dynamics Conference, American Institute of Aero- APPENDIX
nautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, 2003, AIAA
2003-3713.
Notation
93 McGraw, C. M., Shroff, H., Khalil, G., and Callis, J. B.
The phosphorescence microphone: a device for testing a rate of absorption of photons by the
oxygen sensors and films. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 2003, luminophore
74(12), 5260–5266.
av volume fraction of the cylindrical pores in
94 Virgin, C. A., Carroll, B. F., Cattafesta, L. N.,
the polymer layer
Schanze, K. S., and Kose, M. E. Pressure-sensitive
paint for acoustic pressure fluctuations. In Proceed- A Stern – Volmer calibration coefficient
ings of the 2005 ASME International Mechanical Apore characteristic area covering a pore path
Engineering Congress and Exposition, American B Stern – Volmer calibration coefficient,
Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, 2005, pressure sensitivity
IMECE2005-81831. C constant
95 McGraw, C. M., Bell, J. H., Khalil, G., and Callis, J. B. d diameter of a micropore
Dynamic surface pressure measurements on a square dfr fractal dimension of the path of a pore
cylinder with pressure sensitive paint. Expl Fluids, D sum of diffusivities of oxygen and
2006, 40(2), 203 –211. luminophore
96 Nakakita, K. Unsteady pressure distribution
Deff effective diffusion coefficient
measurement around 2D-cylinders using pressure-
Dgg bulk diffusion coefficient
sensitive paint. In Proceedings of the 25th AIAA
Applied Aerodynamics Conference, American Insti- Dkg Knudsen diffusion coefficient
tute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, Dm diffusion coefficient
2007, AIAA 2007-3819. Dmeff effective diffusivity
97 Gregory, J. W., Sullivan, J. P., Wanis, S., and D1 diffusivity at infinite temperature
Komerath, N. M. Pressure-sensitive paint as a distrib- e rate constant of emission
uted optical microphone array. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., ep pressure sensitivity
2006, 119(1), 251 –261. e0 emission rate with no oxygen quenching
98 Liu, T., Torgerson, S., Sullivan, J. P., Johnston, R., and h paint thickness
Fleeter, S. Rotor blade pressure measurement in a high hop optimum thickness
speed axial compressor using pressure and tempera-
hpore effective depth of a pore
ture sensitive paints. In Proceedings of the 35th AIAA
I luminescent intensity
Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, Iref reference intensity
1997, AIAA 97-0162. k rate constant
99 Torgerson, S., Liu, T., and Sullivan, J. Rotor blade pressure kE rate constant of luminescent emission
measurement in a rotating machinery using pressure and kQ rate constant of oxygen quenching
temperature sensitive paints. Advanced Non-Intrusive kT rate constant of thermal deactivation
Instrumentation for Propulsion Engines, Advisory Group kT1 rate constant at infinite temperature
for Aerospace Research and Development, Propulsion KSV Stern – Volmer constant
and Energetics Panel, Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France, 1998, Kn Knudsen number
pp. 19.1–19.9, AGARD-CP-598. l length, width
100 Bencic, T. J. Rotating pressure and temperature
M molecular weight of the gas
measurements on scale-model fans using luminescent
n number of molecules per unit volume
paints. In Proceedings of the 34th AIAA/ASME/SAE/
ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, n* number of excited molecules per unit
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, volume
Reston, VA, 1998, AIAA 1998-3452. Npore total number of pores
101 Navarra, K. R., Rabe, D. C., Fonov, S. D., Goss, L. P., [O2] oxygen concentration
and Hah, C. The application of pressure- and p pressure
temperature-sensitive paints to an advanced compres- pref reference pressure
sor. J. Turbomach. Trans. ASME, 2001, 123(4), 823 –829. p0 mean pressure

JAERO243 # IMechE 2008 Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering
290 J W Gregory, K Asai, M Kameda, T Liu, and J P Sullivan

p1 amplitude of the unsteady pressure k Boltzmann constant

q exponent kQ proportional factor depending on oxygen /
rpore effective radius of a pore luminophore reaction mechanism
R universal gas constant l mean free path of gas molecules
S solubility of oxygen in binder nn normal directional derivative of oxygen
t time concentration
T temperature j similarity variable
Tref reference temperature s diameter of molecules in gas
T* non-dimensional temperature sd sum of molecular radii of oxygen and
z coordinate measuring paint thickness luminophore
z0 non-dimensional wall coordinate t lifetime of luminescence
a probability of reaction tdiff diffusion timescale
b extinction coefficient for the excitation light t0 lifetime with no oxygen quenching
g non-dimensional frequency f phase shift
G gamma function F* fraction of absorbed photons that produce
d optical thickness of the paint layer luminophores in the excited state
DED activation energy of diffusion xO2 mole fraction of oxygen in the gas
DET activation energy v frequency
1 Lennard – Jones energy V collision integral for diffusion

Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part G: J. Aerospace Engineering JAERO243 # IMechE 2008

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