NASA Model Wing Lights Up During First Pressure Sensitive Paint Tests

Groundbreaking tests at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, are paving the way for new wind tunnel capabilities for designing future aircraft technologies. In a first-of-its-kind test in NASA Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, researchers used unsteady Pressure Sensitive Paint to study how air flows around a standard wind tunnel model known as the Benchmark Supercritical Wing. During the test, the paint glowed pink-purple under special ultraviolet lights while high-speed cameras captured every detail.

The test combined two valuable NASA tools. NASA’s benchmark wings do not represent a particular type of aircraft; instead, they are universal models meant to help researchers improve computer modeling using wind tunnel data. Unsteady pressure sensitive paint is a specialized coating that varies in brightness according to how much pressure the airflow applies to the wing, and high-speed cameras capture those changes to provide data for computer models. For years, NASA researchers at centers including Langley and the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley have been working to integrate the paint into wind tunnel tests for aircraft and rockets. NASA researchers consider the paint a vital tool and expect to find many more wind tunnel applications in the future.

This test marked the technique’s first use on a large-scale, freely moving model in a low-oxygen environment, an achievement made possible by the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel’s unique testing capabilities. The milestone opens the door for upcoming tests on flexible aircraft models designed to bend and adapt during flight to improve efficiency. It also lays the foundation for better simulations and designs as NASA advances the future of flight.