An overview of infrared thermography techniques used in large wind tunnels

Infrared thermography (IRT) is used at Onera in large facilities for boundary layer visualization and for heat flux assessment. Modern IR cameras and insulating paints enable efficient visualization of the laminar/turbulent transition region. This technique is now applied in large transonic test facilities. Heat flux assessment is one of the main purposes of hypersonic tests. It is done mainly with IRT and dedicated softwares, while sensors as thermocouples are used to check the reliability of IRT. A 1D data reduction method has been developed to provide the heat flux through temperature measurements. It takes into account thickness and curvature effects. The method has been recently improved to be used with steel models covered with an insulating paint, which provides a high emissivity. The temperature film is converted into a heat flux film, which is be used to extract the useful information. This requires image processing tools that relate every pixel to a point on the model. A new application of IRT is going on in the Oneraʹs high enthalpy hypersonic wind tunnel F4. The camera is used in single-line scan mode because of the short duration of the run. The main difficulty comes from the flow, which is not transparent. The first trial to cope with this kind of optical pollution is encouraging.