Surface heating measurements with temperature-sensitive paint films using fluorescent lifetime analysis

Temperature-sensitive paint applied to an adhesive film was used to measure surface heating utilizing a fluorescent signal lifetime analysis, in which the ratio of excitation and decay exposures was mapped to temperature via calibration. This work discusses a two-level model of the TSP fluorescence in response to pulsed excitation and uses it to extract the temperature variation of emission decay lifetimes in a ruthenium-based paint. The resulting calibration curves from the lifetime analysis are used in measurements of wall heating in a small shock tube at a net frame rate of 25 kHz. The results show good agreement with simultaneously acquired IR thermography obtained at 240 Hz.