Infrared Thermography on Outer Casing Surface for Heat Transfer Measurement in Aerospace Applications

The application of infrared thermography is combined with numerical tools to estimate heat transfer where temperature measurement is available on the outside of the test rig. This is a common scenario found in aerospace applications where there is limited optical access inside the flow path, but temperature data can be taken on the outer casing. The developed methodology is applied to a high-speed two-stage turbine test rig. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations of the turbine test section give an estimate of heat transfer, and simplified models are developed to reduce computational effort. These models are then coupled with infrared thermography on the outer casing along with the flow temperature measurement inside to estimate heat transfer in the flow path.