NASA's pressure-sensitive paint test lights up wing model in first wind tunnel run

NASA researchers at Langley Research Center in Virginia completed the first test of unsteady pressure-sensitive paint on a large, freely moving model in a low-oxygen wind tunnel, making the model wing glow pink-purple under ultraviolet light to capture airflow data. The test used the Benchmark Supercritical Wing, a universal model not tied to a specific aircraft, combined with high-speed cameras to record brightness changes in the paint, which vary with air pressure. This data supports improved computer modeling for future aircraft designs. The milestone, achieved in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, enables upcoming tests on flexible aircraft models that bend during flight for efficiency, and lays groundwork for advanced simulations as NASA develops next-generation aviation technologies.