Advanced Planar Doppler Velocimetry System for Full-Scale Rotorcraft Testing

We have recently used a state-of-the-art Planar Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) system to demonstrate the first successful measurements of spatially and temporally resolved, three-dimensional, velocity vector fields in the blade wakes of a full-scale, operating rotor. The supporting software for processing the PDV images is a core element of the instrumentation. However, the present software set is unrefined, constrained to a specialized computing environment, and requires significant operator expertise to implement. To enable its universal use by non-specialists, this proposal addresses the requirements for an integrated PDV image-processing software system that is transportable and fully documented. The PC-based software will incorporate advanced and experimentally validated algorithms to fully accommodate the time-dependent flows of operating rotors, and will provide near-autonomous processing procedures and velocity field displays with the minimum requirements for operator expertise and training. An additional objective is to define a strategy for an ancillary processing system that is specifically designed to rapidly display interim velocity fields for preliminary analysis during the test period. The tasks described in this proposal are essential steps leading to an advanced PDV system that can be routinely applied to future full-scale rotorcraft/STOVL aerodynamics testing programs, and subsequently commercialized.