Research and development of aircraft with rotating wings at low Reynolds numbers have received much attention. This study proposes using a carbon nanotube temperature-sensitive paint (cntTSP) measurement technique to visualize the surface flow of rotor blades at low Reynolds numbers. Temperature-sensitive paint (TSP) can optically measure a two-dimensional temperature field using the thermal quenching of luminophores. A carbon nanotube thin layer is used to heat the TSP layer in cntTSP measurements. For the experimental condition, the low Reynolds number at 75% of the rotor radius was 1.1 × 104, and a blade tip speed of 7.2 m/s. Temperature distributions showing a leading edge vortex (LEV) were observed in the visualization results. Furthermore, the LEV region expanded from the wing-tip side to the wing-root side at high-pitch angles. These visualization results show the applicability of the cntTSP measurement technique for investigating the surface flow field of rotor blades at low Reynolds numbers.
Graphical abstract