IR Measurements for Quantification of Laminar

Boundary Layer Stabilization with DBD Plasma

Actuators

Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

Abstract In-flight experiments for laminar boundary layer stabilization are con-
ducted on a laminar flow wing glove, mounted on a manned motor glider. A single
DBD plasma actuator is operated on the pressure side of the glove to delay natural
laminar-turbulent transition while an infra red (IR) camera is mounted below the
wing allowing a measurement of the spatial development of the transition. Besides
the quantification of the flow control result, this article shows postprocessing strate-
gies for perspective camera calibration with curved surfaces, image dewarping and
for inhomogeneous surface heating.

1 Introduction

IR thermography is a widely spread measurement technique for convective heat

transfer problems [7]. Increasing spatial and temporal resolution have made the
measurement technique interesting for measuring laminar-turbulent transition in
wind tunnel experiments even for measurements under unsteady flow conditions
[3]. The increased heat transfer in turbulent boundary layers compared to laminar
boundary layers results in a surface temperature change during laminar-turbulent
transition, provided that the fluid and the surface temperatures are different. Several
in-flight experiments on the suction side of the wing have been conducted using the
radiation of the sun to provide the required temperature difference [6]. Measure-
ments on the pressure side of the wing require a heated/cooled surface or a change
in air temperature to provide the temperature difference between fluid and surface.
In-flight experiments with the SWIFTER model by Texas A&M [1] showed the

Bernhard Simon
TU Darmstadt, Center of Smart Interfaces, e-mail: simon@csi.tu-darmstadt.de
Sven Grundmann
TU Darmstadt, Center of Smart Interfaces, e-mail: grundmann@csi.tu-darmstadt.de

1
2 Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

capability to image even the small flow structures of cross-flow transition with IR
thermography. The development of small IR camera models with non-cooled sensor
arrays and high image resolution allows their use for new applications and allows
the much more flexible installation of the camera.
Plasma Actuators have shown their ability to delay laminar-turbulent transition in
flight experiments [2]. IR thermography is an excellent measurement tool to deter-
mine the effect of laminar flow control in flight as it is a non intrusive measurement
method with a high spatial resolution. While previous measurements of transition
control using plasma actuators determined the transition delay only with point wise
sensors at a single spanwise position, IR technology gives more insight into the
spanwise development of the flow control effect.

2 Experimental Setup

The following section describes the experimental setup, used for the in-flight exper-
iments. A Grob G109b motorized glider, manned with two crew members, is used
for the in-flight experiments. The aircraft combines the advantages of intermittent
vibrationless gliding flight with a 96 kW engine for autonomous take-off and alti-
tude gain. The sweep angle at the leading edge is almost zero, minimizing spanwise
pressure gradients and creating almost two-dimensional flow along the chord such
that amplified Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) waves are known to dominate any transi-
tion.

2.1 Wing Glove

In order to quantify the influence of atmospheric turbulence on natural laminar flow

airfoils, Weismüller [8] developed a wing glove for the right glider wing. Such a
wing glove slides over the outer half of the tapered wing and matches smoothly at
one defined spanwise position, enabling implementation of arbitrary sensors with-
out interfering with the airframe structure. A custom designed NLF airfoil forms
a rectangular section of 1.35 m × 1.35 m. The characteristics of the pressure side
of this airfoil predestines it for flow control investigations since the pressure gradi-
ent is almost linear and adjustable between moderate positive and negative values,
expanding the region of possible transition locations. In the center portion, an ex-
changeable acrylic measurement insert accommodates surface mounted sensors and
a single DBD actuator (Fig. 1).
IR Measurements of Laminar BL Stabilization with DBD Plasma Actuators 3

socket for
wing glove LEADING EDGE
boom

pressure taps disturbance source (12 speaker, 20mm spacing)

wing
DBD actuator
single wire
9 surface hotwire
sensors
turbulator
(20mm spacing)
O UTBO AR D

INBO AR D
IR emitter storage
heated insert IR camera pod pod
plexi glass
insert maintainance
cover

transition trip
DBD controller
(covered)

Fig. 1 Sketch of the wing glove, pressure side, instrumented with sensors.

2.2 DBD Plasma Actuator

A flush-mounted DBD plasma actuator (PA) is positioned on the measurement in-

sert at xDBD = 440 mm downstream of the leading edge, corresponding to xDBD /c =
0.33. It consists of a 10 mm wide grounded lower electrode of 35 µm thickness and
a 5 mm wide upper electrode, which are divided by five layers of Kapton tape with
a total thickness of 0.3 mm. A GBS Minipuls 2.1 high voltage supply is driving the
230 mm long PA, which is installed flush mounted in a spanwise groove in order
to minimize additional steps on the wing surface. The plasma actuator driving fre-
quency fPA is chosen to be 7.8 kHz, which is about one order of magnitude higher
than the unstable TS wave frequency band for this experiment.

2.3 Sensors

Along the outboard portion of the wing glove 64 pressure taps are distributed over
suction and pressure side to capture the pressure distribution during flight, acquired
at 10 Hz by a Pressure Systems ESP-64HD pressure transducer. A single boom pro-
truding upstream into the flow is installed on a front socket on the leading edge to
enable the measurement of static and total pressure for calculating the air speed.
Two pressure sensors determine the static and dynamic pressure at a second
boom, mounted upstream of the left wing. The temperature is measured with a
PT1000 temperature sensor and a humidity sensor is installed to determine the actual
4 Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

air density. A Dornier Flight Log, which is a wind vane following the incident flow,
is mounted on the boom and provides the angle of attack α as well as the sideslip
angle β . The ambient flow conditions encountered during flight are acquired at a
sampling frequency of 100 Hz by a NI6221 USB A/D converter, synchronized to the
wing-glove sensor signals with a digital trigger.

2.4 IR Camera and Heated Insert

IR thermography requires a temperature difference between flow and surface tem-

perature. A flush mounted, heated insert consisting of an electrically heated foil
allows variable heat transfer up to 2000 W/m2 . The insert extends from x/c = 0.4 to
x/c = 0.62 and has a width of 200 mm. More information about the design of the
heated insert is given in Section 3.1.
The mid wave (7.5-13µm) IR camera Flir Tau 2 640 (13 mm lens) is equipped
with a Automation Technology GigE Vision Adapter and provides an un-calibrated
14bit data stream at 8.3 Hz. The GigE Vision standard supports cable lengths up to
100 m and comfortable implementation in Labview. The camera itself is an uncooled
thermal imager based on microbolometer technology. This leads to a slightly worse
signal-to-noise ratio as compared to cooled IR cameras but it is significantly smaller
and costs a fraction. As all measurements are taken on the pressure side of the wing
glove, the space for the IR camera is limited. Due to the small dimensions of the
camera (45 mm × 45 mm × 60 mm) it is possible to mount the camera directly on
the wing glove. A stand of 280 mm height ensures a reasonable viewing angle of
about 45◦ , resulting in 90% IR radiation intensity as compared to a normal viewing
angle [7]. With a resolution of 640 × 512 pixels the minimum spatial resolution for
the heated insert is 0.75 mm/pixel in spanwise and 0.73 mm/pixel in streamwise direction.
The viewing angle and the slightly curved surface of the wing glove make dewarping
necessary. Further information about dewarping strategies are given in Section 3.1.
Camera and stand are covered with a fairing in order to reduce drag and vibrations
(Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 Installed camera with fairing

IR Measurements of Laminar BL Stabilization with DBD Plasma Actuators 5

3 IR Measurement Technique

IR thermography for detecting the laminar-turbulent transition is a thermal measure-

ment technique, comparable to conventional hot film measurements. The convective
heat transfer q̇conv can be calculated with a heat transfer coefficient α, the fluid tem-
perature T∞ and the wall temperature TW :

1 λ
q̇conv = α(TW − T∞ ); α = c f U∞ (1)
2 ν
while α is a function of the friction coefficient c f , the freestream velocity U∞ , the
heat conduction coefficient of the fluid λ and the kinematic viscosity ν.
If the heat transfer to the fluid q̇conv is held constant e.g. by constant electrical
heating and the wall friction c f increases due to laminar-turbulent transition, the
wall temperature TW will decrease. This change in wall temperature ∆ TW can be
measured by the IR camera due to a lower heat radiation q̇rad . This relation of heat
transfer and shear stress is called Reynolds Analogy [5]. For the signal-to-noise ratio
and the spatial resolution of this measurement technique the heat conduction on and
below the surface q̇cond is essential (Fig. 3(a)). A high heat conduction q̇cond in wall
normal direction is important to guide the heat flux of the (electric) heater q̇heater
to the surface for providing strong signals while heat conduction in wall parallel
direction should be low in order to avoid loss of resolution through a smearing effect.
Such a smearing effect could occur at regions with strong temperature gradients as
shown schematically in Fig. 3(b). It shows a Tollmien-Schlichting wave dominated
transition on an unswept wing. The transition takes place in a straight line while
premature transition can be triggered by a turbulator (roughness, bugs, disturbance
source) which results in a turbulent wedge.

laminar, Tlam transition

turbulent wedge
˙qheater
q˙ cond ˙qcond turbulent, Tturb

TW turbulator
U∞, T∞ ˙qconv ˙qrad

U∞

(a) Heat fluxes on a wing surface (b) Laminar-turbulent transition on a wing

Fig. 3 Heat flux influenced by laminar-turbulent transition on a wing surface.

In comparison to hot-film arrays this measurement technique resolves the mea-

surement area with high spatial resolution. Nevertheless it is less dynamic and ca-
pable of capturing fluctuations of the order of 1 Hz or less depending on the thermal
properties of the wing structure and surface.
6 Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

3.1 Image Dewarping and Surface Heating

Three different types of image distortion occur due to camera viewing angle, curved
wing surface and radial lens distortion. The software Labview NI Vision includes
algorithms for trapezoidal and plane distortion. Their application requires using a
calibration target as known from the calibration of a PIV setup. A similar calibration
target for IR applications was developed. It consists of a 200 mm × 300 mm 0.3 mm
thin aluminium sheet, covered with a polyurethane foil with holes arranged in a dot
pattern. Due to the significant difference in the emission factor ε of both materials,
the dot pattern can clearly be captured by the IR camera (Fig. 4(a)). The thin format
of the target allows for applying it on the curved wing glove surface. Fig. 4(b) shows
the dewarped IR image while the dots are evenly distributed, demonstrating the
correct application of the algorithm.

−100

−50
z [mm]
0

50

100
0.4 0.5 0.6
x/c
(a) Distorted calibration image (b) Dewarped calibration image

Fig. 4 Perspective calibration

The surface heating is realized with an electrical heating foil (total thickness
0.2 mm). In order to avoid heat loss to the wing glove structure, a 1 mm polyurethane
hard foam is glued below the heating foil while a thin aluminium sheet of 0.3 mm
thickness on top of the foil homogenizes the heat distribution on the aerodynamic
surface (Fig. 5(a)). A layer of 0.08 mm thin polyurethane foil on top of the alu-
minium sheet enhances the IR emissivity of the element. All presented measure-
ments have been conducted with a heating power of q̇heater = 1200 W/m2 , which
results in a temperature difference between structure and flow TW − T∞ = ∆ T of
about 10 K, depending on the angle of attack. Three thermo couples continuously
capture the temperature of the aluminium plate and of the flow. Fig. 5(b) shows the
uncalibrated and dewarped IR signal intensity I of the heated insert during flight
with a fully turbulent flow. Bright regions indicate higher temperatures while darker
areas indicate colder areas. To provide a fully turbulent flow, the boundary layer is
tripped artificially upstream of the measurement insert. This measurement captures
all features of the inhomogeneously distributed heating since the wall friction varies
IR Measurements of Laminar BL Stabilization with DBD Plasma Actuators 7

only slightly along the streamwise direction. The heating technique applied is not
able to provide a homogeneous wall temperature. A thicker aluminium sheet would
improve the uniformity of the temperature distribution but in this case a total insert
thickness of 1.5 mm limits the design possibilities. A typical IR measurement of
TS-wave dominated natural laminar-turbulent transition is shown in Fig. 5(c). The
flow direction is from left to right and a turbulent wedge is created on purpose at
y = −40 mm. The unevenly distributed surface heating makes the detection of the
boundary-layer transition difficult. A normalization of the raw data helps to over-
come this problem. A surface temperature measurement, obtained with heating and
a fully turbulent boundary layer (Fig. 5(b)), serves as a reference for the normaliza-
tion. The pixelwise normalization of untripped measurements (Fig. 5(c)) with this
reference image removes the footprint of the heating foil from the data. Fig. 5(d)
now clearly shows the spanwise course of the transition location around x/c = 0.46
including the turbulent wedge. This measurement result shows a very similar result
to the expected case discussed in Fig. 3(b).

−100

−50
z [mm]

polyurethane foil
0
aluminium sheet
heating foil 50

foam/insulation 100
0.4 0.5 0.6
x/c
(a) Design of the heated insert (b) Signal intensity with fully turbulent flow

−100 −100

−50 −50
z [mm]
z [mm]

0 0

50 50

100 100
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.6
x/c x/c
(c) Signal intensity with transition, raw data (d) Signal intensity with transition, normalized

Fig. 5 Heating insert design and normalization strategy

8 Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

3.2 Transition Detection

For quantitative statements a closer look at the signal intensity distribution is nec-
essary. Fig. 6(a) shows a line plot of the data between the black horizontal lines in
Fig. 5(d) around y = 30 mm. The data were averaged across 20 pixels in spanwise
direction and all values are normalized to the maximum signal intensity Imax . Lam-
inar regions result in a higher temperature while the surface below a turbulent flow
is colder. As a comparison the development of the skin friction coefficient c f in the
boundary layer is schematically sketched in Fig. 6(b). The position of the minimum
in skin friction c f corresponds to the highest signal intensity in Fig. 6(a). The char-
acteristic peak of the skin friction c f at the end of the transition process results in a
signal-intensity minimum at x/c = 0.59. For the discussion of the transition location
and of the transition delay it is useful to determine characteristic points in the transi-
tion process. First the maximum negative gradient of the curve in Fig. 6(a) is deter-
mined (marked with a vertical black line). This point is called transmid, indicating
the transition process is still in progress. Two other characteristic points, transon
and transoff describe the transition onset and the end of the transition process. The
points are determined by calculating the point of intersection between the slope of
the maximum negative gradient and a horizontal curve through the maximum and
minimum, respectively [4].

1
transon
BL thickness δ

transmid U∞
0.95 transoff
laminar transition turbulent
I/Imax

0.9
friction coefficient cf

0.85

0.8
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
x/c flow direction

(a) Signal intensity slice (b) Friction coefficient on a flat plate

Fig. 6 Transition detection and characteristic points

4 Boundary Layer Stabilization with Plasma Actuator

The wing glove is equipped with IR thermography to visualize laminar-turbulent

transition online in flight experiments and to spatially quantify the effect of a plasma
actuator as a flow control device. Fig. 7(a) shows the transition process for two
IR Measurements of Laminar BL Stabilization with DBD Plasma Actuators 9

different angles of attack (α1 < α2 ). The characteristic points transon, transmid and
transoff move downstream with higher angles of attack as the flow becomes more
stable due to a favorable negative pressure gradient. Both curves are normalized with
the maximum intensity Imax . There is a noticeable difference in the signal amplitude
of both measurements because the case with lower angle of attack has been acquired
earlier during one gliding flight, which results in lower air and surface temperatures.
However, the position of the calculated characteristic points of the transition process
are not influenced by this effect. The flow control effect on the transition location is

1
α2 transon 1
PAon

transmid
0.95 transoff
0.95
I/Imax

I/Imax
0.9
α1 0.9
0.85 0.85
PA
off

0.8 0.8
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
x/c x/c
(a) Transition for different angles of attack α (b) Transition with/without actuation at α1

−100 −100

−50 −50
z [mm]

z [mm]

0 0

50 50

100 100
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.6
x/c x/c
(c) PA off (d) PA on

Fig. 7 Influence of α and flow control on the laminar-turbulent transition

shown in Fig. 7(b) where the plasma actuator is operated with constant forcing. The
laminar-turbulent transition, characterized by transon and transoff, is shifted about
3% downstream, which was also measured with surface mounted microphones and
explained more in detail by Duchmann [2]. In contrast to the microphone array
sensor, IR thermography is capable of capturing the spanwise distribution of the
flow control result. Figures 7(c) and 7(d) show the results of the measurements for
the presented case with and without actuation. The figures show that transition takes
10 Bernhard Simon and Paul Schnabel and Sven Grundmann

place at an almost constant streamwise location for each case but with a noticeable
offset between the two.

5 Conclusions

The present investigation shows the ability to measure laminar-turbulent transition

using IR thermography on the pressure side of a glider wing in flight. A miniature
IR camera with uncooled bolometer technology is mounted below the wing and
allows for visualize the spatial distribution of the transition process at low financial
and experimental effort. Normalization strategies for inhomogeneous heating of the
surface enable measurements on a setup with very restricted additional space. Image
dewarping algorithms allow an exact measurement of the spanwise distribution of
the transition location even for a low camera viewing angle and curved surfaces. As
a test case for future more complex flow control experiments the effect of a single
plasma actuator on the transition of a laminar boundary layer has been captured
using IR thermography in flight, showing a transition delay of 3% chord.
Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by
the German Research Foundation DFG (project GR 3524/4-1). We also wish to
thank Klaus de Groot from DLR Braunschweig for the fruitful discussions.

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