Analysis of Transonic Unsteady Aerodynamic Environments using Unsteady Pressure Sensitive Paint for the Space Launch System Block 1 Cargo Launch Vehicle

Predicting launch vehicle unsteady aerodynamic loads due to buffet remains a significant challenge. Current practices for modeling buffet environments involve the development of buffet forcing functions using discrete unsteady pressure measurements acquired during wind-tunnel tests. These practices often result in significant uncertainty in buffet environments for coupled loads analyses due to the complex spatio-temporal nature of the unsteady pressure field and the challenge of its estimation using discrete sensors. Unsteady pressure sensitive paint, on the other hand, can provide unsteady pressure data at a comparatively high spatial density and may overcome the challenge of unsteady pressure field estimation with discrete sensors and lead to improvements in the development of buffet forcing functions. In this paper, comparisons of the fluctuating pressure field are made for the Space Launch System Block 1 cargo launch vehicle measured using unsteady pressure sensitive paint and pressure transducers.