Abstract: Based on the oxygen quenching of luminescence, pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique is an optical pressure measurement method, which has been developed since the 1980’s. This technique has found wide application abroad in engineering practice, based on its unique advantages of non-contact and full-field surface pressure measurement for experimental object, a much higher spatial resolution, a lower cost and being time-saving. According to the elementary demands on pressure measurement in aerodynamics, the working principle, features of PSP technique and its engineering development are briefly presented. Moreover, the PSP composition, criterion for PSP assortment and sorts of PSP are described in detail. The comparison and analysis of advantages and weaknesses of PSP technique for both intensity-based and lifetime-based methods are conducted; the development tendency of PSP technique in the near future is also discussed. Especially within the recent ten years in China, the progress in pressure distribution measurements by using PSP technique on wing surface of airplane model in low speed and high speed wind tunnels, on vane surface of air-turbine in subsonic cascade wind tunnel, and on the guide vane of axial counter-rotating compressor is introduced in this review. The results show that compared with pressure tape measurement method, PSP technique has sufficient accuracy and reproducibility for its engineering application.

Key words: optical pressure measurement, pressure sensitive paint, experimental fluid dynamics, wind tunnels, oxygen quenching