Full-field surface pressure reconstruction using the virtual fields method

This work presents a methodology for reconstructing full-field surface pressure information from deflectometry measurements on a thin plate using the Virtual Fields Method (VFM). Low-amplitude mean pressure distributions of the order of few O(100) Pa from an impinging air jet are investigated. These are commonly measured point-wise using arrays of pressure transducers, which require drilling holes into the specimen. In contrast,the approach presented here allows obtaining a large number of data points on the investigated specimen without impact on surface properties and flow. Deflectometry provides full-field deformation data on the specimen surface with remarkably high sensitivity. The VFM allows extracting information from the full-field data using the principle of virtual work. A finite element model is employed in combination with artificial grid deformation to assess the uncertainty of the pressure reconstructions. Both experimental and model data are presented and compared to show capabilities and restrictions of this method