Pulsed laser light sheet flow visualization

A pulsed ruby laser was used as light source for a set of flow visualization tests involving two test situations. In both cases, the conducted investigation was concerned with the location of the tip vortex of the rotor-blade of a helicopter, giving particular attention to the position relative to the following blade. The optical system employed is considered along with the electronics system, the setup equipment, and the helicopter test. Vortex field maps are provided for the case in which the helicopter rotor vortex field phase angle equals 0 degrees and for the case in which this angle equals 90 degrees.