NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, reports that researchers there used unsteady Pressure Sensitive Paint in a first-of-its-kind test in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel to study airflow around a standard wind tunnel model called the Benchmark Supercritical Wing. Under ultraviolet light the paint made the wing glow pink-purple, and high-speed cameras recorded the changes.

The coating varies in brightness with the pressure the airflow applies to the wing, giving researchers data for computer models. NASA describes its benchmark wings not as a particular aircraft type but as universal models used to improve modeling with wind tunnel data. The agency says this was the first use of the technique on a large-scale, freely moving model in a low-oxygen environment.

NASA researchers at Langley and at the Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley have worked for years to bring the paint into wind tunnel tests for aircraft and rockets, and the agency expects further applications. According to NASA, the milestone opens the way for tests on flexible aircraft models designed to bend and adapt in flight to improve efficiency, and supports better simulations and designs.