Measurements of wall-shear-stress distributions along curved surfaces are carried out using non-intrusive experimental methods, such as liquid-crystal coating and near-wall particle image velocimetry (PIV). The former method relies on the color change of the liquid-crystal coating sensitive to the wall shear stress, while the latter is based on the direct evaluation of shear stresses through the near-wall PIV measurement in combination with the image deformation technique. These experimental methods are applied to the measurement of wall-shear-stress distributions of air flow at a free-stream velocity of 15 m s[?]1 on a flat plate and an NACA0018 airfoil. The experiments are carried out at zero angle of attack for the flat plate and at 0deg and +-6deg angles of attack for the airfoil, and then the variations of shear-stress distribution along these surfaces are studied. These measurements in wall shear stresses agree with each other within their experimental uncertainties, suggesting the validity of experimental methods for non-intrusive shear-stress measurements. It is found that the wall-shear-stress distribution shows a small negative value upstream of the reattachment point on the NACA0018 airfoil, which is followed by an increase in shear stresses downstream due to laminar-turbulent transition of boundary layers. Such behavior of wall-shear-stress distribution is well correlated with the mean flow and turbulence characteristics along the airfoil surfaces, which are measured by PIV.
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