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Design And Calibration Of A Three Component, Single Element, Wind Tunnel Force Balance, Victor W. Tisdel

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper was to design a simplified wind tunnel force balance for use in elementary aerodynamics/wind tunnel laboratory courses. The applied loads and moments were determined to be as follows: The design lift force is ± 20 lbs, the design drag force is ± 10 pounds, the design pitching moment is ± 20 inch-pounds. The force balance output accuracy was arbitrarily set at ± 5% since this would be sufficient for preliminary student work. The results of this work are as follows: The force balance is fabricated from a single bar of 2024 aluminum, machines and bent …