Forces and moments from balance measurements

Loads acting the model may be obtained by following methods:

1. Measuring the actual forces and moments on the complete model or on the parts of the
model with one or more balance.
2. Measuring the stress distribution over the model by means of orifices connecting to the
pressure measuring devices or other means such as such as pressure or shear sensitive
coatings.
3. Measuring the effects that the model has on the airstream by wake surveys and tunnel
wall pressures.
4. Measuring the motion of the model under the action of aerodynamic forces and
computing the forces from equation of motions.
Balances are most common means of measuring the aerodynamic forces. Measurements
can be done either by external balances or by internal balances depending on the features
of the model.
External balances are highly precise. Because the balances are present outside the model
and the wind tunnel, wind effects on the support struts of the model are needed to be
avoided. This can done by carefully shielding the support struts of the model. These type
of balances provides a greater flexibility to wind tunnel in terms of easily change of
different test models. There are several degree of complexity with this balance depending
upon number of measurement channel which can vary from 1 to 6.
Internal balances could either be rotating or non rotating. Internal balances are located
inside the model this means that this produces no interference. The test models are highly
complex. This type of balances does not provide flexibility in testing different models.
There are various configurations of force balances. Three component force balance
can measure lift, drag and pitching moment. Six component balances measure three
forces (lift , drag and side force) and three moments ( pitch, roll and yaw).

CONCEPT OF SIX COMPONENT BALANCE

This is one of the balance design concept to measure all kind of aerodynamic loads (lift
,drag, side thrust, pitching moment, yawing moment and rolling moment). The test model
used by the balance based on this concept is assumed to be too heavy to lift by the
aerodynamic lift and is held by six wires.

Six forces
are read by
the scales
attached at
each wire.
Two wires
(say A and
B)are
attached
parallel to
the incoming
air velocity
vector and
define a plane that can be taken as a reference plane for the balance. One wire (say F)is
attached perpendicular to the A and B but in the same plane. Two more wires(say D and
C) are attached to the model and perpendicular to both A and B, as well as reference
plane. One more wire(say E) is attached in the same plane as that of C and D. Wire A and
C are attached to the same point and wires B, D and F are attached to the same point.
Wires A, B and F are in horizontal plane(reference plane) and wires D, C and E are in
vertical plane. The lift force L is obtained by sum of the forces on C , D and E.

Drag force D is obtained by the sum of forces on A and B. Side force is simply given by
F. If there is any pitching moment then it will be given as m=E*c (c is the distance
between the plane containing D,C and the plane containing E). If there is any rolling

moment then scales D and C will show different readings and rolling moment will be
given as l=(D-C)*(b/2) ,(b is the distance between D and C). And if there is any yawing
moment then scales A and B will show different values. And the yawing moment will be
given as n=(A-B)*(b/2).
BALANCE REQUIREMENT AND SPECIFICATION
The main function of balance is to measure the load acting on the model in the test
section. The balance must also be capable of measuring the maximum and minimum
loads with desired accuracy.
The expected loads that a balance must carry are primarily a function of size of a tunnel
test section and speed. If the size of the tunnel is doubled, the model size and the loads
are increased four times for a fixed model-to-tunnel-size ratio. Usually the span of the
model is represented in terms of tunnel width. Aspect ratio of the model provides a
relationship between the span and wing area.
Here, In our case we are using a rectangular airfoils and none of the airfoil for our
purpose will exceed a chord length of 12cm and its span is also fixed by the fact to avoid
any downwash. Any downwash may advertly affect the lift. Thus keeping span to be
0.96times the width of test section.
For obtaining the maximum load capacity of balance, assuming a airfoil of chord length
12cm and span to be 58cm. The airfoil area(S) is given as chord length times span of the
airfoil.
S=0.12x0.58
S=0.0696m^2
Since the tunnel is designed for 35m/s but at any if its speed exceeds its design speed,
loads on the model will also increase, so keeping the maximum velocity as 50m/s.
The dynamic pressure(q) is given as ;
q

1 2
v
2

q= 0.5*1.2*50^2
q=1500

N
m2

Total load acting on the model s given as ;

Fl Cl qS

Fd Cd qS
Now from experience it is suggested that coefficient of lift lies between 4 to -2 and
coefficient of drag lies between 1.0 to -1.0.
So, the maximum lift force acting on the airfoil will be

Fl 4 * q * S
Fl 4 *104.4 417.6 N
Fl 42.568kg 43kg
And maximum drag acting on the airfoil will be

OR

Fd Cd qS
Fd 104.4 N
Fd 10.64kg 11kg
0.0001
Now if we wish to measure the
coefficients to , the balance must be
able to resolve the maximum load to ten thousand parts.

OR

For lift
Maximum load=43kg
The load cell must be able to read 43/10,000=0.0043kg or 4.3gm
Similarly,
For drag
Maximum load =11kg
The load cell must be able to read 11/10,000=0.0011kg=1.1gm
15gm
So for lift the balance must resolve the 02.55
maximum load to 4.3gm and for drag
the balance must be able to resolve upto 1.1gm. In other words we can say that the
balance must have an accuracy of and for lift and drag respectively.

20,000 resolve the loads from 2.15gm to 43kg

We can also say that the balance must
or :1(in case of lift ) and 0.55gm to 11kg
(in case of drag)or 20,000:1.

Another way to look at requirement is that minimum reading should be 0.005% of full
scale.

If we are using digital scale then the ADC(analog to digital converter) of 15 bit will be
sufficient.
2^15=32,768
Since our requirement is 20,000:1
A 15bit ADC will detect minimum lift of 1.3122gm(43,000/32,768) and minimum drag of
0.3356gm(11,000/32,768).

TYPES OF EXTERNAL BALANCE

There are four types of external balances are in general use;

1. Wire balance
2. Platform balance
3. Yoke balance
4. Pyramidal balance
WIRE BALANCE
It is one of the earliest type of wind tunnel balance. It is very much similar to six
component balance concept. In wire balance spring scales are not used balance output
since their deflection would change the model configuration. Wire balance are not so
versatile and robust, comparing to other alternatives and hence they are not extensively
since early development of aeronautics.

PLATFORM BALANCE
This type of balance utilizes three or four legs to support the main frame.

For a three
legged
platform, the
forces and
moments are
given as;
L a b c

D d e
S f
1
w
2

l a b

1
w
2

n e d

m cx
Where L= lift force
D = drag force
S= side force
= yawing moment

l
n

= pitching moment

= rolling moment

Platform balances are widely used. They are rugged, naturally orthogonal, and can be
constructed with a minimum difficulty. But they have some disadvantages;
1. The balance resolving center is not at the center of the tunnel and the pitching moment
must be transferred.
2. The drag and the side force loads puts pitching and rolling moments on the load ring.
This interaction must be removed from the final data.

Such form of balances found wide applications in automobiles and surface marine
vehicles.

YOKE BALANCE
The yoke balance offers an advantage over the platform balance in that the moment
resolving center is near the center of the tunnel.

the
inherent
design of
the yoke
leads to
bigger

deflections than the platform balance,particularly in pitch and side force, because to
account for the drag arms to upper positions, the balance frame must span the the test
section. The high supporting pillars are subjected to large deflection. The forces on the
balance is given as;
L a b1
l a b w
2
s f 1
n d c w
2

PYRAMIDAL BALANCE
All the shortcomings about the platform balance and yoke balance are covered by the
pyramidal balance.

Dm
cdex e

The working
principle of
pyramidal
balance can be
understand a
truss
arrangement as
shown below;

Consider the above truss in

which two legs are jointed.
The force D, acting through
the pin joint will produce
tension and compression in OE and OF respectively. There will be no force at A. But a
force G acts not through O but a distance of a from O will produce a bending moment in
OE and this bending moment in OE will be balance by force A acting at a distance of b
from the O. The magnitude of force A will be (a G/b). If G and b are known, the size of
the force A determines the point of action of G. In this same manner, if G were a known
drag force, its pitching moment about the resolving center O would be determine by the
force A.
The forces and moments on the pyramidal balance is given by;
Lift = total weight on the lowest table
Drag = D
Side force = -C
Pitching moment =

P f

Rolling moment =

R f

Yawing moment =

Y a