Authors: Francisco R. B. M. Vaz, André C. Marta, Fernando V. P. Oliveira

Wind tunnel testing is still fundamental in the field of aerodynamics. At the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC) a lot of studies are conducted on the wind tunnels where dedicated instrumentation is used for aerodynamic load measurements. On this work a new versatile 6-component aerodynamic balance recently developed according to the LNEC’s requirements and considering the wind tunnel characteristics is presented. The concept was selected using the Analytic Hierarchy Process resulting in a Stewart platform configuration with six instrumented bars, enabling the measurement of three forces and three moments. The design was validated through singularity analyses, as well as analytical and numerical studies. Calibration followed a two-stage approach using a Weighted Least Squares method. The results demonstrate good accuracy and consistency instrument, which contributes to the improvement of the LNEC’s wind tunnels’ tools.

Francisco R. B. M. Vaz¹ | André C. Marta² | Fernando V. P. Oliveira¹
1 LNEC – Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Portugal, franciscobvaz@tecnico.ulisboa.pt, fvoliveira@lnec.pt
2 IST – IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, andre.marta@tecnico.ulisboa.pt