Wind Tunnel - Forces on Bodies Using Force Balance

Background: The force balance is an instrument designed to measure the total forces on airfoils and
bluff bodies. The net force resulting from the aerodynamic interaction of the air on the model is
transmitted to the force balance through a mounting sting. The Florida Tech's two-component strain
gage force balance has suspended platforms arranged such that the net force can be decoupled into the
lift and drag components. Aerodynamic loads cause the platforms to deflect in the horizontal plane a
distance proportional to the stiffness of two suspending elements called flexures. The load cells, with
surface mounted strain-gages sense the deflections of the platforms and register as voltage outputs.
Through calibration, the voltage output from the strain gage circuit is related to the applied lift or drag
force on the model. The calibration of the force balance requires application of known loads to each of
the sensitive axes and recording the appropriate strain gage outputs. This output is in the form of
analog-digital (A/D) converter value, known as Bits.
The force balance is used to determine the drag coefficient of a circular cylinder at different
freestream turbulence intensities.

Statement of Work:
Calibration: You will first statically calibrate the force balance so
that the proper load to voltage relationship can be obtained. Run the
program called CL/CD MAIN and select calibration from the pulldown menu list. First you are to calibrate the negative lift force by
selecting NEGATIVE LIFT from the menu. By default the sample rate
and number of weight increments is put in for you. Start by toggling 0
for the amount of mass and before clicking to proceed make sure the
force balance has no weights on it already. If there are no weights on
the force balance then you may click proceed (be careful not to bump
the wind tunnel or walk near the force balance when the computer is
taking calibration readings). After you have finished the 0 gram
reading go up to 200 grams using 50 grams increments (making a
total of 5 readings). Continue the above process for the DRAG and
POSITIVE LIFT forces. When all three are finished click FINISHED
to return to the main menu. If you skip this calibration, then the
program will default to the previous calibration values. Saved file of
the calibration data can be retrieved for the calibrations plots later.
Zero-AOA Determination: This part of the program routine
automatically sets a symmetrical airfoil at zero angle of attack (AOA),
within a given tolerance, using lift-curve slope interpolation. This part
of the experiment has been done for you already.
Data Acquisition: Now from the main menu select the DATA
ACQUISTION option. After you have clicked this option a series of
windows will prompt you for some input values. First you will be
required to take the temperature and pressure readings from the
barometer instrument near the laboratory entrance. These values will
be used to help compute the ambient air properties. Next you will be
asked to input the geometric properties of the cylinder: