Aerodynamic force measurement using 3-component accelerometer force balance system in a hypersonic shock tunnel

A new three-component accelerometer force balance has been designed, calibrated and tested in hypersonic shock tunnel (HST2) of Indian Institute of Science. The newly designed balance is able to measure aerodynamic forces (within test time of one millisecond) on test models at angles of attack from 0 to 12°. Two models, a blunt cone with after body and a blunt cone with after body and frustum are used to establish the accuracy of the force balance. The tests were conducted for the above two configurations with a constant Mach number of 8 and total enthalpy of 2.0 MJ/kg. The effectiveness of the balance is demonstrated by comparing the forces and moments of measured data with AGARD models. The flow fields around the test model are simulated using a 3D axisymmetric Navier–Stokes solver and the simulated results were compared with the measured values. Measured and computed force data are matched within ±10% for two different models tested here. The accuracy of the force balance is also estimated with the Newtonian theory and the values are approximately ±10% for the axial component and ±8% for the normal and pitching moment components.