Advanced Sensors Gages Used in the World’s Finest Wind Tunnel Balances

Designers of devices ranging from aircraft to wind turbine blades to helmets must understand the effects of wind currents on performance and efficiencies. Smoke trails can illustrate how the wind passes over and around an object, but can’t determine the forces exerted by the wind on the object. For that, strain gage wind tunnel balances are required — extremely complex, six-degrees-of-freedom transducers to which models are mounted to determine behavior during wind tunnel testing. These transducers can cost as much as $40,000 and take up to a year to design, fabricate, and calibrate.

In wind balance tunnels, strain gages are used to translate forces into an electrical signal that can be measured and recorded for analysis. The locations where the strain gages are placed are typically very small and difficult to access, and the devices are extremely difficult to replace should the need for repair ever arise. Therefore, strain gages must not only be exceptionally small, but must also be robust and reliable once installed. In the latest Micro-Measurements case study, Dennis Booth, operations manager for Triumph Force Measurement Systems, explains how Advanced Sensors strain gages provide the reliability, durability, and long-term stability necessary for this demanding application.

Click here to read the full Case Study: Advanced Sensors Gages Used in the World’s Finest Wind Tunnel Balances.