Design and calibration method for a novel six-component piezoelectric balance

Abstract

Wind tunnel balance is one of the most important measurement equipments in aerodynamic testing. In this paper, a new six-component piezoelectric balance is developed to measure the dynamic impact loading force in the wind tunnel. The arrangement mode of the triaxial piezoelectric load cells is confirmed based on the theory analysis. Furthermore, the mathematical model is established according to the calibration experimental results. Support vector machine is proposed to develop the piezoelectric balance calibration. It is an effective method to predict the model using small samples and reduce the duration of the calibration. The results of prediction are compared to the conventional calibration and the dynamic step response. The linearity and repeatability of the balance are within 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively, and the interference error has been reduced using the support vector machine method. The experimental results have shown that the four supports arrangement mode can reduce the area of attack and enhance the measuring range of the balance. The dynamic characteristics of the piezoelectric balance performed by the step response test show that the designed balance is feasible to measure the dynamic impact airloads in a wind tunnel.