The 20 mm Advantage - Shrinking an Internal Balance to meet Clients' Demands

摘要

The European Transonic Windtunnel is collaborating with the Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD) to develop a 30 kN performance balance which combines the slender design of a tapered balance with the well determined positioning of a flange joint: The balance uses a stress optimized flange whose diameter is reduced by 20% compared to a conservative design of similar load bearing capability. This requires torque settings beyond what sound engineering practice prescribes. The paper gives some insight into the steps taken so far to safeguard the design against structural failure and to ensure that the pre-stresses in the flange joint do not introduce strain gauge bias.