Development and application of the measurement system for thrust vectoring tests at 2.4m×2.4m transonic wind tunnel

The thrust vectoring control (TVC) technology enables aircraft to fly in post-stall maneuver, which is very important for breaking through obstacle stall, enhancing mobility and improving take-off/landing and cruise performance. For TVC test at 2.4m×2.4m transonic wind tunnel, three six-component strain-gauge balances and two separate air systems are applied to respectively measure the performance of the whole model and nozzles at the same time. The thrust vector test model is flat, so that the layout and structure design of the measurement system is constrained. In the small internal model, it is very difficult to set up three six-component balances, two separate air bridge systems and pipeline, a supporting system, a pressure measurement system and so on. The complex system design cannot be realized by traditional methods and neither can the matching design of the air bridge system and the force balance under the condition of high pressure be accomplished. In the development of the measurement system, the integrated design concept and the stiffness matching design method are adopted. Combined with ANSYS finite element software, the layout and structure optimization of each component of the system have been solved. The results of balance calibration and wind tunnel test prove that the measurement system meets the requirement of thrust vector test.