A LabVIEW Based Wind Tunnel Data Acquisition System.
Abstract
The NPS Aerolab Low Speed Wind Tunnel located in Halligan Hall of the Navy Postgraduate School has been in operation since 1953. Although the tunnel is well maintained, its data acquisition system has not kept pace with modem technology. An effective but affordable solution for acquiring data was needed. It was determined that a software package known as LabVIEW would provide a low cost, data acquisition solution that will enhance the capabilities of the wind tunnel, while at the same time making it more user friendly to faculty and students. The focus of this thesis is the design of a VI that will collect and plot force and moment data from a six component strain gauge balance and yield real time, non-dimensional, force and moment coefficients in six degrees of freedom. Wind tunnel tests consisting of angle-of-attack sweeps in the NPS Aerolab low-speed wind tunnel were conducted t6 verify (IiD)Isp optimized, M=6, conical-flow waverider data obtained in 1994 using a different data acquisition system. Results of current testing substantiate the LabVIEW code and the validity of the 1994 test data. Analysis of the current wind tunnel test data resolved pitching moment concerns related to the 1994 data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA355656
Entities
People
- Michael R. Huff
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School