VORTEX FLOWS
   THERMAL FLOWS
   NUMERICAL METHODS
   ACOUSTICS
   AERODYNAMICS
   WAVES
    GRANULAR
   ROTATING FLOWS
  AERODYNAMICS
Our goal was to develop a motorized robotic arm to measure aerodynamic forces like drag and lift on bluff bodies and airfoils inside our wind tunnel. The arm allows to change the Roll, Pitch and Yaw angles of the body dynamically using a digital interface with a work station.
A calibrated small force sensor inserted into a torque-free clamping device is mounted between the robotic arm head and body. It measures axial d.c. and fluctuating forces in the range 0.01-10 N with a sensibility of 0.24 mV/grf. The clamping unit built in plexiglass has the possibility to apply an offset force through a knob placed at its base.
A typical experimental test was to measure the lift and drag forces on a NACA 5320 airfoil at low chord-based Reynolds numbers (30000). The sensor clamping device was inserted inside the airfoil from the trailing edge to avoid perturbing the flow. Combined drag-lift coeficients are in close agreement with the literature as a function of attack angle.
  Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencas Físicas y Matemáticas