Design of an external six-component wind tunnel balance with floating frame

This paper details the design procedure of a wind tunnel aerodynamic balance. It is the six-component external balance with floating frame used in our main Eiffel-type wind tunnel. This balance has the unique feature of being able to receive full and half wind tunnel models. Firstly, a set of design requirements and specifications is defined. Then the conceptual and detailed design of the mechanism is deeply explained. Finally, an analytical model of the balance is developed and used in order to study the effect of the design loads: this allowed sizing of the load cells and the counterweights of the balance.