Development of a two degrees of freedom support system for full model gust tests

This paper describes the development of a support system for free flying dynamically scaled full model. The free flying model requires plunge and pitch degrees of freedom(DOF) for the measurement of the gust response in the 8 m×6 m wind tunnel in LSAI of CARDC. The main part of the system consists of 2 slideways and a steel beam. The characteristics of the system include: its left and right structures are symmetrical, the range of free movement in the plunge direction is 2.8 m and the coefficient of friction is 0.006, the range of free movement in the pitch direction is ±10°, the lowest frequency of the system supporting a 50 kg model is not less than 12 Hz, and the structure changes in the test section can be ignored. By optimizing the structure and selecting the materials, the sliding carriage's mass is less than 6 kg. A gust load alleviation test for a full model was successfully completed by the use of the support system, which verifies the practical effect of the system.