Development of high-precision micro-rolling moment gas bearing balance

During the reentry process of the miniaturized reentry vehicle, small asymmetry of its shape can be produced due to surface ablation, resulting in a small rolling moment. In order to obtain the high-precision micro-rolling moment measurement data of the ablation model of the miniaturized reentry vehicle in the hypersonic wind tunnel, and obtain the other five component aerodynamic data, a six component micro-rolling moment gas bearing balance was developed. The rolling moment design load of the balance is 0.02 N·m, and the axial force design load is 200 N, which are orders different from each other. The overall force measurement scheme of “4+2” balance is proposed, where the four component main balance elements cooperate with the two-component M_x–X elements to complete the extremely mismatched six component aerodynamic measurement. The results of the static calibration and the wind tunnel test show that the balance has good resolution and strong anti-interference ability, and is little affected by temperature. The measurement results of the rolling moment coefficient reach the order of 10^–7. The developed gas bearing balance is little affected by the temperature and can be reused. It can measure the six components of aerodynamic data including the micro-rolling moment at the same time, which greatly improves the test efficiency and reduces the error caused by model disassembly.