With respect to wind tunnel aerodynamic load measurement, an internal strain gauge balance (often referred to as a sting balance) is essentially a compact load cell designed to fit within a cavity of the aerodynamic body and form a link between the model and a fixed ground point via a sting support system. The structure of an internal strain gauge balance is designed to incorporate a series of planar surfaces such that the deflection of each surface is predominantly induced by a unique aerodynamic load. Strain gauges, mounted on groups of surfaces in a Wheatstone bridge arrangement produce output signals proportional to the applied aerodynamic loads. A strain gauge balance is calibrated by applying known loads, measuring the bridge outputs and then formulating an equation which relates the two variables together. Although calibration techniques are well established, reservations have been recently expressed concerning the ability of the associated calibration equation to satisfactorily model the response of the balance when subjected to a six component aerodynamic loading. This generally accepted calibration equation (referred to here as the traditional equation) results in a quadratic approximation to the behaviour of the output signals with applied loads, whereas a more appropriate variation would be cubic. Other limitations of the traditional calibration equation are that the behaviour of the balance to two simultaneously applied loads is based upon limited combinations of the two applied loads, and that the acquisition of the required loads from the strain gauge signals is frequently based upon an approximate matrix inversion method. The proposed calibration equation, described within this paper, models the behaviour of the sting balance to the third order, takes account of all possible combinations of two simultaneously applied loads, and avoids the use of an approximate matrix inversion when deriving the desired aerodynamic loading from the signal outputs. It is also shown that the proposed method may be used to determine the interaction of all possible combinations of up to three simultaneously applied loads.

The assessment of damage due to impacts in composite sandwich panels and the component life reductions associated with such damage is becoming increasingly important within the aerospace industry. This study analyses minimum gauge, non-metallic honeycomb wing panels subject to impact damage. In all instances the damage is caused by ‘soft body’ impactors travelling at elevated velocities to simulate bird strike and other soft debris. The damage formed during these impacts is shown to be large in plan area but shallow and primarily causes crushing of the core in a thin layer. Loading of the panels after impact has been performed to determine the reduction in load carrying capacity and associated failure mechanisms. Damage due to soft body impact is shown to be very different to the classical rigid body impact upon which current repair schemes are based. As a result in many applications the use of current repair schemes may be inappropriate. The viability of new repair techniques is discussed with particular attention to the prevention of failure mechanisms due to loading after impact.

It has long been a requirement in air transport that no single failure can have a catastrophic effect. As nothing can ever be failure free, fail-safety in design and operation must be provided in all respects.

This paper explores the design background, application and history of the concept of fail-safety in air transport and the vital role it plays in overall safety. It is suggested that fail-safety is the most important discipline of all those involved in safety in design and operations. Without it, the current air transport safety levels, even using the latest technologies, would not be possible.

In the modern air transport system, all accidents are due either to fail-safety implementations breaking down, or not having been adequately provided, or due to extremely remote multiple coincident failures. It can be argued that inadequacies in fail-safety provisions at the very low target failure rates now demanded, is the main reason for the near constancy of the accident rate, and the consequent increase in numbers of accidents as the world fleet grows. In the forefront of fail-safety problems is the inadequacy of its use in the management operations of crew in the modern air transport cockpit.

In a number of applications, turbulent boundary layers are exposed to a gradual or rapid acceleration. As a result of this, the flow may change to a laminarised state before retransitions again to a turbulent flow. This change of state (turbulent-laminar-turbulent) can have drastic effects on a variety of engineering problems. For example it has significant effects on the heat transfer rate at a boundary over which it is flowing, the mixing of fuel and air in the scramjet combustors, the mixing process in the wake of a transonic turbine blade and hence the base drag, etc.

An experimental investigation on the interference effect of lee-side balance housing bodies on the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of thin slab delta wings has been made using a special and novel thin three-component balance. This study has been conducted using wings with a t/c of 0.053 and sweep of 76°, 70° and 65° for three different lee-side bodies viz:Body (A), Body (B) and Body (C) of which Body (C) is the smallest. The testing was carried out at Mach number of 8·2, Reynolds number of 2·13 ˘ 106 and incidence of –4° to 12°. For the smallest body (Body (C)) tested, at the incidence at which this body first goes into the aerodynamic shadow of the wing (α = 6·5°), the difference in CN, CA, CM and L/D between the wing-body and the plain wing is around by 22%, 12%, 75% and 35% respectively. This difference decreases with increase in incidence and at the highest angle-of-attack up to which testing was done (α = 12°), the. corresponding values of CN, CA, CM and L/D are around 9%, 12%, 15% and 4% respectively. Contrary to the assumption in the literature pertinent to force measurements on thin slab delta wings, the interference of the lee-side bodies are found to be appreciable even after they come into the aerodynamic shadow of the wing.