Feasibility investigation of large-scale model suspended by cable-driven parallel robot in hypersonic wind tunnel test

Abstract

Cable-driven parallel robot is a special kind of robot, which is actuated by cables. It is already applied in the low speed wind tunnel to get aerodynamic measurement of aircraft model, and the aircraft pose could be adjusted by changing the cable length. Whether it can be used in hypersonic wind tunnel still needs further discussion. This paper presents the dynamics and aerodynamics analysis of a large-scale model supported by 6-DOF cable-driven parallel robot to investigate the feasibility of this special kind of suspension system in hypersonic wind tunnel. The description of this setup with a X-51A-like model is given, and then based on the system dynamic equations, aerodynamic force and stiffness matrix are derived. In the simulation, properties of dynamics and aerodynamics are mainly concerned. A typical shock tunnel with flow duration of about 100 milliseconds is taken as an example, and results show that the system is stable enough to meet the fundamental static wind tunnel test. From the cable tension variation under impact load and the sensitivity analysis, it is likely accessible to derive the aerodynamic forces. Compared with the sting suspension method, cable-driven parallel robot has the priority of higher inherent frequency and more flexible degrees. The interference to the flow field induced by cables is also preliminarily proved to be small by the CFD simulation, which can be acceptable and corrected. Researches conducted show the feasibility of cable-driven parallel robot’s application in hypersonic wind tunnel.