A Novel, Low Reynolds Number Moment Balance Design for Micro Air Vehicle Research

The aerodynamic performance of airfoils operating at Reynolds numbers below 100,000 has been of interest due to a variety of applications in the realm of unmanned remotely piloted vehicles, small machinery, and micro air vehicles (MAVs). Design and testing of airfoils to meet the performance requirements of a specific environment is challenging due to a lack of experimental data and a diverse understanding of airfoil characteristics in a low Reynolds flow environment. To study airfoils at very low Reynolds numbers and experimentally measure aerodynamic coefficients, a simple mechanical balance was designed to measure both pitch and roll moments. Several small scale flat plates and cambered airfoils are used to statistically evaluate the performance of the mechanical balance system.