Inprovement of Force Measurement Laboratory

机械和航空航天工程系正在改进一个本科生教育和研究实验室，用于力平衡测量。多阶段的开发工作包括为低速风洞制造新的测试部分，以允许在隧道中进行真正的三维模型的力平衡测试；购买具有数据采集和可视化系统的六分量(自由度)支撑天平；在关键的本科课程和学生项目中纳入基于力平衡的实验和虚拟实验室，以加强学生进入劳动力市场的准备。该项目最初的目标是机械工程和航空航天工程专业的一年级到四年级的本科生，后来扩大到包括高中生。建立一个本科生研究计划，包括一个令人兴奋的项目，测试与足球周围的流动相关的力和扭矩，其结果为关于旋转物体的空气动力学流动提供了实质性的见解，这些旋转物体转移到工程中的许多领域，这是一个真正独特的实验室问题。该项目有重要的教学方面，使其特别适合转学到其他大学。橄榄球是一个令人兴奋的应用程序，它激励学生学习、质疑和推理。它被用来演示基本的空气动力学概念，并以前所未有的方式介绍新的概念。传播可以通过直接邮寄给机械和航空航天工程系的本科生项目委员会主席，告知他们描述该项目的网页地址(S)和最新进展，在ASEE工程教育杂志上发表一篇关于本科生足球飞行研究项目的期刊文章，以及在AIAA期刊上发表一篇更技术性的论文。

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is improving an undergraduate education and research laboratory for force balance measurements. The multiphase development effort involves the manufacture of a new test section for the low-speed wind tunnel to permit force balance testing of true three-dimensional models in the tunnel; the purchase of a six-component (degree-of-freedom) sting balance with data acquisition and visualization system; and the incorporation of force balance-based experimental and virtual laboratories in key undergraduate courses and student projects to enhance students' preparation to enter the workforce. The project initially targets first-year through fourth-year undergraduate students within the mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering programs and expands to include high school students. The establishment of an undergraduate research program involving an exciting project to test the forces and torques associated with flow around a football the results of which provide substantial insights to aerodynamic flow about rotating bodies that transfer to numerous fields within engineering represents a truly unique laboratory problem. There are significant pedagogical aspects of the project that make it uniquely suited for transference to other universities. The football is an exciting application that motivates students to learn, question, and reason. It is used to demonstrate basic aerodynamic concepts and introduce new ones in a way never before presented. Dissemination can occur through direct mailings to undergraduate program committee chairs of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Departments to inform them of a web page address describing the project(s) and most recent developments, a journal article about the undergraduate Football Flight research project in the ASEE Journal of Engineering Education, and a more technical paper in the AIAA Journal.