Inprovement of Force Measurement Laboratory

机械和航空航天工程系正在改进一个用于力平衡测量的本科教育和研究实验室。 多阶段的开发工作包括为低速风洞制造一个新的试验段，以便在风洞中对真正的三维模型进行力平衡试验;购买一个六分力带有数据采集和可视化系统的（自由度）支杆天平和力量平衡的结合-在重点本科课程和学生项目中，增加基于实验和虚拟实验室的内容，以加强学生为就业做好准备。 该项目最初针对机械工程和航空航天工程课程的一年级到四年级的本科生，并扩展到包括高中生。 建立一个本科生研究计划，涉及一个令人兴奋的项目，以测试与足球周围的流动相关的力和扭矩，其结果提供了大量的见解，旋转体的空气动力学流动转移到工程内的许多领域，代表了一个真正独特的实验室问题。 该项目有重要的教学方面，使其特别适合转移到其他大学。 足球是一个令人兴奋的应用程序，激励学生学习，质疑和推理。 它用于演示基本的空气动力学概念，并以前所未有的方式介绍新概念。 传播可以通过直接邮寄给机械和航空航天工程系的本科课程委员会主席，告知他们描述项目和最新发展的网页地址，关于本科足球飞行研究项目的期刊文章在ASEE工程教育杂志上，以及AIAA杂志上的更多技术论文。

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.