Three components strain-gauge type aircraft surface friction resistance sensor: Design, manufacturing, and calibration

•The sensor has small volume and can realize point measurement of friction.•In addition to tangential friction, the sensor can also measure normal pressure for accuracy compensation.•Orthogonal structure design and Wheatstone bridge can achieve good resultant force decomposition.•The friction sensing block can be replaced to realize the application of various body surface materials and shapes. Surface friction resistance acting on hypersonic vehicles with speeds greater than Mach 5 caused by air viscosity accounts for more than half of the total resistance. Accurate prediction of the surface resistance of a vehicle is the basis of resistance reduction, and prediction methods are mainly categorized into direct measurement and indirect evaluation methods. In this study, a novel three-component strain-type surface-friction-resistance measurement sensor is developed. A double-layer assembly-type orthogonal-sensitive element structure is adopted, and its friction-sensing block is replaceable based on test demands. Finite element calculation results show that the interference between the measured components of the friction-resistance sensor structure is considerably small, and the maximum theoretical interference is 0.53%. After calibration test compensation, the sensor exhibited high repeatability and accuracy, with three-measurement component precisions of 0.21%, 0.16%, and 0.09%, and the corresponding accuracies were 0.32%, 0.27%, and 0.19%, respectively.