Demonstration of a Wire Suspension for Virtual Flight Testing in a Wind Tunnel

This paper describes the development of a wire suspension system for dynamic testing of missiles in a wind tunnel. The system restrains the missile, permits motion in three rotational degrees of freedom, and measures forces on the model. The apparatus allows testing of missile control systems in the wind tunnel, reducing the cost and risk of a flight test program. Hydraulic actuators control cable tension and model position. Bearings provide free roll and pitch, while yaw motion is created by the cable actuation system and a repetitive learning controller. The paper describes the cable arrangement, force balance, bearings, closed-loop hydraulic control, and the repetitive-learning controller. Two sets of tests were conducted with the BOA missile (a sidewinder variant) in the HIVAS facility at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center. The tests, conducted at M=0.4-0.6, demonstrate functionality of the system in a series of missile pitch and yaw maneuvers. The learning controller is shown to learn an s-maneuver in the yaw plane. Prepared in collaboration with the Weapons Division, Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CA. Accepted for publication in the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets; final version published in v46 n3 p624-633, May-Jun 2009.