"" other functions: 1. Task order title: high-reynolds number active blowing semi-span force measurement system assessment & development 2. Purpose, objective, and background of work to be…

"" other functions: 1. Task order title: high-reynolds number active blowing semi-span force measurement system assessment & development 2. Purpose, objective, and background of work to be performed: recent work at the national transonic facility (NTF) at NASA langley research center has involved development of a new force measurement system to be used for active blowing wind-tunnel model testing at high reynolds number operating conditions. This system integrates a large capacity semi-span balance into the sidewall model support system (SMSS) at the facility, along with sub-system components that allow for routing high-pressure air through the SMSS and balance and out to the model during operation. The introduction of the high-pressure air system and pressure bellows that bridge the balance makes the system highly complex, requiring systems calibrations in order to properly characterize the performance of the system. The objective of this task is to gain support for continued development and assessment of the current system. Significant work has been completed over the past 3.5 years with this system, but IT is required to continue assessing the system for potential areas of improvement, and to demonstrate in a laboratory environment that the system has been properly characterized to allow for use during critical wind-tunnel tests. Work will include assessing the current system, determining potential areas for upgrades, performing experiments on the current system to assess system measurement uncertainty under simulated operating conditions, performing design/analysis for determined areas for upgrade, and to complete follow on experiments/calibrations of system. The task requires expertise in the areas of statistical design and analysis of experiments, response surface methodology, statistical quality control, total measurement system uncertainty quantification, data acquisition system (DAS) design, mechanical/structural design and analysis, and force measurement technology. In addition, the reporting and communication of these results to integrate into the wind-tunnel facility algorithms is required. 3. Description of the work to be performed: the contractor shall perform the following task requirements: 3.1. The contractor shall employ statistical design of experiments and perform statistical quality control analyses to assess the mechanical design and system stability. 3.2. The contractor shall develop and/or upgrade the DAS to interface with the balance and all other critical instrumentation for data collection. The contractor shall document all labview software upgrades for configuration control purposes. 3.3. The contractor shall work with NASA balance engineers, NTF test engineers, NTF researchers and other NTF technicians to determine areas for potential mechanical upgrades in existing system. The contractor shall assist or complete all mechanical/structural designs and analyses for the determined upgrades. The contractor shall document all design/analysis procedures with appropriate drawings and analysis reports, which must be approved by appropriate NASA personnel. 3.4. The contractor shall develop an experimental design and methodology for properly calibrating/characterizing the integrated balance/SMSS system. This design shall be used to calibrate the system, and to investigate system accuracy, measurement uncertainties, and prediction capabilities of the resulting calibration models.