Simulative technology for auxiliary fuel tank separation in a wind tunnel

•We propose an experimental system for the separation of auxiliary fuel tank models.•A new release mechanism and scaled models of the auxiliary fuel tank were designed.•A high-speed image acquisition method for dark closed wind tunnels is presented.•Verification experiments show high accuracy of the measurement system.•Repeatability errors of the proposed release mechanism remain in small values.

In this paper, we propose a simulative experimental system in wind tunnel conditions for the separation of auxiliary fuel tanks from an aircraft. The experimental system consists of a simulative release mechanism, a scaled model and a pose measuring system. A new release mechanism was designed to ensure stability of the separation. Scaled models of the auxiliary fuel tank were designed and their moment of inertia was adjusted by installing counterweights inside the model. Pose parameters of the scaled model were measured and calculated by a binocular vision system. Additionally, in order to achieve high brightness and high signal-to-noise ratio of the images in the dark enclosed wind tunnel, a new high-speed image acquisition method based on miniature self-emitting units was presented. Accuracy of the pose measurement system and repeatability of the separation mechanism were verified in the laboratory. Results show that the position precision of the pose measurement system can reach 0.1 mm, the precision of the pitch and yaw angles is less than 0.1° and that of the roll angle can be up to 0.3°. Besides, repeatability errors of models’ velocity and angular velocity controlled by the release mechanism remain small, satisfying the measurement requirements. Finally, experiments for the separation of auxiliary fuel tanks were conducted in the laboratory.