OPTICAL SENSOR FOR MEASUREMENT OF POSITION AND DEFORMATIONS OF MODELS IN WIND TUNNEL.

An optical position sensor was designed and produced to allow the localization, without contact, of a wing's trailing edge placed in a wind tunnel. The equipment operates over different sighting distances without the need to refocus the lens. The system requires that the trailing edge of the wing be targeted with at least one fiber optic end serving as a light source. The use of several fiber optic ends enables wing-distortion measurements to be made from its trailing edge. After validation in the Aerospatiale Suresnes measurement facility, the instrument was successfully tested under industrial conditions in the large S1MA wind tunnel of the Modane-Avrieux Center.