Calibration of strain gage instrumentation for an aircraft pylon

Abstract

This final year project developed a load calibration strain gage procedure and system for a F16 non-jettisonable fuel pylon with an existing fixture. The system identified the best strain gage bridge for load calibration. Most importantly, the substitutes for the best strain gage bridges were identified, which becomes a solution for a damaged strain gage bridge as the next best strain gage bridge that can be used for load calibration.

In order to develop the system, a study was done on the least square regression method and the equations that are derived for the method. The method for derivation of the load equation is tedious. Therefore an automated system was created to analyze the characteristic of the load equations of different stain gage bridges combination. In addition, an interface that is user friendly was designed to allow individuals with no computing knowledge to enjoy the benefits of the computing program.