A novel experimental approach for the determination of aerodynamic coefficients for aeroelastic instability studies

This work presents a new approach for obtaining experimentally the appropriate aerodynamic coefficients for arbitrary prismatic section. The method allows a correct evaluation of the coefficients in the linear equations of motion, applicable both to determine critical flow velocities and/or the response to turbulence or vortex excitation. The procedure was employed in order to obtain the aerodynamic coefficients for an H-section model in the Reynolds number range 104–105. The results obtained compare favourably with existing values given in the literature for this type of section.