KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

AERO 396---AEROSPACE ENGINEERING LAB II

AERO LAB: DRAG COEFFICIENT MEASUREMENT

GROUP 1

AFEDZIE JOANA- 8338519

YORKE GEORGE K.- 8343919

AGBO-SOWAH CURTIS ISRAEL- 8338619

BOATENG ISRAEL TEMITOPE- 8340619

OPOKU STEPHEN KWAKU OWOAHENE- 8343019

ADDAE ROBERT- 8338219

WAYO REXFORD AMOAH- 8343819

DOGBATSE FELIX MAWULORM- 8341119

GREENE-ACKON HENRY ALEXANDER NANA KOBINA- 8341219

NTI BRUCE BAFFOUR- 8342819

KOKO PHILEMON AMENUVEVE KOFI- 8341619

LECTURER: DR. E. A. ADJEI

 INTRODUCTION

Often, an unbalance of forces is produced in rotary or reciprocating machinery due to the

inertia forces associated with the moving masses. Balancing is the process of designing
machinery so that the unbalance is reduced to an acceptable level and if possible is eliminated
entirely. Static balance occurs when the centre of gravity of an object is on the axis of
rotation. This allows the object to remain stationary, with the axis horizontal, without the
application of any braking force. Static balance has no tendency to rotate due to the force of
gravity. Dynamic balancing on the other hand, is when the rotation does not produce any
resultant centrifugal force or couple. The system will rotate without needing the application
of any external force or couple, other than that required to support its weight.
Counterbalanced weights are usually added to unbalanced systems, to avoid stress upon the
bearings caused by the centrifugal couple.

EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVE
 To understand the meaning of static and dynamic balance.
 To demonstrate the static and dynamic balancing of an unbalanced shaft using a four
mass system.

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

 Static and Dynamic Balancing Apparatus
 Hexagon key
 Steel balls
 Weight buckets
 Extension pulley
 Rectangular blocks.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
1. Remove the Perspex dome and remove the shaft drive belt
2. Unclip the extension pulley and insert it in the pulley end of the motor driven shaft/
3. Move the apparatus to the edge of the table to or bench. Loop two or three turns of the
weight bucket cord around the extension pulley.
4. Clamp the rectangular block to the shaft such that the protractor scale reading is 0˚.
5. Insert the eccentric disc with the small hole into one of the rectangular blocks. Clamp
the block to the shaft such that the protractor scale reading is 0 degrees.
6. Gradually add the steel balls to one of the weight buckets until the block has moved
through 90˚. Whilst adding the balls, occasionally tap the shaft mountings to
overcome bearing stiction.
7. Record the number of balls required to raise the block through 90˚.
8. Fit an eccentric disc to each block and repeat the above procedure for each block in
turn.
9. Remove the extension shaft and replace it in its mounting clip.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Angular Shaftwise
Block Wr Wrl Wrl × sin θ Wrl × cos θ
position (˚) position (mm)

A 0 86 14 1204 0 1204

B 130 79 114 9006 6898.9963 -5788.9452

C 185 75 X 75x -6.5367x -74.7146x

D 307 69 Y 69y -55.1059y 41.5252y

∑ Wrlcos Ɵ=0 ;−5788.9452−74.7146 x+ 41.5252 y+1204=0

−74.7146 x+ 41.5252 y=4584.9452−−−equation 1

∑ Wrlsin Ɵ=0 ; 6898.9963−6.5367 x−55.1059 y =0

−6.5367 x−55.1059 y=−6898.9963−−−equation 2

Solving equations 1 and 2 simultaneously;

x=7.7073 mm ; y=124.2810 mm
Since block 1 was used as reference for the calculations, we now write the actual shaft-wise
positions of the blocks as;

Shaft-wise position
Block Angular position (˚)
l (mm)

1 0 14

2 130 114

3 185 7.7073

4 307 124.2810

PRECAUTIONS

 Avoid parallax error.

 Do not disturb setup.
 Tap shaft frequently to reduce friction effect.
 Drop steel balls gently into the buckets.

OBSERVATION

There was severe imbalance (both statically and dynamically) when the blocks were placed
on the shaft without any calculations to determine their actual angular and shaft wise
positions. However, after this configuration was changed and the blocks were eventually
positioned on the shaft according to results obtained from the calculations, the shaft became
both statically and dynamically balanced.

CONCLUSION
The unbalanced shaft was statically and dynamically balanced at the end of the
experiment.