New Ground Vibration Testing Techniques for Large Aircraft

Abstract

A ground vibration test on the prototype of a new aircraft is often regarded to be necessary in order to make reliable flutter predictions for the flight tests and to update the mathematical model of the aircraft. Due to the very high development costs for such aircrafts a significant shortening of testing time is aspired. On the other hand, a degradation concerning quality or reliabilty of the results is not acceptable because of their strong impact on flutter stability. The French ONERA and the German DLR agreed upon a cooperation to meet the resulting requirements. New techniques and test strategies were proved in a joint ground vibration test on an Airbus A340-300 in 1999. This contribution summarizes the approach and the experiences made.