Towards Faster and Safer Flight Flutter Testing

The current state of the art of flight flutter testing is reviewed, and areas where this part of the certification procedure could be improved are discussed. It is argued that the key towards speeding up the flight flutter test procedure, and also to reduce costs, is to reduce the number of flight test points that are required as part of the test clearance programme. To achieve this aim, the entire modelling and testing procedure needs to be improved, particularly with respect to non-linearities. Non-linear aeroelastic phenomena will then be able to be predicted more accurately. Current work in a number of relevant technologies is considered in relation to flight flutter testing. Suggestions are made as to how these aspects could be improved in order to speed up and reduce the cost of flight flutter testing, while maintaining, if not improving, the levels of safety.
Presented at RTO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel (AVT) Symposium held in Paris, France on 22-25 Apr 2002. The original document contains color images. ISBN 92-837-0027-9. Text in English; p43-1/43-13. This article is from ADA415759 Reduction of Military Vehicle Acquisition Time and Cost through Advanced Modelling and Virtual Simulation (La reduction des couts et des delais d'acquisition des vehicules militaires par la modelisation avancee et la simulation de produit virtuel)