RapidEF Enablers
Reduce the development time of a new aircraft type by significantly shortening the time required for an EF test for fatigue proofing.
| Benefit | Procedure |
|---|---|
| Suppression of unwanted dynamic effects that distort the fatigue test | Construction of a hardware in the loop test bench |
| Shortening the test time in the development of aircraft structural components | Development of an optimised control system |
| Shortening the entire aircraft development process | Testing and validation of the control in a multi-channel test bench with real component |
In the joint funding project "Rapid EF Enablers", the aim is to shorten aircraft development to 5 years. A decisive and time-consuming process in aircraft development are large-cell fatigue tests for structural components. These can take up to 5 years. The control system currently used for fatigue tests only allows excitation frequencies of up to 1 Hz on average. When the test speed is increased, unwanted dynamic effects occur and falsify the test results. The development of an optimised control system by ifas should increase the excitation frequencies and thus shorten the test duration.
Hardware-in-the-loop test bench
In the first work package, a hardware-in-the-loop test bench is being constructed. This consists of an actuator, a load unit for the highly dynamic imprinting of the system response and a real-time capable control system. The load unit and actuator are realised by three cylinders, whereby one of the cylinders is used to control the system and the other two are used to map the response of the excited component. The optimised control system can now be developed and tested on the HiL test bench.
Multichannel test stand
The project partner is developing a multi-channel test rig with up to five hydraulic actuators. An existing slim aircraft component will be clamped into this and the control system will be tested and validated on it.
Joint project
The project presented here corresponds to work package 2 in the overall Rapid EF Enablers project. Work package 2 is being carried out in cooperation between Airbus Operations GmbH and ifas. Work packages 1 and 3 are being worked on by the collaborative partners named below.
| Airbus Operations GmbH |
| Materials Research and Application Technology GmbH |
| RWTH Aachen Institute for Fluid Power Drives and Systems |
| GOM GmbH |
| Hottinger Bruel & Kjaer Ltd. |
| German Aerospace Centre |
| Institute for Non-destructive Testing of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft |
Acknowledgement
This research and development project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) within the framework concept "LuFo VI-2" and supervised by the Project Management Agency for Aeronautics Research at DLR e.V. (PT-LF). ifas would like to thank all project participants.