TWING: Preliminary Vibration Test Activities

A vibration test is the most used method for performing the modal analysis of a structure. The purpose of the vibration test is to determine dynamic characteristics such as the natural frequencies, mode shapes and structural damping coefficients of the most important vibration modes inherent to the dynamic response of a test or flight article referring to its global stiffness and mass distribution. A Ground Vibration Test (GVT) has a unique combination of the importance of structural dynamics in aircraft and safety requirements. A vibration test on a large structure always involves multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) frequency response testing. This paper summarizes the main activities performed and those planned for the next future in the framework of the T-WING CleanSky2 project. It aims to develop a composite tiltrotor wing to be used as a flying demonstrator. Several numerical models have been prepared, from a simple beam-like reference to a very detailed one. Parallelly, laboratory activities have been carried out, and as soon as a partial full-scale mockup has been available, preliminary test activities have been completed. Together with these activities a setup has been prepared for the experimental measurement of the inertia characteristics of the movable surfaces to be installed on the real wing. Scaled tests have been performed to check the approach validity.