Contribution
Preliminary Method Development of Loads and Vibration Measurement on an Aircraft Engine Pylon
* Presenting author
Abstract:
One of the goals of the EU-project OFELIA lies in the development of methods to evaluate in-flight thrust and vibrations. This will enable aircraft and engine manufacturers to realistically asses the efficiency of propulsion systems as well as gain insights into the vibration propagation from the aircraft engines. The proposed evaluation method of thrust measurement is of low impact, requiring only the application of sensors in optimized positions on existing structural components, thus significantly lowering the cost and time barrier. The following work presents the first steps in this project which consists of the instrumentation of a real engine pylon with strain gages and the subsequent calibration with static loads. Using the calibration data, Skopinski matrices – which describe the relationship between the measured strains and the loads acting on the pylon – can be derived. In this work, methods and preliminary experimental results are presented and discussed. In the near future, the Skopinski matrices will be derived, their accuracy evaluated and a second laboratory test is planned with additional dynamic loads applied on the pylon.