B5.1 - Measuring the aeroelastic properties of a tiltrotor aircraft in a wind tunnel model
- Event
- ETTC 2024 - European Test and Telemetry Conference
2024-06-11 - 2024-06-13
Nuremberg - Chapter
- Data Acquisition II
- Author(s)
- B. van der Meulen, M. Bardet, T. ter Meer - Royal NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre, Amsterdam (The Netherlands), E. Brehl - DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt FT, Braunschweig (Germany), K. Soal - DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt AE, Göttingen (Germany)
- Pages
- 232 - 241
- DOI
- 10.5162/ETTC2024/B5.1
- ISBN
- 978-3-910600-02-7
- Price
- free
Abstract
The EU-funded Advanced Testbed for Tiltrotor Aeroelastics-project (ATTILA) aims to investigate whirl flutter in tiltrotor aircraft. In order to do this, a wind tunnel model was developed, which represents a scaled version of a section of Leonardo’s Next Generation Civil Tilt Rotor – Technical Demonstrator. The model was successfully tested in DNW’s Large Low-speed Facility in the Netherlands in November 2023. This paper focuses on the sensors, electronic instrumentation and channel synchronization. The system consists of rotating and static model parts, complemented by several computer systems which capture and store the data. Both the stator and rotor parts of the model contain electronic sensors, such as strain gauge bridges, vibration sensors, and digital rotary encoders. Additionally, the rotor blades contain Fiber Bragg Gratings, sampled by an interrogator, supplied by PhotonFirst. The dedicated Data Acquisition System for the rotor (RDAS) is a bespoke development by NLR. The physical implementation of the RDAS consists of three disc-shaped boards, with interconnects to the sensors, and two Ethernet interfaces to connect to both the data storage computer and the interrogator. The measurements enable the comparison between ‘classical’ strain gauge measurements and FBG measurements. To acquire the sensor signals in the static domain, the Static Data Acquisition System was realised by DLR-FT, with the TEDAS-system at its core. Model vibrations were measured by a separate acquisition system of DLR-AE for an online modal analysis during the wind tunnel test. All measured signals are collected by a storage computer, and simultaneously passed to the piloting station, both supplied by DLR-FT.