EADS-CASA employs LMS platform for ground vibration testing

-- Test & Measurement World, 2/8/2008 9:01:00 AM

The EADS-CASA Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD) has implemented LMS Test.Lab to accelerate its processes for aircraft ground vibration testing. This aircraft testing process includes a series of tests to detect the aircraft resonances as a verification of the aircraft safety and reliability before the first actual test flights.

The LMS Test.Lab Ground Vibration Testing (GVT) platform includes integrated testing and analysis software and is based on interconnected LMS SCADAS III data-acquisition front ends totaling over 700 channels. EADS-CASA worked with LMS Engineering Services and Alava Ingenieros, LMS’s representative in Spain, to gain an in-depth understanding of best practices in ground vibration testing and to accelerate the deployment of the LMS Test.Lab platform.

Based in Madrid, EADS-CASA MTAD is part of EADS, the European Aeronautical Defense and Space Organization that develops and manufactures aircraft and space systems. EADS-CASA deployed the LMS GVT system to support the development of the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), the aerial refueling tanker aircraft based on the civilian A330 aircraft. The role of the system is especially important in identifying structural resonances and validating flutter models on the A330 MRTT. To support this, LMS Test.Lab delivers a tight integration of all the ground vibration methods, including mode appropriation, stepped sine, swept sine, and random testing. The extensive channel count of the LMS GVT system enables EADS-CASA to make all measurements for a complete aircraft configuration in a single test, instead of the multiple series of tests previously required.

EADS-CASA relied on LMS Engineering Services to support the complex deployment of the GVT system in a time-critical aircraft development process, including system installation and integration, user training, and on-the-job assistance.

LMS, www.lmsintl.com.