Customer

Aeronautic

Our client is the leader of the aeronautic sector in Europe. The company builds more than half of the airliners in the world.

 


Tested product

Airplane fuselage

The fuselage is the habitable part of an aircraft where the aircrew and the passengers are. It has to be resistant and protective to ensure the safety of every person on board.


 

Airplane fuselage

Objective

To perform impact tests on the fuselage of a "test" aircraft, at an orientation of + - 50° from the horizontal. The test machine is to perform quasi-static impact tests with adjustable force and dynamic impact tests with adjustable speed and energy, and without rebound.

The tests carried out serve firstly to reproduce the deformations observed in reality, in order to estimate the criteria of force, energy and speed of the impacts that generate this type of defect.

In a second phase, the equipment is used to qualify materials  by applying impacts that simulate real conditions of use.

 


Problematic issues

The first problem is to be able to carry out these tests at any point in the aircraft's fuselage, with thrust forces of up to 80kN.

The second problem concerns dynamic tests, which require a purely inertial and passive impact, i.e. generated by the speed of a moving mass, without active support of the system.

 

 

Solution and result

Our engineers conceived a machine that can run dynamic impact tests as well as quasi-static tests. 

The impact point can be adjusted up to 800 mm horizontally and 400 mm vertically.

The impact is made by a spherical impactor, it is guided by carriage. Impact energy can be adjusted between 50 and 500 Joules.

The test bench is equipped with a frame which fits the fuselage shape during the tests. The bench is attached around the tested part with large straps. This ensures the part’s inertia as well the impactor’s position reliability.

Options like laser aiming device and relative distance measure are available to make the impact position and measurements more accurate.

The static dynamic impactor can be adapted to various fuselage diameters (from 4 to 6 m) thanks to its extendable tracks.

This test bench can be adapted to the testing surface, this reduces the connecting surface. It helps in the testing of samples and can verify the impact’s energy. The system is protected from overload thanks to its effort limitation module.

A computer automatically makes measures thanks to a special software that was created for this testing machine. A remote can be used to tighten the straps and direct the impactor’s position without using the computer.

Various sensors are installed on the shock test bench between the forklift and the impactors to facilitate measurements. An 80 kN electric actuator can also run static tests.

The impactor also has a housing with an emergency stop button to ensure operator’s safety and protect the test bench from any damage even thought there is no real danger.

 

 

French Fab