Structural Loads Tests Conducted for ACTE Flight Research on NASA G-III

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• published: 13 Jun 2014
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Structural loads testing was recently conducted on a modified Gulfstream III aircraft that will be the test bed for the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) flight research project at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The highly specialized loads testing in the center's Flight Loads Laboratory involved applying known loads to the aircraft using a system of hydraulic actuators while accurately measuring the response of strain gauges bonded to the aircraft wing at precise locations. The tests were conducted with the G-III supported on three large inflated airbags instead of on its main landing gear to isolate the aircraft's center wing box structure from potential influence of the landing gear on the wing strain gauge data. The loads tests in the laboratory provide the data from which engineers will derive wing load equations that will be used to convert strain gauge signals into actual wing-loading information, enabling project engineers to understand what structural loads and stresses the airplane will experience during the ACTE research flights. The ACTE project involves flight validation of advanced, shape-changing composite flaps developed by FlexSys, Inc. that form continuous conformal surfaces in place of both of the G-III's conventional 19-foot-long aluminum flaps. A joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the ACTE project plans to flight test the advanced flexible trailing-edge wing flaps that have the potential to improve aircraft fuel efficiency during cruise and reduce airport-area noise generated during takeoffs and landings. Produced by NASA Armstrong TV