Operational Modal Analysis for Simulated Flight Flutter Test of an Unconventional Aircraft (original) (raw)

Abstract: The framework of this research paper concerns a phenomenon called ”flutter” which is a well-known dynamic aeroelastic instability caused by an interaction between structural vibrations and unsteady aerodynamic forces, whereby the level of vibration may trigger large amplitudes, eventually leading to catastrophic failure of the aircraft within a couple of seconds. Flutter prediction and flutter clearance are major issues in the design, development and certification process of an aircraft. Hence, it is mandatory for certification to guarantee that the aircraft is free from flutter throughout the entire flight envelope. Within the framework of the FLEXOP (Flutter Free FLight Envelope eXpansion for ecOnomic Performance improvement) project, an output-only operational modal parameter estimation algorithm in frequency domain has been implemented for monitoring the evolution of the aeroelastic modes for the nearly real-time surveillance of flutter. Therefore an integrated aeroela...