Dynamic qualification of the HIRENASD elastic wing model

The High Reynolds Number Aero-Structural Dynamics (HIRENASD) project is conducted by the Collaborative Research Center “Flow Modulation and Fluid-Structure Interaction at Airplane Wings (SFB 401)” at RWTH Aachen University. It is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) since 2004. Steady and unsteady state experiments with an elastic semispan wing model were performed under transonic and high Reynolds number conditions in the European Transonic Windtunnel (ETW) in Cologne, Germany. The main components of the complete windtunnel assembly were the wing model itself, a piezoelectric 6-components balance and a mechanical excitation mechanism able to excite the wing model at selected resonance frequencies. These components were designed, sized and assembled at the Department of Aerospace and Lightweight Structures at RWTH Aachen University. The dynamic qualification of the windtunnel assembly under wind-off condition was carried out in the department's test laboratory. Modal survey testing based on the hammer impact method was performed, as well as response decomposition analysis using enforced excitation by means of the mechanical excitation mechanism itself. Within the qualification, a test procedure enabling investigations of modal parameter changes under wind-off and wind-on conditions in a cryogenic windtunnel was also verified.