Dynamic Deformation Measurements of an Aeroelastic Semispan Model

The techniques used to acquire, reduce, and analyze dynamic deformation measurements of an aeroelastic semispan wind-tunnel model are presented. Single-camera, single-view video photogrammetry (also referred to as videogrammetric model deformation) was used to determine dynamic aeroelastic deformation of the semispan "models for aeroelastic validation research involving computation" model in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. Dynamic deformation was determined from optical retroreflective tape targets at five semispan locations located on the wing from the root to the tip. Digitized video images from a charge-coupled device camera were recorded and processed to determine automatically target image plane locations that were then corrected for instrumentation errors. Videogrammetric dynamic data were acquired at a 60-Hz rate for time records of up to 6 s during portions of a flutter/limit-cycle oscillation test at Mach numbers from 0.3 to 0.96. Spectral analysis of the deformation data were used to identify dominant frequencies in the wing motion. The dynamic data will be used in future studies to separate aerodynamic and structural effects and to provide time history deflection data for computational aeroelasticity code evaluation and validation.