LMS, the engineering innovation company, and its Spanish partner Alava Ingenieros have completed a GVT technology co-operation project with the Ground Vibration Testing team at EADS-CASA that enabled the team to successfully complete a 700-channel large-scale aircraft GVT on the Airbus A400M in less than a month's time. On top of that, four additional configurations were tested in only two extra weeks.  

Part of an on-site support project, LMS and Alava Ingenieros engineers helped with the EADS-CASA deployment of a 700-channel LMS SCADAS III hardware and LMS Test.Lab software system over a series of three GVT tests: the Airbus A310 MRT, the Airbus A330 MRTT and the Airbus A400M respectively. The project covered complete LMS Test.Lab and LMS SCADAS III system installation and integration, extensive training and on-site assistance.  

"From a software perspective, LMS Test.Lab is very user-friendly and quick to set up. It is very simple to perform 'normal' mode tuning. On the hardware side, the fact that the LMS SCADAS III equipment acquired by EADS-CASA can record over 700 channels simultaneously is an extremely important time-saver. The A400M test shows that all kinds of GVT requirements can be accomplished with this equipment -- even the largest aircrafts," stated Mr. Posada, Head of Structural Test, EADS-CASA MTAD. "In addition, we realized a considerable productivity increase and cut the overall acquisition time in half. This saved several crucial weeks from our normal test time."  

Beginning September 26, 2008 at the FAL's Flight Test Centre in Seville, Spain, the entire GVT cycle took just under a month – a rather fast pace for a thorough 700 channel set-up that included placing 700 accelerometers. During this period, various GVT tests, performed by a joint team from EADS-CASA MTAD's Structural Test Department in collaboration with EADS-CASA MTAD's Aeroelasticity & Dynamic Loads department, were carried out on the first aircraft, the Airbus A400M MSN01, which was placed on an elastic rubber platform to simulate a "ready for flight" configuration. These standard tests measured the frequency and damping modal parameters to determine the aircraft's dynamic behavior from an aeroelastic point of view.  

"The commitment from the LMS and Alava Ingenieros experts regarding the test objectives was outstanding. This ranged from the test coordination to the way they helped the team quickly resolve unexpected test and aircraft system problems. The GVT takes place – usually -- very close to the first schedule flight. You can easily imagine that there is no room for failure or delay. And saving a couple of weeks is a rather exceptional achievement for this kind of mission critical test. It was a tremendous amount of excellent team work from everyone involved," concluded Mr. Hector Climent, Head of Aeroelasticity & Dynamic loads, EADS-CASA MTAD.  

"We certainly enjoyed our partnership with the EADS-CASA team. Not only did the EADS-CASA projects prove the value of our GVT solution for large aircraft testing campaigns, it also demonstrated that we have an expert team to help our customers complete these mission-critical testing campaigns. While working against the clock in a transnational team, we have been able to fulfill all the test objectives, save precious time and deliver a job well done," stated Thierry Olbrechts, Director LMS Aerospace Competence Center.