Photogrammetry in Large Scale Structures Test: An Example Application

Abstract

Structural testing is the cornerstone of aerospace integrity, and the Airbus Airframe Structural Test Centres run the whole spectrum of it – research, design verification, certification and continued airworthiness – organised as a test pyramid that begins with high-volume coupon testing and ends in full-scale aircraft tests. A full-scale wing test at the Aerospace Integrated Research and Test Centre is validating simulations, which is where the measurement comes in: boundary conditions and interface interactions have to be defined accurately for simulation and physical test to agree. A shear curtain at the wing root provides the reaction load and stands in for the fuselage's load flow, and photogrammetry monitors its behaviour through every load case, with targets coordinated to the millimetre or better and measurable under all wing test conditions.