Small Piston Engine Aircraft Vibration Measurement and Analysis

Abstract

This paper is focused on vibrations of a small aircraft with piston engine in operation. The aircraft Cessna 172R is chosen for measurement and analysis of vibration. The paper describes sources of vibration, such as landing gear vibrations, powerplant and propeller vibration, which make a significant contribution to vibration of the whole system, aerodynamic vibration etc. Considering importance of vibration on an aircraft in operation, equipment for measuring vibration is assembled. Equipment, e.g., the measuring set consists of one Arduino UNO board, a tilt sensor SW-420 and a ADXL345 accelerometer. The measuring set is mounted on the aircraft, and data is collected during flight. The collected data is analyzed and shown in charts.