Lessons Learned from Large-Scale Aerospace Structural Testing

Large-scale testing of aerospace structures is frequently the final step in a development project to validate the structural performance, and that step typically involves a large cost and time investment. To ensure that the testing provides the required data, avoiding errors that can result in an unsuccessful test and failure to meet objectives is critical. Five lessons learned are presented herein to provide insight to those conducting large-scale tests to help them avoid known pitfalls that may result in an unsuccessful test. Five large-scale tests are described, and they include two composite wing tests, a full-scale 27.5-ft-diam metallic barrel test, an 8-ft-diam metallic barrel test, and a composite hybrid-wing–body center section test. Problems identified during the testing and mitigation approaches to solve the problems are presented, and then the lessons learned are identified and discussed.