Experimental Modal Analysis of Business Jet Fuselage Tail Section Sub-Assemblies

Experimental modal testing is a technique through which the dynamic response of a system can be found. Parameters such as the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a system can be extracted through experimentation, and these results can be used to confirm computational models and guide structural improvements. This paper provides an overview of experimental modal analysis performed on two aircraft fuselage half scale subassemblies, with the use of shaker excitation. The experimental methodology including the construction of each structure, data acquisition parameters, and validity checks, is presented in detail. Linearity and repeatability checks were used to validate the testing methodology and increase the level of confidence in the experimental results. The experimental natural frequencies were correlated with the computational results, and recommendations were made. The experimental results presented in this work provide a basis for computational model updating work to be considered in future work.