A company needed to compare the performance of two designs for helicopter rotor and blade components: an original 3-blade design and a new 5-blade design. A SixD engineer instrumented the rotor, blades and additional points of interest inside the cabin. He also rode along on the test flights to troubleshoot the test system, which was built around a SoMat 2100 field computer. Tests to establish baselines for both designs were conducted, then the vehicle was run through trial tests required by the FAA for each design. In addition to addressing the certification requirements, the data also identified other performance issues where design modifications could increase durability.

Benefit:  Cost effective custom solution for loads measurements under challenging operating conditions.

Services:

Test system design
Data acquisition
Field testing support