PSI - Issue 14

S. Narendar et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 14 (2019) 89–95 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2018) 000 – 000

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Fig. 2. Linkage among the subsystems of thermo-structural test facility

4. Test Procedure

After assuring the readiness of the test setup including hydraulic hose connections from power pack to the actuators, power connections to power pack and the DACS system, and the health of the LVDTs; the test was started after considering all the safety requirements. Initially the radome was loaded to 20% and 40% of the design load and released back to 0%, to check the linearity in LVDT measurements and the pressure build-up in the power pack to actuator connecting hoses. After this activity, the actual test has been started and the section is loaded up to 100% of the design load in steps of 20% and this load data is plotted in Fig. 3. The Deflection data recording during this process was in continuous mode. The loads and deformations are normalized with respect to their maximum values. After assuring the readiness of the test setup including heater power supply connections, water supply for heater cassette cooling and the health of the thermocouples; the test was started after considering all the safety requirements. Once the airframe section is loaded up to proof load, and then the thermal load has been applied on to the section. Control thermocouple data for the heating system was monitored on-line during the application of the thermal profile. The temperature data at all the other location on the airframe section are recorded in continuous mode at a sampling rate of 100 s/s.

Fig. 3. (a) Non-dimensional force versus time and (b) non-dimensional deflection versus time.