PHD IN-Flight Aeroelastic Measurements & Modelling for Scaled Experimental

Koninklijk Nederlands Lucht en Ruimtevaartcentrum logo PhD In-flight aeroelastic measurements & modelling for scaled experimental a/c (m/v/x) - Hybride - - Amsterdam , Noord-Holland , Nederland - Aerospace Systems Functieomschrijving Join a cutting-edge PhD in experimental flight testing and advanced optical measurement technology to help shape the future of sustainable flight! Background Recently, the use of scaled flight testing has received interest at NLR and multiple other research institutions in Europe to fill the gap between ground testing and full-scale flight testing. Scaled flight tests of radically new aircraft concepts can provide early stage validation data of flight dynamics and complex interdisciplinary topics such as aero(servo)elasticity . Because these topics are very challenging to address in ground testing, validation data would typically only be obtained at the later stages of a design processes when large prototypes are flown. Insights into these topics stemming from scaled flight tests at earlier design stages can be critical enablers to accelerate innovation in aerospace. Currently, a gap exists between the highly sophisticated measurement instruments focused on producing a maximal amount of information that are used in ground testing and the specialized equipment with a focus on reliability and accuracy in difficult measurement circumstances that has been developed for large-scale flight testing. Previous projects that were focused on advanced in-flight measurement techniques have made large steps towards making modern measurement instruments, often optical and/or laser-based measurement techniques, applicable in-flight. However, existing research work focused on large-scale industrial flight testing. The recent interest on the topic of scaled flight testing results in a need to develop advanced measurement techniques specifically for smaller scale experimental flight testing. This type application is o...