Airbags Take the Weight in Load Tests of Aircraft


ACTE project researchers have replaced the airplane’s conventional aluminum flaps with advanced, shape-changing assemblies that form continuous conformal surfaces with no visible gaps. The advanced flexible trailing-edge wing flaps have the potential to improve aircraft aerodynamic and fuel-use efficiency and reduce airport-area noise generated during takeoff and landing.

Lifting the airplane off the loads lab floor with the three inflatable airbags, the first step in the testing process, helped isolate the airframe from any potential influence of the landing gear on strain-gage data. The airbags were positioned beneath the wings and aft fuselage to keep the main gear tires off the floor so that loading throughout the aircraft's center wing box structure remained constant. Once the G-III was properly positioned, lab technicians applied loads via hydraulic jacks positioned underneath the wings.