Civil & Defence Aircraft

Airplane flying in the sky above the clouds

Aircraft manufacturers carry out rigorous and comprehensive tests to ensure maximum safety for both civil and combat aircraft. Design engineers are facing a demand for more efficient or electric engines to meet noise and pollution specifications, while safeguarding high performance and reliability even under extreme conditions. But new propulsion systems require additional and comprehensive testing while time to market is short.

Any aircraft – and even more so the modern combat aircraft – is dynamically unstable to benefit its manoeuverability. This poses structural challenges that are exacerbated by the use of new materials. Expensive, large-scale tests on components, systems and the entire aircraft are needed to validate simulation models and physical prototypes and achieve airworthiness certification.

Advanced technology is pivotal to performing all these complex and expensive tests within a short time window. HBK is keenly aware of these challenges. Our integrated solutions reliably cope with aviation testing requirements and provide accurate, reliable results to support a “first-time-right” approach.

Key Areas of Application

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Aircraft Electrification
Structure and Integrity
Complex Flight System and Airframes
Propulsion Systems

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Passenger aircraft on maintenance of engine and fuselage repair in airport hangar

Electrification is a megatrend in all ground and airborne vehicles and has found its way into the aerospace industry. Electric aircraft propulsion systems have their unique design and measurement challenges as they push the limits of technology by going to higher voltages and frequencies. These systems are highly complex, requiring a high number of measurements and a large variety of signals to be acquired for initial validation and certification, efficiency and control testing.

We at HBK support our customers with initial research and validation of novel materials, components, and entire systems. The HBK all-in-one power testing solution integrates and synchronizes all measurements to ensure fast, accurate, and reliable testing.

Electric aircraft propulsion testing

To optimize the propulsion system of an electric aircraft, you will need to characterize the electrical, mechanical, and control interactions of each propulsion unit. HBK simplifies testing complexity while providing deep insights into these interactions.

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Electric aircraft motor testing

Determine the power and losses of the many phases of an electric aircraft motor with HBK’s dedicated electric motor testing solution. Benefit from these highly accurate measurement results to ensure motor efficiency, power density, and reliability.

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Electric aircraft inverter testing

Inverter-driven systems are new to the aerospace industry. High phase counts and high-frequency electrical signals add to the complexity of inverter testing. HBK’s single-system solution enables you to understand the inverter’s effect on the system.

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Electrical aircraft system testing

Full-scale testing of electric aircraft takes a long time, covers all operational states and potential failures. The HBK electric system testing solutions acquire and process vast amounts of data to ensure reliability, stability, and fault handling.

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Battery testing

To ensure maximum performance and safety, HBK offers battery testing solutions for mechanical vibration, electrical and durability testing. As durability testing is often repetitive, we make sure test results are accurate and consistent throughout.

Close-up of aircraft maintenance technician screwing part into the wing of an airplane at the hangar

Whether it’s determining material properties of components or the life expectancy of the entire aircraft by full-scale fatigue testing; whether it’s CAE-based simulation or physical ground vibration testing: Measuring dynamic and static aircraft behaviour under typical load conditions up to extreme events over thousands of test cycles is expensive and time-consuming. Only dedicated testing solutions and highly reliable equipment can manage these complex tasks and help engineers to use testing time and resources efficiently.

Static and fatigue testing

To ensure maximum safety, thousands of fatigue test cycles simulate aircraft structural behaviour under various operating conditions and extreme load is applied to wings. The powerful calculation tools of HBK manage even masses of data real-time.

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Shock and vibration testing

Reproducing extreme events, all test runs need to be perfect. They are costly and difficult to repeat. Hence, reliability is key. The HBK system solution for shock and vibration testing has been tried and tested in the market for many decades.

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Flight testing

Simulation plays an important role in the development of aircraft. But the results must be validated by physical tests such as wind tunnel or flight tests. Trust your test results thanks to HKB's high-precision measurement and analysis equipment.

Ground Vibration Testing (GVT)

Ground Vibration Testing (GVT) is mandatory for new and modified aircraft prior to the first test flight. Our GVT solution helps you to understand the aircraft’s structural characteristics and update your structural boundary predictions.

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Impedance tube testing

These tests help determine the acoustic characteristics of materials and verify their compliance with regulations early in the development process. The HBK testing solution also enables you to predict the acoustical impact of assembled components.

Man working in the design and development of an aircraft with staircases placed next to the wing and the plane's door

To achieve the certificate of airworthyness, any newly developed aircraft must be thoroughly tested. Zero failure of the whole flight control system and its components is a must. Airframe structures will undergo comprehensive tests to ensure top performance throughout their operational life. Ever more stringent noise regulations put pressure on manufacturers to design noise-driven airframe layouts with the smallest possible noise footprint. HBK’s dedicated solutions for flight system and airframe testing ensure compliance with international test standards and are approved for use in aircraft noise certification.

Iron bird

Mock-ups of flight control, electric and hydraulic components and systems are put under test. The all-in-one testing solution by HBK helps you ensure the high performance and reliability of all components to achieve certification of airworthiness.

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Flyover testing

Noise pollution is a growing concern to the aerospace industry. HBK’s measurement solution helps to optimise aircraft noise by tracing sound back to individual engine or airframe sources on flying aircraft and creating high-resolution acoustic maps.

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Ramp noise testing

This standardized acoustic on-ground measurement determines the noise print on a parked aircraft and its impact on personnel and passengers. The HBK test systems are approved for use in aircraft noise certification according to international standards.

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Detail of the propulsion system of a turbine engine from an airplane

Propulsion systems such as jet engines are the main source of the overall aircraft noise footprint. Identifying sound sources and mitigating their impact is key in designing low-noise propulsion systems. The effect of vibration and other physical forces on the engine’s structural integrity need to be thoroughly explored. Typically, there is only a short time window to accomplish all these tests. HBK supports “right-first-time” engineering and supplies ultra-reliable, high-quality solutions for noise, vibration, and structural dynamics testing on propulsion systems.

Complete propulsion system testing

Reliability is essential as there are obvious catastrophic effects of failures during service. Extensive vibroacoustic tests are required to evaluate performance under aerodynamic loading.

Static Engine Certification Testing (SECT)

The HBK Static Engine Certification Test (SECT) system enables you to get new or modified engines noise-certified via the Ground to Flight Equivalence (GTFE) procedure. Incorporate development or research tasks to adapt the test workflow to your needs.

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Structural dynamics and modal testing

Define the dynamic parameters of an aircraft propulsion system. Our comprehensive set of modal analysis and validation tools effectively supports you in validating your simulation models to update flutter boundary predictions before the first test flight.

Our Customer Stories

airplane landing on an airport runway, surrounded by green fields

Air France optimizes Zephyr test bench with Tescia

To pass a performance test, the parameters of an aircraft engine, including vibration, are rigorously checked. The integration of a Tescia® repetitive testing system not only helps Air France with vibration measurements but also helps them gain more expertise in this field.

Serious pilots in a small plane. Close up view

A 'lifestyle' airplane takes off and lands on the ground, water or snow

Designed to make flying a pleasure again, the new, ultra-modern, two-seater AKOYA light airplane is always ready to take off on a spontaneous trip. HBK ensures on-board safety and comfort is ensured through the use of strain gauges from HBK and the ultra-rugged SoMat eDAQlite data acquisition system.

Aerial view of narrow body aircraft departing airport runway

Next gen aircraft: researching composite structures with optical strain gauges

JAXA ATD research focuses on developing advanced composite structures and smart technology for the next generation of aircraft. HBK optical strain gauges are used for structural testing of its canard wing design as well as for the development of a Health Monitoring System (HMS) for new wing structures.

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Civil & Defence Aircraft

Key Areas of Application

Electric aircraft propulsion testing

Electric aircraft motor testing

Electric aircraft inverter testing

Electrical aircraft system testing

Battery testing

Static and fatigue testing

Shock and vibration testing

Flight testing

Ground Vibration Testing (GVT)

Impedance tube testing

Iron bird

Flyover testing

Ramp noise testing

Complete propulsion system testing

Static Engine Certification Testing (SECT)

Structural dynamics and modal testing

Our Customer Stories

Air France optimizes Zephyr test bench with Tescia

A 'lifestyle' airplane takes off and lands on the ground, water or snow

Next gen aircraft: researching composite structures with optical strain gauges

Get in Touch with HBK

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