Development of a Wind Tunnel Model for Active Flutter Suppression Studies

This paper discusses the generation and the testing of a wind tunnel model designed for the experimental validation of active flutter suppression systems. An already existent full-span model is modified to obtain the flutter behavior of a typical transport aircraft. The possibility of adding mass in selected points of the structures as well as changing stiffness locally allows for the variation of the flutter speed and critical flutter modes. Structural and aeroelastic tests are then performed on the model with the purpose of correlating the numerical models. The paper lays the foundation for upcoming active flutter suppression wind tunnel tests using the new model.