Investigations into Load Spectra of UAVS Aircraft

Abstract

The paper contains a description of a novel approach to the load spectra estimation applied to UAVs. The authors have developed a number of tools in the LabVIEW environment enabling an in-depth analysis of flight-log data. One major achievement was the separation of the load spectra induced by steering and the load spectra induced by turbulence. The authors have shown a significant influence of both of the main load sources on the fatigue life of the UAV airframe, calculated based on the P-M hypothesis. This approach to fatigue testing of composite UAV airframes needs to take into account the rate of load variations as these may affect the fatigue life of tested structures. The paper presents several schemes of calculation algorithms and a number of well-illustrated examples of the tests and investigations results.

Keywords

• uav loads
• load spectrum
• manual control
• autopilot