X-57 Mod III Wing Ground Vibration Test

Abstract

The X-57 “Maxwell” all-electric experimental aircraft was an electric propulsion demonstrator developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to inform airworthiness standards for electrified aircraft. The development of the X-57 aircraft was separated into configuration modifications culminating in a distributed electric propulsion flight demonstrator named Modification IV (a.k.a., Mod IV). One of these configurations, the X-57 Mod III aircraft, involved flight-testing of a long, slender, high-aspect-ratio wing with two electric motors located at the wingtips. The X-57 Mod III wing ground vibration test was performed in the Flight Loads Laboratory at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center to measure the structural dynamics properties of the newly developed wing, and to confirm airworthiness of the Mod III/IV aircraft. This paper describes the testing performed to acquire the modal data and the subsequent results from the test.