>> This the largest test article ever built with a curved path.
The name of this project is the Passive Aeroelastic
Tailored Wing.
We call it the PAT Wing because it's easier to say.
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>> Minus 30 on 4, reengage.
>> There are several differences between this wing
and a traditional wing.
First of all, it's built out of composites.
Some of the newer aircraft that we see being built
in commercial transports are built out of composite,
but it's different from those not only in the shape,
the geometry, the length, and the width and thickness,
but also the biggest difference is in the skins.
We're actually steering the composite fibers.
With this particular design, we're trying to tailor
that stiffness, and so instead
of going straight along the wing, we're actually curving
that fiber in the plane of the wing
so that we can change the stiffness along the full length.
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>> This was one of the most heavily instrumented wings we've
ever tested.
There was about 10,000 sensors on our wing,
which included fiberoptic strain sensing,
conditional strain sensing, displacement sensors,
load sensing, and also inclinometers.
>> Surface prep, bonding, wiring, check-out,
so there's quite a bit that does go into it.
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>> For the last four years or so, the wing was fabricated
by Aurora in Mississippi, and the wing was brought here.
Over the last 6 months, we integrated it
into our test fixture.
We use the hydraulic load control system to apply load
at 7 stations along the wing.
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>> Pressure's up for [inaudible].
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>> Just figuring out where we need to be,
to be at the right angles so that we can see the targets.
>> Each camera bar has two cameras on it in stereo,
so it's giving us a three-dimensional position
of each of those targets.
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>> In future transports, we see the wings are getting larger,
longer, and thinner for aerodynamic benefits,
mostly for drag reduction, and so the challenge is
when wings get longer and thinner,
they become more flexible, and so the intention
of this particular test was to try to control that flexibility
to allow us to still build a lightweight wing
with the structural benefits
and enable the aerodynamic benefits simultaneously.
>> Because this wing was going to see large displacements
under load, we designed a special loading system
that included both under-wing loading and over-wing loading.
>> The length of the wing is 39 feet and the tip is projected
to deflect on the order of 8 feet.
>> Go ahead and start the load profile.
>> The testing lasted for a couple of weeks.
Typical positive upload tests took approximately an hour,
and that data the sensors collected at 100 hertz
or 20 hertz, depending on the type of sensor,
will be collected and we will take that and analyze
that over the next 6 months.
>> We hope that this will find its way into commercial market,
and this is really the first step to demonstrate
that it's not only feasible, but then, you know,
it'll give us a path towards being able
to certify the technology so that it can be used
in commercial aircraft.
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