Abstract
Unlike tyres, wheels and brakes for commercial vehicles which can be tested on the road as a major part of their development programme, such equipment for aircraft must be qualified to full service conditions in the laboratory before being fitted to an aircraft.
This paper covers the specification background, design features and construction of a large, high-speed dynamometer on which the development and qualification of aircraft tyres, wheels and brakes are carried out. Particular attention is given to several fundamental advances in design including the electrical stimulation of brake inertia, computer control and monitoring of the main systems and the real-time recording of tyre forces in three planes.
The paper covers a combination of the mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineering content of the facility.
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