BelugaXL’s ground vibration test campaign was performed by ONERA in collaboration with DLR. Credit: Airbus SAS/F Lancelot/ master films.

French aerospace research centre ONERA, in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), has carried out ground vibration testing (GVT) of Airbus’s Beluga XL aircraft in Toulouse, France.

Part of Beluga XL’s overall test programme, the GVT will help the aircraft receive its airworthiness certification.

The tests were performed in two configurations, one with an empty fuselage, and the other with a heavy, tuneable payload.

Airbus was also involved in the tests, each of which took four days to complete.

The tests involved more than 600 sensors, 7,000m of cable and 300m of optical fibres on the aircraft’s fuselage, empennage, engines and wings.

“GVT methods and analytics are being continuously improved within DLR’s aeronautics research programme.”

Results of the tests will be used to update the mathematical structural model of the aircraft, as well as predict the vibration amplitudes in operation, and improve flutter risks throughout the flight envelope of Beluga XL.

Together with Airbus, ONERA and DLR have investigated the structural behaviour of the new Airbus transport aircraft in a static GVT programme that ran for eight testing days up to 6 June.

DLR Aeronautics Research executive board member Rolf Henke said: “We at DLR are proud to have a long tradition of performing ground vibration tests together with ONERA, having already done this for ten Airbus prototypes.

“GVT methods and analytics are being continuously improved within DLR’s aeronautics research programme.”

Airbus launched the Beluga XL programme in 2014 to address the additional transport and increased capacity requirements of the company beyond 2019.

The aircraft is based on the company’s existing A330-200 freighter, and is scheduled to make its maiden flight later this year and enter service next year.