|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
The FLL consists of a large, high-bay test area with adjacent laboratories, offices and storage. The laboratory’s 164 x 120-foot reinforced concrete floor contains tie-down slots to anchor test setups and is accessed from the entry ramp by a 136 x 40-foot door.
The open area for testing is approximately 146 x 113 feet. A five-ton rail crane with a maximum hook height of 39 feet services the entire test-area floor.
The FLL’s data acquisition and test control room is on the second floor overlooking the main test area. Instrumentation and electronic-support laboratories are also available. Additional laboratory features include closed-circuit television for remote monitoring, and a public address and a headset-equipped audio communications system.
| Main High Bay |
|---|
- 164 ft wide x 120 ft deep x 40 ft high
- Load carrying floor tracks throughout
- 5 ton overhead crane
|
| Aircraft Access |
|---|
- Via 136 ft wide x 40 ft high door
- Direct access via DFRC and EAFB taxiways and runways including Rodgers Dry Lakebed
|
| Mechanical Load |
|---|
- 80 channels of load control
- 4 channel portable load control system
- 5 ton overhead crane
- Stock of hydraulic rams with various load and stroke capabilities
- Stock of load cells of various capacities up to 300,000 lb tension/compression
|
| Radiant Heating |
|---|
Quartz radiant lamps:- 108 temperature control channels currently active (expandable to 512)
- 20 MW electrical power available
- Temperatures up to ~2,500° F
- In-stock or custom built reflectors depending on application
Graphite radiant heating elements:- 12 temperature control channels
- Temperatures >3000° F
- May be used in combination with quartz lamp capability
|
| Structural Dynamics Testing (modal survey, structural mode interaction) |
|---|
- 3 point soft support system capable of up to 60,000 lb vehicle weight to simulate flight-like boundary conditions
- Stock of electro-mechanical shakers up to ±50 lbf each
- Stock of accelerometers (up to 900° F service temperature)
|
| Tension/Compression Load Frames |
|---|
- 10,000 lb (with inert/vacuum environment heating capability to 3000° F)
- 25,000 lb
- 100,000 lb
- 200,000 lb
|
| Data Acquisition |
|---|
1920+ channels for electrical based sensors - strain gages, deflection potentiometers, LVDT’s, pressure transducers, etc.)
- up to 240 hz sampling rate per sensor
30 fibers of Fiber Bragg Grating fiber-optic strain measurements- 14,400 sensors @ up to 42 hz per sensor
38 channels high temperature (1850° F) EFPI fiber-optic strain measurements
|
| Instrumentation |
|---|
- Deflection measurements
- Load Cells
- Foil and fiber-optic strain gage installation (high temperature installation with plasma and Rokide thermal spraying systems)
- Thermocouples and Optical Fiber Thermometry
|
| Diagnostic Capabilities |
|---|
- Infra-red Thermography
- Accoustic Emission sensor system
- Photogrammetry (spatial deformation and strain mapping)
|
| Miscellaneous Test Systems |
|---|
- Blackbody calibration furnace for calibration of optical fiber thermometers, pyrometers, and heat flux gages.
- Strain and temperature sensor characterization systems up to 3000° F
- 4000 gallon Liquid Nitrogen storage and delivery for purge gas generation and direct LN2 use in tests
- Small (4’ x 4’ x 4’) and large (20’ x 24’ x 20’) chambers for inert atmosphere thermal-structural testing
- Ovens for small article thermal tests up to 3000° F
- Test Audio & Video networks
- Secure, Web-based real-time transmission of test data and video with 2-way audio via telephone link
|
|
|
|
| |
Above: Aerial view of Dryden's Flight Loads Laboratory. Image credit: NASA |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NASA's ATP Program
Read about one of the largest, most versatile and comprehensive set of testing facilities in the nation.
+ View the fact sheet (PDF) |
|
|
|
|
Flight Loads Laboratory
+ View the fact sheet (PDF) |
|
|
Flight Loads Laboratory at DFRC
Visit the FLL at NASA's Dryden Research Center.
+ View the site |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
"The right facility at the right time" - NASA Aeronautics Test Program |
|
|
and Accessibility Certification