Environmental Data Bank
We have been involved in analyses of dynamic response data for over 25 years. Over this period, many projects have been supported in connection with equipment qualification or approval programmes. As a result, a vast amount of vibration and shock data relating to all aspects of a piece of equipment's in-service life has been accumulated. The data bank is believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe (if not the world).The data bank includes information on all the major deployment and transportation modes, e.g. external carriage of stores on fixed and rotary wing aircraft, the transportation of stores by land, sea and air, dynamic responses of wheeled and tracked vehicles, etc.
Our signal processing facility results have always been archived in a consistent format on disc, and the data bank, includes formats of mean and peak hold spectra, time histories, amplitude probability distributions, shock response spectra, etc. For the case of the external carriage of stores on aircraft, over 20,000 vibration spectra are available on an on-line basis.
The success of a data bank has been due as much on its ease of accessibility as its content. Consequently, extensive facilities exist to enable a user to browse through the system, to search and collate information of interest. These on-line facilities are backed-up by hardcopy catalogues.
In addition to the stored digital data, supporting information on trials conditions is included. For a land vehicle, this would include the vehicle's speed and type of terrain being negotiated. For a fixed wing flight trial, the type of aircraft and flight manoeuvre, i.e.: altitude, speed, Mach number and dynamic pressure, is included.
Data Bank Applications
We have successfully undertaken major parametric studies made possible by the data bank, e.g:
- External carriage of stores on helicopters
- External carriage of stores on fixed wing aircraft.
- Response of externally carried stores to the effects of gunfire.
- Response of stores and missiles during captive flight into buffet.
- Response of missiles during self-powered flight.
The data bank is used to support several national environmental specification documents, including DEF.STAN.00-970 and DEF.STAN.00-35. Work is also carried out in support of NATO standards, e.g.: STANAG 4370, through which contact is made with international organisations, e.g.: in France, Germany and the USA.
The data bank is frequently accessed to support numerous project requirements including:
- Derivation of test severities from measured data for materiel certification and qualification programmes to support compliance with environmental requirements defined in Cardinal Point Specifications.
- Evaluation of measured data to assess the suitability for Service of existing materiel deployed on new platforms (role change).
- Comparison of measured data for materiel with laboratory qualification vibration test responses to assess the potential for life extension, with or without further testing.
- The derivation of composite test severities from measured data for packaged materiel required to be transported in several different modes. These include wheeled vehicles, tracked vehicles, fixed wing jet and propeller aircraft, helicopters (internal, external and under slung) and ships. Again, such work is conducted to support compliance with environmental requirements defined in Cardinal Point Specifications.
For further information, please contact us on +44 (0) 1234 754542 or send an email.
