Summary: This new three-day course provides a rigorous look at structural testing and its roles in product development and verification for aerospace programs. The course starts with a broad view of structural verification throughout product development and the role of testing. The course then covers planning, designing, performing, interpreting, and documenting a test. The course covers static loads testing at low- and high-levels of assembly, modal survey testing and math-model correlation, sine-sweep and sine-burst testing, and random vibration testing. Instructor: Tom Sarafin has worked full time in the space industry since 1979. He spent over 13 years at Martin Marietta Astronautics, where he contributed to and led activities in structural analysis, design, and test, mostly for large spacecraft. Since founding Instar in 1993, he’s consulted for NASA, Space Imaging, DigitalGlobe, AeroAstro, Design_Net Engineering, and other organizations. He’s helped the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) design, develop, and verify a series of small satellites and has been an advisor to DARPA. He is the editor and principal author of Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms: From Concept to Launch and is a contributing author to Space Mission Analysis and Design (all three editions). Since 1995, he’s taught over 150 courses to more than 3000 engineers and managers in the space industry. Contact this instructor (please mention course name in the subject line) What you will learn: The objectives of this course are to improve your understanding of how to: identify and clearly state test objectives design (or recognize) a test that satisfies the identified objectives while minimizing risk establish pass/fail criteria design the instrumentation interpret test data write a good test plan and a good test report Who should attend All engineers and managers involved in ensuring that flight vehicles and their payloads are structurally safe to fly. This course is intended to be an effective follow-up Instar’s course “Space-Mission Structures (SMS): From Concept to Launch”, although that course is not a prerequisite. Course Outline: Overview of Structural Testing Why do a structural test? Structural requirements; the building-blocks verification process; verification logic flows; qualification, acceptance, and protoflight testing; selecting the right type of test; two things all tests need; test management: documents, reviews, and controls Designing and Documenting a Test Designing a test, suggested contents of a test plan, test-article configuration, boundary conditions, ensuring adequacy of a strength test, a key difference between a qualification test and a proof test, success criteria and effective instrumentation, preparing to interpret test data, documenting with a test report Loads Testing of Small Specimens Applications and objectives, common loading systems, test standards, case history: designing a test to substantiate new NASA criteria for analysis of preloaded bolts Static Loads Testing of Large Assemblies Introduction to static loads testing, special considerations, introducing and controlling loads, developing the load cases, example: developing load cases for a truss structure, be sure to design the right test!, centrifuge testing Testing on an Electrodynamic Shaker Test configuration, limitations of testing on a shaker, fixture design, deriving loads from measured accelerations, sine-sweep testing, sine- burst testing, understanding random vibration, random vibration testing, interpreting test data, notching, risk associated with testing on a shaker Example: Notching a Random Vibration Test Problem statement, determining whether notching is needed, first-cut estimates of notches, agreeing upon notching ground rules, process for designing the notches, FEA predictions without notches, FEA-derived notches, test strategy, summary Modal Survey Testing and Math Model Correlation Test objectives and target modes, designing a modal survey test, key considerations, test configuration and approaches, checking the test data, correlating the math model Case History: Vibration Testing of a Spacecraft Telescope Case History: Vibration Testing of a Spacecraft Telescope Overview, initial structural test plan, problem statement, revised test plan, testing at the telescope assembly level, testing at the vehicle level, lessons learned and conclusions Summary Tuition: Tuition for this three-day course is $1690 per person per person at one of our scheduled public courses. Onsite pricing is available. Please call us at 410-956-8805 or send an email to ati@aticourses.com. Register Now Without Obligation