F-16/BRU-55 Flight Vibration Data Collection Using Digital Recorders

Recently a series of flight tests were conducted at Eglin AFB. Florida, using onboard, state-of-the-art digital data recorders to measure flight vibration data on the BRU-55 bomb rack. The instrumented bomb rack was flown on an F-16 aircraft under worst-case operational mission conditions. Tri-axial vibration data were recorded continuously during the flights. The raw data were then post-processed to generate power spectral density profiles for various flight maneuvers. These data were used to develop qualification test specification levels to replace the existing MIL-SID levels. This paper describes the use of the digital data recorders in collecting flight vibration data. Advantages and disadvantages of the digital recorders are discussed as compared to telemetry and tape recorders.