Status and Challenges of Force Reconstruction and Identification for Aircraft Design and Testing

T his paper, authored by experts in the field, addresses a comprehensive survey on force reconstruction or force identification techniques. Force reconstruction is the field of study that focuses on identifying and quantifying unknown or unmeasurable forces exerted on a structure without direct measurement. These methods are crucial in precisely analyzing unknown forces acting on structures, particularly during high-speed ground testing. It plays a vital role in force estimation, allowing engineers to infer the magnitude of external forces by analyzing the structure's responses. These methods significantly enhance the reliability of structural health monitoring, enabling the design of more resilient, efficient, and sustainable structures. In general, engineering design in mechanical systems is a multifaceted field that integrates mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, and structural analysis principles to develop efficient and reliable solutions that meet specific functional requirements. The primary objective of engineering design is to create systems and components that meet predetermined performance criteria within specified constraints, such as cost, safety, manufacturability, and environmental impact. The successful development of new products hinges on the capacity to foresee the life cycle impact of a design decision during the initial phases of the product development process. Engineering design can begin with rough sketches and simple calculations to develop insight into unfamiliar problems. The process can be stepwise, optimizing towards a practical solution. Among various approaches in mechanical design, the authors in this paper focus on force reconstruction, a key experimental method. This method is extremely useful in the design stage of mechanical systems, particularly when operational dynamic forces cannot be directly measured, such as at inaccessible sites or when data collection is unavailable. In Aero/Astro space, the force reconstruction method holds great significance in engineering by providing insights into dynamic loads during the flight of vehicles, reducing excess material and weight, enhancing energy efficiency, and improving the dynamic performance of mechanical systems in various applications, accurately predicting loads in mechanical systems leading to safer and more efficient designs, serving as a method for engineering testing. Therefore, experimental investigations can be adopted in the design of practical systems and, ultimately, used as a technique to validate other solution methods by comparing results and establishing generalized benchmarks. In ground testing applications, the force reconstruction technique can use response data from sample structures in wind tunnels to validate and refine computational models. Through this survey, the authors comprehensively address important aspects of representing techniques for space-related testing and performance evaluation in practice. This paper compiles information by exploring state-of-the-art approaches and methods, along with their related works, over the past 20 years. Furthermore, this survey extends to additional investigations on the experimental verifications of the method’s performance and practicability for real-world applications.