Prediction of the aerodynamic effect of model deformation during transonic wind tunnel tests

During wind tunnel tests, any aircraft model deforms as a result of aerodynamic loads. This behaviour is generally regarded as a spurious effect of the testing technique that needs to be accounted for and corrected. This paper presents available optical technique to measure wing deformation in ONERA wind tunnels, and introduces a simulation method to predict the effect of the deformation on the model aerodynamic characteristics.