4. A constraint common to all tests: cost reduction

Testing is carried out on test benches, which are costly systems that consume human resources for both monitoring and analysis. The cost of these test facilities means that they have to be used at a high rate, so optimum automation of test bench operation means that human resources can be devoted to analyzing the results. A test should only be carried out with the certainty of being able to draw conclusions from the results measured.

The computational simulation of physical phenomena is becoming increasingly sophisticated, but calculation codes often need to be adjusted in relation to actual test data. Test results are used to enrich simulation calculation methods and make them more accurate.

Particularly in the field of fatigue and endurance, it is still very difficult to obtain good predictions by calculation, which justifies the many...