Abstract:
A method is provided to obtain static aeroelastic responses in the early and detailed design stages of aircrafts. Based on this approach, three-dimensional aerodynamic forces are calculated independently, and then coupled with the structure. The aerodynamic forces can be computed with Euler solver, Navier-Stokes solver or High-order panel method in the early stage and provided by wind-tunnel tests in the detailed stage. The method is applied to obtain static aeroelastic responses of a high-aspect-ratio wing in this study. The rigid aerodynamic forces of different flight conditions are calculated with CFD tools and transmitted to linear aerodynamic grids or structural grids. Finally, the rigid aerodynamic forces of equilibrium are flexibilized with a linear aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix. The results are compared with static aeroelastic reponses calculated based on linear aerodynamic forces generally used in early design stage. It could be concluded that there is great difference in aerodynamic forces distribution and aerodynamic coefficients, small difference in macroscopical distribution of shear and bending moment. The method of this study is intended to provide an assessment of static aeroelastic effects in early design process stage of the aircraft.