Nonlinear analysis of gust response and dynamic behavior of a high aspect ratio aircraft

Abstract

As the search for more flexible aircraft structures increases, so does the need to incorporate the intrinsic nonlinearities in their aeroelastic analyses. In that manner, it becomes essential to fully characterize the aeroelastic behavior and to investigate the effects that common external disturbances, such as atmospheric gust turbulence, might induce in flight dynamics. Hence, the present research proposal aims to create a computational dynamical-aeroelastic framework for the analysis of nonlinear gust response, stall flutter and nonlinear dynamic behavior of a very flexible aircraft. Therefore, it shall be employed a semi-empirical dynamic stall model, augmented for gust loads, coupled to a nonlinear 1D beam finite element formulation for large displacements and small deformations, and 6 degrees-of-freedom rigid-body motion.