Transonic Wing and Control Surface Loads Modelling for Aeroservoelastic Analysis

The exponential growth of the aviation sector combined with environmental and energy supply challenges have led companies to innovate to reduce aircraft fuel consumption. Among the many areas currently under research, this thesis investigates the possibility of making aircraft wings lighter thanks to flight load alleviation systems and more...

Unsteady Non-linear Control Surface Modelling for Aeroservoelastic Applications

In this paper, we present a data-driven method to model the unsteady non-linear response of aircraft control surfaces. This method relies on aerodynamic reduced-order models (ROM) derived from computational fluid dynamics with Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (CFD-RANS) analysis in the transonic domain. The ROM consists of a combination of look...

Static and dynamic aeroelastic tailoring with composite blending and manoeuvre load alleviation

In aircraft design, proper tailoring of composite anisotropic characteristics allows to achieve weight saving while maintaining good aeroelastic performance. To further improve the design, dynamic loads and manufacturing constraints should be integrated in the design process. The objective of this paper is to evaluate how the introduction of...

Transonic flight and movable load modelling for wing-box preliminary sizing

In this paper, a methodology is presented to size an aircraft wing-box accounting for steady and dynamic loads combined with active control. Several aerodynamic corrections are used and benchmarked to ensure a consistent level of fidelity during the load analysis. Reduced order models (ROM) of the aircraft movables, gust loads and maneuvers...

Effect of improved flight and control loads modelling on wing-box preliminary sizing

The proposed approach in this paper aims to bring the accuracy of CFD to quick linear aeroelastic simulations for structural sizing. This is achieved by deriving reduced-order models (ROM) of the aircraft movables, gust loads and manoeuvres loads from rigid CFD analysis and to use these as substitutes for the loads in the aeroelastic simulation....

Implementation of active and passive loads alleviation methods on a generic mid-range aircraft configuration

Loads analysis and structural design are core steps of the aircraft design process. To reduce wing loads and with it the wing structural mass, methods of passive and active loads alleviation have been researched in recent years. However, those methods are currently implemented without the consideration of dynamic simulations or unsteady...

Design and testing of a low subsonic wind tunnel gust generator

This paper summarises the design of a gust generator and the comparison between high fidelity numerical results and experimental results. The gust generator has been designed for a low subsonic wind tunnel in order to perform gust response experiments on wings and assess load alleviation. Special attention has been given to the different...

Investigation of the unsteady flow over a wing under gust excitation

A detailed performance investigation of the gust generator built for the Open Jet Facility wind tunnel at TU Delft is summarised in this paper. The influence of various parameters such as reduced frequency, measurement location, and excitation amplitude on the generated gust profile was quantified. In addition, unsteady lift measurements were...

Aeroelastic tailoring for static and dynamic loads with blending constraints

In the present paper the authors want to investigate the effect of different load configuration in order to identify the ones driving the optimization. A set of static loads, gust loads and static loads with maneuver load alleviation (MLA) are tested. Gust loads have been included in the optimization via an equivalent static load (ESL)....

Aeroelastic tailoring for gust load alleviation

This paper presents the results from the equivalent static load method applied to gust response optimisation of an aircraft wing. Through the different optimisation runs, it is assessed that gust load cases can be critical and are difficult to constrain with the sole use of static load cases. Several cases are evaluated with different gust...

Passively actuated spoiler for gust load alleviation

This paper summarises a conceptual study regarding a passively actuated spoiler for gust load alleviation. The design of such system is intended to limit the use of computers, sensors and actuators to operate the device. The study mainly relies on using Theodorsen’s unsteady flow theory for a typical airfoil section. To cope with the limitations...

Derivation and application of blending constraints in lamination parameter space for composite optimisation

The present paper proposes a set of blending constraints expressed in lamination parameter space, applicable during the continuous optimisation of composite structures. Thicknesses and ply orientations of large composite structures are often locally optimised in response to unequal spatial load distribution. During this process, ensuring...

Design and testing of a low subsonic wind tunnel gust generator

This paper summarises the design of a gust generator and the comparison between high fidelity numerical results and experimental results. The gust generator has been designed for a low subsonic wind tunnel in order to perform gust response experiments on wings and assess load alleviation. Special attention has been given to the different design...