Experimental aeroelastic characterization based on integrated optical measurements

This thesis presents a novel measurement approach for aeroelastic wind tunnel testing. The key novelty of this approach is the integrated measurement of aerodynamic and structural quantities using an optical technique. The considered approach consists of combined measurements of flow tracer particles and structural markers using a Lagrangian...

Wake Dynamics of a Cylinder with a Flexible Splitter Plate: An Experimental Study

As the world grapples with the challenges of global warming, there has been a significant push for the development of new methods of harnessing renewable energy. Energy harvesters have been a new avenue to generate electrical power locally for remote applications. An energy harvester is a device that taps into aeroelastic phenomena to convert...

Effect of Wing Stiffness and Folding Wingtip Release Threshold on Gust Loads

This study presents an aeroelastic wind-tunnel experiment to identify the influence of the wing stiffness and hinge release threshold on the gust load alleviation performance of a folding wingtip design. Five models with different stiffness and tailoring properties are tested, and the wing root bending moment at different conditions is compared...

Dynamic aeroelastic optimization of composite wings including fatigue considerations

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the aviation industry with more than 60% reduction in the passenger traffic in the year 2020 compared to year 2019. The passenger traffic which is now expected to reach the 2019 level only around the year 2024 will still continue to grow but at a lower pace compared to the pre pandemic levels....

Design and testing of aeroelastically tailored composite wing under fatigue and gust loading including effect of fatigue on aeroelastic performance

The aim of the paper is to experimentally validate a numerical design methodology for optimizing composite wings subject to gust and fatigue loading requirements and to assess the effect of fatigue on the aeroelastic performance of the wing. Traditionally, to account for fatigue in composite design, a knockdown factor on the maximum stress...

Integrated Aerodynamic and Structural Measurements of the Gust Response of a Flexible Wing with Robotic PIV

Experimental aeroelastic data is often needed in order to validate the output of fluid-structure interaction numerical simulations or to gain insight into the physics of a problem without the need of intermediate modelling. Traditional measurement approaches in wind tunnels have relied on the simultaneous use of several measurement systems ...

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...

Experimental and numerical investigation of an autonomous flap for load alleviation

Experimental investigation of flutter boundary with controlled vibration levels

The first experimental application of the Parametric Flutter Margin method for identification of aeroelastic instabilities is presented. The experiment was performed in two steps using a two degree-of-freedom wing model mounted in the wind tunnel. First, the reference flutter and divergence conditions were found by increasing the airstream...

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...