The process of designing an aircraft is generally divided in three phases, namely the conceptual, preliminary and detailed. The whole process is one that involves various disciplines and is subject to multiple constraints. Traditionally the different aspects of the design process are tackled separately by different departments within a company. This approach assumes that there is little to no interaction between the various disciplines. The use of composite materials for aircraft structures has challenged this traditional approach on the account that the interaction between the relevant disciplines within aircraft design and optimization cannot be neglected as easily.@en

This paper presents a unified framework for aeroelastic tailoring of fully-flexible free-flying composite aircraft. A continuous-time state-space model is used to describe the flow. The 3D composite wing structure is condensed into a Timoshenko beam model utiliz-ing a cross-sectional modeler. The aerodynamic and structural models are tightly coupled with the longitudinal flight dynamic equations of motion in the state-space formulation. This pa-per refers to the clamped-wing aeroelastic tailoring as classic aeroelastic tailoring. Hence, the term aeroelastic tailoring will point at the novel approach that models the flexible, free-flying composite aircraft. With this paper, the author investigates the effects on the tailored structural design in terms of optimum mass and stiffness distribution due to the flexibility of the composite aircraft.@en

This paper discusses the effects of the aerodynamic model on the design of a composite wing via aeroelastic tailoring. The classic framework for analysis and optimization of composite wings developed at Delft University of Technology adopts panel method aerodynamics to calculate static and dynamic loads. The current work expands the aerodynamic model by including fuselage and horizontal tail. The non-linear trim condition is thus calculated taking into account both moment and force equilibrium. The effect the fuselage and horizontal tail have on the load distribution, and relative position between the aerodynamic center and the center of gravity translate into different tailored designs for the composite wings. This study provides insights regarding the use of a full-aircraft aerodynamic model for aeroelastic tailoring optimization.

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This paper presents a unified framework for aeroelastic tailoring of free-flying aircraft with composite wings. A continuous-time state-space model is used to describe the flow. The 3D composite wing structures is condensed into a Timoshenko beam model by means of a cross-sectional modeler. The aerodynamic and structural models are closely coupled with the six degrees of freedom flight dynamic equations of motion in the state-space formulation. This paper refers to the clamped-wing aeroelastic tailoring as classic aeroelastic tailoring. Hence, the term aeroelastic tailoring will point at the novel approach that includes free-flying aeroelastic phenomena into the optimization process. The emphasis of the present paper is to show the effects of aeroelastic tailoring on body-freedom flutter and flight dynamic stability at large. The results of this paper will be used in the further development of aeroelastic tailoring practices for composite aircraft design.@en