Aerodynamic and Structural Analyses of Joined Wings of Hale Aircraft

Abstract

High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft high-aspect ratio wings undergo significant deflections that necessitate consideration of structural deformations for accurate prediction of the flow behavior. The objective of this research is to simulate the complex, three-dimensional flow past the joined wing of a HALE aircraft, and to predict its structural behavior based on three different structural models. A Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) based flow solver, COBALT, is used for determining the aerodynamic loads on the structure. The structural models considered include a 1-D approximation of the 3-D structure, a twin-fuselage equivalent box-wing model, and a reinforced shell model. Linear static and modal analyses are performed using ANSYS, a finite-element analysis software, to determine the deformation and mode shapes of the structure. The resulting structural deformations in turn affect the flow domain, which has to be re-meshed in a grid generator software and the flow analysis performed again on the deformed shape.