Aeroelastic analysis of a slender wing

Abstract

This paper presents an aeroelastic analysis of the forward-swept slender wing carried out under turbulence gust loads. Slender wings are preferred over conventional wings as they offer fuel efficiency; however, this variant of the wing is more prone to instabilities as the incoming flow can easily excite the flexible modes of the wing. It demands for the comprehensive aeroelastic analysis and this paper presents the comparison between numerical aeroelastic analysis and experimental validation for the prototype of X-DIA wing. Numerical analysis helped in the identification of normal modes, identified modes are the most as they play a part in aeroelastic instabilities. The phenomenon of turbulent aerodynamic flow and adverse interaction with the structure is captured by doublet lattice method. Flutter speed is identified and damping of modes with respect to air velocity is predicted. Experimental setup comprises of analog–digital data acquisition system is configured using real-time application interface (RTAI). Specifically, first out-of-plane bending and first out-of-plane torsion are predicted by numerical analysis and validated by ground vibrational tests (GVT) and wind tunnel (WT) test campaigns. It also achieved the validation for modes excitation at different air speeds. Frequency response (FR), power spectral density (PSD) and cross power spectral density (CPSD) and modal assurance criterion (MAC) are used to illustrate the results.