Abstract
Energy efficiency plays important role in aeroelastic design of flying wing aircraft and may be attained by use of lightweight structures as well as solar energy. NATASHA (Nonlinear Aeroelastic Trim And Stability of HALE Aircraft) is a newly developed computer program which uses a nonlinear composite beam theory that eliminates the difficulties in aeroelastic simulations of flexible high-aspect-ratio wings which undergoes large deformation, as well as the singularities due to finite rotations. NATASHA has shown that proper engine placement could significantly increase the aeroelastic flight envelope which typically leads to more flexible and lighter aircraft. The areas of minimum kinetic energy for the lower frequency modes are in accordance with the zones with maximum flutter speed and have the potential to save computational effort. Another aspect of energy efficiency for High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) drones stems from needing to minimize energy consumption because of limitations on the source of energy, that is, solar power. NATASHA is capable of simulating the aeroelastic passive morphing maneuver (i.e., morphing without relying on actuators) and at as near zero energy cost as possible of the aircraft so as the solar panels installed on the wing are in maximum exposure to sun during different time of the day.
Highlights
Hodges and coworkers [1,2,3] at Georgia Tech have been extensively involved in aeroelastic simulation of very light and highly flexible aircraft for development of the generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and/or High-Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft, including flying wings
Nonlinear aeroelastic trim and stability of HALE aircraft, NATASHA, is a computer program developed by the authors of references [1, 4, 5] that accommodates modeling of large deformation of high-aspect-ratio flying wings
After a brief outline of the theory behind NATASHA, energy efficiency in aeroelastic design and simulation for flying wing configuration will be assessed as (a) a feature of the design, which attains instability at higher speed with lighter aircraft structure, (b) a methodology that helps to decrease computational effort required for determining favorable locations for engine placement with the potential of higher flutter speed, and (c) a scheme to passively morph a solar-powered flying wing, so that exposure to the sun of solar panels distributed on the wings is maximized for higher absorption of solar energy at specific times of the day
Summary
Hodges and coworkers [1,2,3] at Georgia Tech have been extensively involved in aeroelastic simulation of very light and highly flexible aircraft for development of the generation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and/or High-Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft, including flying wings. Typical aeroelastic instability of these aircraft is body-freedom flutter when the short-period mode of the aircraft couples with the elastic bending-torsion modes [3, 17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24] In another context, a morphing solar-powered flying wing can maximize the energy absorption of solar panels on the wing surfaces by changing its configuration such that the panels have highest exposure to the sun. After a brief outline of the theory behind NATASHA, energy efficiency in aeroelastic design and simulation for flying wing configuration will be assessed as (a) a feature of the design (i.e., engine placement), which attains instability at higher speed with lighter aircraft structure, (b) a methodology that helps to decrease computational effort required for determining favorable locations for engine placement with the potential of higher flutter speed, and (c) a scheme to passively morph a solar-powered flying wing, so that exposure to the sun of solar panels distributed on the wings is maximized for higher absorption of solar energy at specific times of the day
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