Static-Stability Analysis of an Unmanned Airplane as a Flexible-Body

Abstract

The aerodynamic and static stability analysis of the Unmanned Airplane for Ecological Conservation as a flexible-body is the aim of present paper. The aerodynamic and structural analyses were performed using the ASWING code. This is a program for the aerodynamic, structural, and control-response analysis of airplanes with flexible components. The aerodynamic data obtained were compared against data obtained by an analytical-empirical method and potential flow codes. A good correlation is achieved for the longitudinal stability coefficients, but for lateral and directional coefficients there is a poor correlation. The distributed aerodynamic loads on surfaces (wing and horizontal tail) produce variations in the wing beam, changing the elastic twist distribution and reducing the lift-slope respect to the rigid-body analysis. In general, the comparison of flexible-body data to rigid-body results shows slight differences.