Gust Load Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Active Control vs. Folding Wing Tip Technologies for Gust Load Alleviation

As part of the Ultra High Aspect Ratio Wing Advanced Research and Designs (U-HARWARD) project, funded by CS2JU, various gust load alleviation (GLA) technologies have been developed and studied. GLA plays a crucial role in the development of new generation ultra-high aspect ratio wings (UHARWs), as it reduces gust loads, thereby decreasing the structural weight of the wing and, consequently, the entire aircraft. This weight reduction enhances overall aircraft efficiency, enabling a higher aspect ratio. GLA technologies are categorized into passive systems, which require no active intervention, and active systems, where control surfaces redistribute the aerodynamic loads. In this study, passive GLA was implemented using a folding wing tip (FWT) developed by the University of Bristol, while active GLA employed a Static Output Feedback controller developed by Politecnico di Milano. Both approaches were compared against a baseline aircraft configuration. A flutter assessment confirmed that FWT does not introduce aeroelastic instabilities, ensuring the aircraft remains flutter-free across its flight envelope. A thorough comparison of load envelopes, based on nearly 2000 load cases across different flight points and mass configurations, was conducted in compliance with CS25 regulations, examining both positive and negative gust conditions. The results show a possible 15% reduction in the dynamic load envelope for both passive and active solutions. Using NeOPT, a hybrid finite element (FE) model was developed, with a detailed global FEM (GFEM) for the wingbox and stick elements for other components. Linear gust analyses in Nastran, with the hinge locked and released, provided high-fidelity results, comparing wing failure indexes and demonstrating the effectiveness of the FWT solution.

Developing a severe gust load spectrum for transport aircraft based on measured load data

PurposeDeveloping severe load spectrum of transport aircraft structures is crucial for enhancing the fatigue damage correlation between full-scale fatigue testing results and operational service. The lack of consensus on severe spectrum development methods for transport aircraft has prompted the current research, resulting in a proposed approach for a severe gust load spectrum based on the acceleration cumulative exceedance surface.Design/methodology/approachThe measured load data were analyzed using a model based on the cumulative exceedance number surface to describe the variation in exceedance numbers. An improved sampling method based on multivariate Markov Chain Monte Carlo was employed to obtain the fleet fatigue damage distribution, enabling the determination of the severity of severe spectrum and the corresponding cumulative exceedance number surface, and a severe gust load spectrum was developed based on the surface.FindingsThe method that characterizes load spectrum variation using the cumulative exceedance surface minimizes the randomness of peak-trough pairs by incorporating the correlation of load spectrum peaks and troughs. This approach reduces the variation in fleet fatigue damage, thereby lowering the requirements for the severity of severe spectrum fatigue damage.Originality/valueThe proposed methodology extends from a one-dimensional curve to a two-dimensional surface, accounting for the correlation between peak and trough values to develop a severe spectrum. This approach more accurately describes the variation in acceleration cumulative exceedance numbers, directly benefiting fatigue damage calculation. This study provides valuable references for developing severe spectrum for transport aircraft.

Gust load alleviation of a flexible flying wing with linear parameter-varying modeling and model predictive control

This paper presents a practical model predictive control (MPC) framework for gust load alleviation of a flexible flying wing. Both the controller solving and state estimation are based on a reduced-order model, which features a linear parameter-varying (LPV) form, avoiding online linearization and reducing the scale of the corresponding quadratic programming problem. An improved modeling and model reduction process is used to enhance modeling efficiency and ensure that the reduced-order model can accurately capture the rigid-flexible coupled characteristics of the flexible flying wing under arbitrary gusts. By reconstructing the output of the control-oriented model to include both rigid-body motion and flexible vibrations, the rigid-flexible coupled multi-objective control is established as an MPC problem for reference tracking. The online optimization is formulated in a sparse fashion and combined with an iterative algorithm based on predicted trajectories, describing the variation of model dynamics within the prediction horizon more accurately. With a time-varying Kalman estimator for state updating, the closed-loop simulations are performed for gust alleviation performance validation. Additionally, the real-time potential of the proposed MPC framework is demonstrated through Monte Carlo simulations.

Adaptive Wind Field Estimation Using an Empirical Bayesian Approach

In lidar-based gust load alleviation, the wind profile ahead of the aircraft cannot be measured directly but has to be reconstructed (estimated) based on the acquired line-of-sight measurements. Such wind reconstruction algorithms typically include regularization in order to adequately handle the noise within the data. This paper presents an empirical Bayesian approach to choosing optimal regularization parameters for any given set of measurements. Using simulations of flight through turbulence, the Bayesian approach is compared with a former approach (based on engineering guess) and an omniscient optimizer, which yields the best achievable results for a constant set of parameters by using the full knowledge of the wind field. The Bayesian approach is shown to outperform the engineering guess and performs close to the omniscient optimizer while purely relying on the lidar measurement data.

Effect of leading-edge and trailing-edge camber morphing on gust load for an elastic wing

This paper investigates the influence of the spanwise-distributed trailing-edge camber morphing on the dynamic stall characteristics of a finite-span wing at Re = 2 × 105. The mathematical model of the spanwise-distributed trailing-edge camber morphing is established based on Chebyshev polynomials, and the deformed wing surface is modeled by a spline surface according to the rib’s morphing in the chordwise direction. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is adopted to obtain flow-field results and aerodynamic forces. The SST-γ model is introduced and the overset mesh technique is adopted. The numerical results show that the spanwise-distributed trailing-edge morphing obviously changes the aerodynamic and energy transfer characteristics of the dynamic stall. Especially when the phase difference between the trailing-edge motion and the wing pitch is −π/2, the interaction between the three-dimensional (3-D) Leading-Edge Vortex (LEV) and Trailing-Edge Vortex (TEV) is strengthened, and the work done by the aerodynamic force turns negative. This indicates that the trailing-edge deformation has the potential to suppress the oscillation amplitude of stall flutter. We also found that as the trailing-edge camber morphing varies more complexly along the spanwise direction, the suppression effect decreases accordingly.

Linear Modeling of Doppler Wind Lidar Systems for Gust Load Alleviation Design

Preview control using wind estimates derived from Doppler wind lidar measurements is a promising technique for designing active gust load alleviation functions. Due to the relatively high noise levels in the lidar measurements, the associated estimator must use some type of smoothing to obtain a usable estimate for gust load alleviation. In the resulting wind estimate, this results in the loss of some of the information as well as a filtered and reduced component of the measurement noise. Taking the losses and noise into account during control synthesis should help ease the tuning procedure and improve the performance and robustness of the resulting controller. This paper proposes a method based on a maximum a posteriori interpretation of the wind estimation problem to consistently produce linear filters that closely approximate the behavior of the complete measurement chain (sensor and wind estimator) and that can be integrated into a linear control synthesis framework. Its characteristics are shown to closely match those of the real estimator over a range of types of turbulence using a standard set of system parameters.

Unsteady nonlinear lifting line model for active gust load alleviation of airplanes

Active gust load alleviation is an important technology for designing future passenger airplanes to be lighter and thus more environmentally friendly. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) simulations are typically used to accurately calculate gust loads, but because of their high computational cost, they can only be performed at a few selected operating points. In simpler potential theory models, stall is neglected, resulting in loss of accuracy. In this paper, a low-order unsteady aerodynamics wing model is presented, which is able to represent well compressible flow with stall. Furthermore, the model offers the possibility to modularly incorporate actuators, which allows the design and evaluation of active load alleviation systems. The model is based on a conventional unsteady 2D airfoil model including a dynamic stall model. The dynamic stall model requires viscous steady coefficients, e.g. from 2D steady RANS computations. This 2D airfoil model is coupled with a 3D steady-state lifting line model. The model is applied to the LEISA research airplane and extensively validated with URANS results. It performs well in calculating gust loads with and without simultaneous flap deflections, and provides significantly more accurate results in the case of stall than when stall is neglected.

Transient surface pressure of a rectangular cylinder subjected to downburst-like winds

Thunderstorm downbursts are transient in nature and have been responsible for a variety of structural damages in recent years. Currently, the researchers have done several works on the characteristics of downburst wind speed. Nonetheless, rare attention has been placed on the structural aerodynamics characteristics subjected to downburst winds. Based on this, an experimental investigation is performed to reproduce downburst-like winds physically and to study the transient surface pressures (SPs) on a 5:1 rectangular cylinder (RC). The experiment is conducted within a multiple-fan active control wind tunnel (MFACWT) and mainly focuses on simulating the transient characteristics of downburst-like flow, including time-varying mean (TVM) wind speed and nonstationary wind fluctuation. The resulting SPs are measured to understand the influence of transient wind on the aerodynamic behavior of bluff bodies. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the SPs are analyzed using wavelet transform and Priestley's classic spectral theory. The results indicate that the transient nature of the downburst-like flow can be physically reproduced by a MFACWT. The instantaneous pressures of a RC are illustrated by both the turbulence parameters of the transient flow and the flow-separation characteristics. The pressure coefficients normalized by the TVM of the downburst-like winds remain constant, which provides a more appropriate way to estimate the transient gust loading in a quasi-steady manner. Interestingly, the phenomenon of the time-varying phase shift and time-varying correlation of chordwise SPs is observed when the turbulent velocity changes dramatically. In addition, the normalized surface pressure can be regarded as a stationary stochastic process, which provides a significant basis for further establishing the theoretical model of nonstationary gust-loading.

Wind-Induced Responses in Tall Buildings Using International Standards: A Review

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of international wind loading regulations on tall buildings by analyzing major codes from the United States (ASCE 7), Australia (AS/NZS 1170.2), Canada (NBC), and India (IS 875). The research reveals significant differences in the estimation of wind loads, attributed to variations in exposure categories, wind speed profiles, and calculation methodologies. Notably, the gust loading factor is commonly used across these standards. The parameters used to estimate wind loads by the international standards are also discussed. The findings underscore the necessity for global wind load limitations and emphasize the importance of considering local factors to ensure the structural safety and integrity of tall buildings under varying wind conditions.

Classification of equivalent static wind loads: Comparisons and applications

This paper reviews the basic ideas, developments, and codification practices of different calculation methods for equivalent static wind load (ESWL) in the past about sixty years. From the landmark work of Davenport's Gust Loading Factor (GLF), Kasperski's Load-Response-Correlation (LRC), and Katsumura, Tamura's Universal-ESWL (U-ESWL), the development thread of ESWL is clarified. The ESWLs are classified based on the number of target load effects (Single-target or Multiple-target) and on actuality (Realistic or Unrealistic). GLF is representative as a “Single-target Unrealistic” ESWL, which has been adopted in many international codes and standards for building design and is extended into many approaches considering different targets (e.g. base bending moment), and different components (along-wind, crosswind, torsional). The LRC method identifies a realistic wind load distribution that causes one target maximum/minimum load effect, is a representative of “Single-target Realistic” ESWL, is well adopted as a background component ESWL, and is further developed to consider the dynamic resonant effect. The U-ESWL simultaneously reproduces maximum/minimum load effects in multiple structural members with only two sets of load distributions, is a “Multiple-target Unrealistic” ESWL, and has also been developed and employed in a wind load code for roof structures.

Synchronous high-speed measurements of a flexible structure under wind gust load

Simultaneously measuring the fluid flow around a flexible structure and the resulting deformations during short-term yet highly dynamic flow events is the focus of this fluid–structure interaction (FSI) study. These scenarios occur when a wind gust impacts a flexible structure, leading to extreme loads and significant deflections. To mimic such gusts, a specifically designed wind gust generator is used within a wind tunnel featuring an open test section. A high-speed particle-image velocimetry system records the flow field, while the digital-image correlation technique captures the structural deformations. That allows us to perform synchronized coupled fluid–structure measurements for a T-structure under wind gust load. The time-resolved measurements are repeated up to 104 times, allowing for phase-averaging of both the flow and the structural data, and to examine the convergence of the statistics. A comprehensive analysis of the instantaneous and phase-averaged data reveals that the flow field in the vicinity of the structure undergoes noticeable changes during the gust impact. The recirculation region behind the T-structures perceptibly increases when the gust hits the structure. A maximum deformation of about 10% of its height is observed during the highly dynamic gust event. Given (1) the availability of synchronously recorded data for both the fluid flow and the structure deformation, (2) the simplicity of the structure's geometry, and (3) the moderate Reynolds number of about 4×104, this case also serves as a well-suited benchmark test case for evaluating simulation methodologies for strongly coupled, highly dynamic FSI problems.

Aerodynamic Load Variation and Wind-Induced Vibration Analysis of Tower Cranes Under Full Wind Angles

When tower cranes are applied in coastal engineering, the wind-induced vibration under complex wind loads along the coast will be exceptionally obvious. It is increasingly important to explore the wind-induced vibration characteristics of different sections of tower cranes under full wind angles. This paper first establishes a three-dimensional numerical wind tunnel model that can be used for the simulation of tower cranes under full wind angles and analyzes the aerodynamic load variation of the tower crane under full wind angles. Secondly, the tower crane structure is divided into sub-regions, and the AR model method in the linear filtering method is used to simulate the three-dimensional wind speed time history. Further, the wind speed time history is applied to the finite element transient analysis, and based on the Newmark-beta method, the acceleration and displacement responses of different sections of the tower crane structure under fluctuating wind are systematically studied. Finally, the equivalent static wind load of different sections of the tower crane is evaluated by using the gust load factor method. The results indicate that the wind load of the tower crane exhibits an obvious three-dimensional effect, and the crosswind load cannot be ignored in the analysis of wind stability. The different sections of the tower crane structure show low-frequency vibration characteristics, and the low-frequency band is dominated by down-wind vibration, while the high-frequency band often experiences crosswind vibration. The amplification effect of the tower crane on fluctuating wind loads will increase with the increase of the height of the tower crane and the length of the jib, and the amplification effect on fluctuating wind loads in the crosswind direction is more obvious. The equivalent static wind load on the top of the tower crane reaches the maximum when the angle between the jib and the incoming wind is 60°.

Gust Load Alleviation Control Strategies for Large Civil Aircraft through Wing Camber Technology

Gust Load Alleviation Control Strategies for Large Civil Aircraft through Wing Camber Technology

Simplified Coupled Calculation Method for Aeroelasticity of Large Flexible Aircraft

Large flexible aircraft have the characteristics of large wingspan, low wing load, slow flight speed, and significant impact from gust loads. Therefore, the load and response issues of such aircraft have received widespread attention from scholars at home and abroad. This article establishes a simplified coupled calculation method for gust loads on large flexible aircraft, achieving coupled calculations of flight motion, structural deformation, and aerodynamic changes at different time steps. Due to the simple strip method used for aerodynamic modeling, this method is relatively fast compared to the CFD-CSD calculation method. In order to verify the accuracy of the method, the calculation results were compared with those of the standard calculation method. The comparative calculation results show that the simplified coupling calculation method is relatively accurate for this calculation example and can play an important role in engineering experiments with low requirements for calculation results.

Experimental and numerical gust identification using deep learning models

Identifying gusts and turbulence events is of primary importance for designing future gust load alleviation systems, calculating airframe load, and analysing incidents. Due to the impossibility of their direct measurement, indirect methods are used and ad hoc experiments are necessary to validate the methodology. This paper employs Convolutional Neural Network and Long Short Term Memory (CNN-LSTM) as well as CNN models for in-flight gust identification. Two aeroelastic models, with different levels of fidelity, representative of a civil and commercial aircraft, are used to generate gust responses to train and test the Deep Learning (DL) models. The results highlight the capability of both LSTM-CNN and CNN models in reconstructing gusts across the entire flight envelope of a civil commercial aircraft. The CNN model demonstrated its ability to identify gusts and turbulence when they occur concurrently, similar to real-world scenarios, in a significantly shorter amount of time. Furthermore, its application to wind tunnel gust response measurements, where the inflow has previously been characterised, demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology for experimental measurements.

Boosted Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion for Flexible Airplane Gust Load Alleviation

Active gust load alleviation is an important technology for reducing loads on future commercial airplanes so that the structure can be designed to be lighter in order to save fuel. For the intense reduction of gust loads, a highly reactive control system of sensors, control algorithms, and actuators is required, which is not yet available. In this paper, a control algorithm based on incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion is extended so that actuators respond faster. The control algorithm is applied to a future medium-range aircraft with distributed trailing-edge flaps. It is assumed that the vertical acceleration of the center of gravity and the displacement, velocity, and acceleration of the first wing bending mode are available as feedback variables. To allow comparability with other actuator and sensor setups, the authors abstract the actuator dynamics and sensor filter as control system time delay. The feedback gains are adjusted automatically to the control system time delay. In simulation, the authors investigate the influence of the control system time delay on the peak gust loads. They show that gust loads can indeed be intensely reduced with sufficiently small control system time delay in simulation.

Repair tolerance assessment for aircraft composite structures using Bayesian updating

Detection and repair of composite damage is crucial to ensure the safety and reliability of aircraft structures. A novel approach to quantitatively evaluate the repair tolerance of composite structures in civil aircraft based on Bayesian updating is presented. The method incorporates historical damage inspection data to determine the prior distribution of damage size, which is then updated with newly collected damage size data using Bayesian theory. Monte Carlo simulation is employed to investigate the probability of failure and estimate maintenance costs, considering various factors such as the frequency and timing of damage events, damage detection, structural strength, gust loads, and maintenance expenses throughout the lifecycle of composite structures. Safety and economic factors are considered to establish a lower threshold for repairs and an upper threshold for maintenance based on the occurrence of accidental impact damage. Verification of the effectiveness and feasibility of a quantitative assessment method for repair tolerance is conducted using damage statistics data from civil aircraft routes utilizing the structural skin panels of composite outer wing. The results demonstrate that the method proposed in conjunction with extensive simulations and full utilization of field damage inspection data can effectively simulate unexpected impact damage situations that may occur during civil aircraft service and evaluate the reliability and economic feasibility of the repair of structure. The research findings hold significant theoretical and practical value for the preparation of documents for continued airworthiness of composite structures, including structural repair manuals and maintenance programs.

Flight dynamics of aircraft incorporating the semi-aeroelastic hinge

Aircraft like the Boeing 777-X use on-ground folding wingtips to meet the airport gate size restriction while increasing the aspect ratio during flight to reduce induced drag. A recent concept of aircraft design is to utilise in-flight floating wingtips as a means of load alleviation, which is known as semi-aeroelastic hinge (SAH). This device allows wingtips to be released during manoeuvre and severe gusts to alleviate wing loads, while locking the wingtips during cruise to maintain an optimum aerodynamic shape. This paper develops a flight mechanics model incorporating flexible wings to study the influence of the SAH device on multiple aspects of aircraft flight dynamics. The dynamic responses of the aircraft to gusts and control surface inputs are computed and compared for various hinge and wingtip configurations and release times. It was found that the gust load measured from the wing with free hinge configuration was approximately 40% lower compared to that of the fixed hinge case. It is also shown that when the SAH is released, it can significantly reduce an aircraft's roll damping and the frequency of the short-period mode, leading to higher roll and pitch rates. Furthermore, it shows that the transient responses following the wingtip release will exacerbate the responses induced by gusts, and greater load alleviation can be achieved by manipulating the hinge release time for each gust length. Finally, a step input of the elevator during the hinge release was found to be beneficial for enhancing the gust load alleviation.

Fast unsteady method for non-linear aeroelastic responses of flexible aircraft wings encountering wind gusts

Given the current context of changes in aeronautics to reduce emissions, it is also necessary to modernise the computation methods to anticipate future cases where disciplines which are now calculated separately (i.e. manoeuvers and gusts) should be computed at the same time including flexible effects and using a time-domain approach. In this work, a static aeroelasticity formulation is adapted to compute wind gust loads. This static method uses aerodynamic matrices to calculate an effective angle of attack (used to recover the local pressure coefficients) from a structural deformation. The approach has been to define this deformation including unsteady effects influence in order to use the same formulation as the static case. Three gust cases (two unsteady and one quasi-steady) have been tested in a rectangular wing, and the proposed method has been compared to the aeroelastic high-fidelity solution and to an uncorrected version of the Doublet Lattice Method (Nastran Solution 146). The proposed solution benefits from the use of the lookup tables to accurately estimate the peak lift coefficient value (maximum error of 6.7%) at least 2.5 times faster than the Doublet Lattice Method. Nevertheless, using a limited model with only two degrees of freedom prevents the proposed method from capturing complex dynamics coming from highly unsteady gust excitation or from aerodynamic instabilities.

Enhancing gust load alleviation performance in an optimized composite wing using passive wingtip devices: Folding and Twist approaches

This paper introduces an innovative numerical method for the design and optimization of high-aspect-ratio composite wings equipped with passive control systems, specifically, Folding WingTip (FWT) and Twist WingTip (TWT) devices. The aim is to enhance Gust Load Alleviation (GLA) performance in the baseline wing. Recent numerical studies have indicated that the inclusion of spring devices and wingtip modifications can offer additional benefits in alleviating gust loads during flight. The baseline wing is designed using a comprehensive multi-disciplinary optimization framework, taking into account aerostructural constraints and exploiting the anisotropic properties of composite materials. The proposed methodology integrates Finite Element (FE) software, an in-house Reduced Order Model (ROM) framework for nonlinear aeroelastic analyses, and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). This method, implemented in the Nonlinear Aeroelastic Simulation Software (NAS2) package, facilitated the streamlined design of composite wings with optimized aeroelastic and structural performance. The paper is divided into two main parts. Part 1 introduces a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) approach for high-aspect-ratio composite wings, leading to the development of a baseline wing model. Part 2 evaluates the effectiveness of the FWT and TWT devices in alleviating gust loads on the baseline wing, with a focus on the Root Bending Moment (RBM) as a critical criterion for comparison. In wingtip modeling, geometrical nonlinearity is incorporated, and elastic trim is adjusted in each iteration to accommodate shape changes under load and aerodynamic panel movement is synchronized with structural adjustments.