AN OVERVIEW OF AEROELASTICITY STUDIES FOR THE NATIONAL AERO-SPACE PLANE

TLDR

The National Aero‑Space Plane (NASP) X‑30 is a single‑stage‑to‑orbit vehicle designed for runway takeoff and landing, and NASA and the Wright Laboratory conducted aeroelastic research to support its design. This paper provides an overview of the aeroelastic research undertaken to support the X‑30 airframe design. The research involved developing computational codes for unsteady aerodynamic pressure prediction, studying aerodynamic heating and fuselage flexibility effects on control stability, and testing scale models to validate and correlate the codes.

Abstract

The National Aero-Space Plane (NASP), or X-30, is a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that is designed to takeoff and land on conventional runways. Research in aeroelasticity was conducted by the NASA and the Wright Laboratory to support the design of a flight vehicle by the national contractor team. This research includes the development of new computational codes for predicting unsteady aerodynamic pressures. In addition, studies were conducted to determine the aerodynamic heating effects on vehicle aeroelasticity and to determine the effects of fuselage flexibility on the stability of the control systems. It also includes the testing of scale models to better understand the aeroelastic behavior of the X-30 and to obtain data for code validation and correlation. This paper presents an overview of the aeroelastic research which has been conducted to support the airframe design.