Aeroelastic Analysis of a High-Altitude Long-Endurance Joined-Wing Aircraft

Abstract

A loosely-coupled procedure for static aeroelastic analysis of high-altitude, long-endurance, joined-wing aircraft is presented. This procedure utilizes a flexible computational framework to integrate fluid dynamics and structural mechanics numerical methods. A variety of computational tools have been and can be integrated within the computational framework; in this paper, a finite-volume Navier-Stokes fluid dynamics solver is coupled with a linear mode-based structural solver. An algebraic spline-based grid deformation method is used to deform the fluid dynamics mesh in response to structural deflections and a conservative and consistent interpolation method is used to transfer loads to the structure. Results are presented for static rigid and static aeroelastic analyses of a joined wing.