Fluid-Structure-Coupled Analysis of a Transport Aircraft and Comparison to Flight Data

Kurzfassung

The virtual determination of aerodynamic loads of a transport aircraft taking into account aero-elastic deformations at steady-state flight conditions is described. Within the scope of a pilot study a fluid-structure coupled simulation approach based on high-fidelity numerical fluid dynamics and structural analysis methods has been applied to an Airbus A340-300 aircraft in both cruise and high-lift configurations. Coupled analyses were performed using an in-house simulation procedure built around DLR’s flow solver TAU and the commercial finite-element code NASTRAN. Numerical results were validated against flight test data generated in the research project AWIATOR (Aircraft Wing with Advanced Technology Operation) funded by the European Union. Work presented in this paper is part of a co-operation between DLR and Airbus Deutschland within the joint research project HIT (High-Lift Innovative Technologies).