The Benefits of the Passive and Active Aeroelastic Design of Aircraft Structures

Abstract

Increasing performance requirements and the economical pressure to reduce the Direct Operational Costs of new aircraft designs can no longer be met by traditional and sequential design strategies. Especially in the field of aeroelasticity, multidisciplinary design concepts must be applied during the early design stage to develop flutter-free structures and to guarantee excellent multi-point design characteristics, e.g. for wing flight shape, control efficiencies, etc. This paper describes aeroelastic design methods like stiffness optimization, mass balance, and the aeroelastic tailoring of the composite structures of primary structures in order to maximize aeroelastic performance and to minimize weight penalties.