Flexible Aircraft Modelling for Flight Loads Analysis of Wake Vortex Encounters

Kurzfassung

This report describes the development of an integral simulation model for flexible aircraft and its application to the flight loads analysis of wake vortex encounters of a large transport aircraft. The aerodynamic model consists of a databank containing the steady aerodynamic loading oft the quasi-flexible aircraft combined with an unsteady vortex lattice method for lifting surfaces and bodies. To improve accuracy and computational performance, a correction method based on steady reference data and an order reduction method are introduced. Aeroelastic coupling of the aeroelastic model to the structural model is achieved by a method based on finite interpolation beam elements. A parameterized wake vortex encounter is used to determine the loads-critical encounter type and to illustrate the impact of aircraft modeling on the obtained loads.