Nonlinear Aeroelastic Analysis of Joined-Wing strongAircraftstrong.pdfVIP

44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Confere AIAA 2003-1487 7-10 April 2003, Norfolk, Virginia NONLINEAR AEROELASTIC ANALYSIS OF JOINED-WING AIRCRAFT Mayuresh J. Patil∗ Widener University, Chester, PA 19013-5792 Joined-wing aircraft are being designed for ‘sensorcraft’ configuration. Joined wings lead to multiple load paths and constraints. The focus of this work is to understand the nonlinear structural as well as aeroelastic behavior of joined wings. The paper presents a formulation for the nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of joined wings. Results are presented for two joined wings configurations. Overall, the joined wings are found to be stiffer than single wing configuration. The ‘non-planar’ joined wing is found to be stiffer than the ‘planar’ joined wing. The structural dynamic characteristics of the joined wings are also presented. The bending modes are similar to the cantilevered beam modes while the torsional vibrations are restricted to the unconstrained part of the main wing. The structural analysis showed negligible nonlinear effects for static deformation as well as for structural dynamics characteristics. Introduction Present Work