Fluid-Structure Coupled Analysis of a Transport Aircraft and Flight-Test Validation

摘要

The estimation of aerodynamic loads of a transport aircraft taking into account static aeroelastic deformations at steady-state flight conditions is described. Within the scope of a pilot study a fluid-structure coupled simulation approach based on state of the art 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 linking 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 Aircraft Whig with Advanced Technology Operation (AWIATOR) funded by the European Union. A good agreement of simulation results and flight-test data, including both fluid dynamics and structural deformation properties, was observed. Aeroelastic effects in cruise flight were found to be larger than in high-lift, where only slats and the wing's leading-edge region are affected. Work presented in this paper is part of a cooperation between DLR and Airbus Deutschland within the joint research project High-Lift Innovative Technologies.