Simulation of Flexible Aircraft Response to Gust and Turbulence for Flight Dynamics Investigations

摘要

The simulation of the aircraft response to gust is a multidisciplinary problem relevant for different applications. Gust load analysis is an essential part of aircraft design and certification. The effect of gust and turbulence on aircraft flight dynamics is also of interest to evaluate the aircraft response and flight control laws in realistic atmospheric disturbances. Both needs require low computing times as several flight conditions and aircraft parameters are evaluated. Panel methods such as DLM or computationally efficient unsteady aerodynamic models from CFD can be used to capture the gust and turbulence induced effects. In this paper, the predicted gust-induced unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments expressed in the time domain are integrated in a flight mechanics model. Both corrected DLM and CFD are used to capture unsteady aerodynamic effects due to vertical and lateral atmospheric disturbances at specific flight conditions. The impact of dynamic flexibility on the response is also evaluated. The approach is applied to simulate the response of a generic aircraft in realistic atmospheric turbulent conditions and the results are compared with flight test data. Relevant aerodynamic effects due to gust and turbulence are captured in the frequency range of interest for flight dynamics investigations.