Gust Response for Flexibly Suspended High-Aspect Ratio Wings

A theoretical aeroelastic study for a flexibly suspended high-aspect ratio wing aeroelastic model excited by gust loads is presented along with a companion wind-tunnel test. A flexible support system at the wing root has been constructed to simulate a rigid body mode. Structural equations of motion based on a nonlinear beam theory are combined with the ONERA aerodynamic model. Also, a dynamic perturbation analysis about a nonlinear static equilibrium is used to determine the small perturbation flutter boundary and structural natural frequencies. The effects of the flexible support system (hi-beam system) on the wing structural dynamics, the static aeroelastic displacement at root, nonlinear flutter, and gust response to a harmonic or a frequency sweep excitation are discussed. Also the effect of gust distribution along the span on the response is described based upon computations. The fair to good quantitative agreement between theory and experiment demonstrates that the present analysis method has reasonable accuracy.