The numerical simulation of subsonic flutter

Abstract

The present paper describes a numerical simulation of unsteady, subsonic aeroelastic responses. The technique accounts for aerodynamic nonlinearities associated with angles of attack, vortex-dominated flow, static deformations, and unsteady behavior. The fluid and the wing together are treated as a single dynamic system, and the equations of motion for the structure and flowfield are integrated simultaneously and interactively in the time domain. The method employs an iterative scheme based on a predictor-corrector technique. The aerodynamic loads are computed by the general unsteady vortex-lattice method and are determined simultaneously with the motion of the wing. Two models are used to demonstrate the technique: a rigid wing on an elastic support experiencing plunge and pitch about the elastic axis, and a continuous wing rigidly supported at the root chord experiencing spanwise bending and twisting. The time domain solution coupled with the unsteady vortex-lattice method provides the capability of graphically depicting wing and wake motion. Several graphs that illustrate the time domain behavior of the wing and wake are presented.