Static aeroelastic analysis of very flexible wings based on non-planar vortex lattice method

A rapid and efficient method for static aeroelastic analysis of a flexible slender wing when considering the structural geometric nonlinearity has been developed in this paper. A non-planar vortex lattice method herein is used to compute the non-planar aerodynamics of flexible wings with large deformation. The finite element method is introduced for structural nonlinear statics analysis. The surface spline method is used for structure/aerodynamics coupling. The static aeroelastic characteristics of the wind tunnel model of a flexible wing are studied by the nonlinear method presented, and the nonlinear method is also evaluated by comparing the results with those obtained from two other methods and the wind tunnel test. The results indicate that the traditional linear method of static aeroelastic analysis is not applicable for cases with large deformation because it produces results that are not realistic. However, the nonlinear methodology, which involves combining the structure finite element method with the non-planar vortex lattice method, could be used to solve the aeroelastic deformation with considerable accuracy, which is in fair agreement with the test results. Moreover, the nonlinear finite element method could consider complex structures. The non-planar vortex lattice method has advantages in both the computational accuracy and efficiency. Consequently, the nonlinear method presented is suitable for the rapid and efficient analysis requirements of engineering practice. It could be used in the preliminary stage and also in the detailed stage of aircraft design.

Acceleration of unsteady vortex lattice method via dipole panel fast multipole method

The Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method(UVLM) is a medium-fidelity aerodynamic tool that has been widely used in aeroelasticity and flight dynamics simulations. The most timeconsuming step is the evaluation of the induced velocity. Supposing that the number of bound and wake lattices is N and the computational cost is O (N2), we present an OeNT Dipole Panel Fast Multipole Method(DPFMM) for the rapid evaluation of the induced velocity in UVLM. The multipole expansion coefficients of a quadrilateral dipole panel have been derived in spherical coordinates, whose accuracy is the same as that of the Biot-Savart kernel at the same truncation degree P.Two methods(the loosening method and the shrinking method) are proposed and tested for space partitioning volumetric panels. Compared with FMM for vortex filaments(with three harmonics),DPFMM is approximately two times faster for N2 [103,106]. The simulation time of a multirotor(N~104) is reduced from 100 min(with unaccelerated direct solver) to 2 min(with DPFMM).

The Full Multi-wake Vortex Lattice Method:a detached flow model based on Potential Flow Theory

One of the main issues concerning the standard Vortex Lattice Method is its application to partially or fully detached flow conditions,where non-linear aerodynamic characteristics appear as the angle of attack increases and/or the aspect ratio decreases.In order to solve such limitations,a pure numerical approach based entirely on the Vortex Lattice Method concepts has been developed.The so-called steady“Full Multi-wake Vortex Lattice Method”comes from the main hypothesis that each discretized element on the body’s surface detaches their own wakes downstream.The obtained results match for lift,drag and moment coefficients for the entire aspect ratio range configurations(under straight wakes and inviscid assumptions).Future unsteady versions of such a multi-wake approach could improve the current results obtained through Vortex Element Methods(as vortons or isolated vortex filaments).

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of flows in bifurcate channel at rotating inflow boundary conditions and resulted different outflow fluxes

The Lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） is used to simulate the flow field in a bifurcate channel which is a simplified model of the draft tube of hydraulic turbine machine. According to the simulation results, some qualitative conclusions can be deduced. The reason of uneven flux in different branches of draft tube is given. Not only the vortex rope itself, but also the attenuation of the rotation strength is important in bringing on the uneven flux. The later leads to adverse pressure gradient, and changes the velocity profile. If the outlet contains more than one exit, the one that contains the vortex rope will lose flux because of this adverse pressure gradient. Several possible methods can be used to minimize the adverse pressure gradient domain in order to improve the efficiency of turbine machine.

IMPROVED UVLM FOR FLAPPING-WING AERODYNAMICS COMPUTATION

To calculate the aerodynamics of flapping-wing micro air vehicle（MAV） with the high efficiency and the engineering-oriented accuracy,an improved unsteady vortex lattice method （UVLM） for MAV is proposed. The method considers the influence of instantaneous wing deforming in flapping,as well as the induced drag,additionally models the stretching and the dissipation of vortex rings,and can present the aerodynamics status on the wing surface. An implementation of the method is developed. Moreover,the results and the efficiency of the proposed method are verified by CFD methods. Considering the less time cost of UVLM,for application of UVLM in the MAV optimization,the influence of wake vortex ignoring time saving and precision is studied. Results show that saving in CPU time with wake vortex ignoring the appropriate distance is considerable while the precision is not significantly reduced. It indicates the potential value of UVLM in the optimization of MAV design.

Aerodynamic unstable critical wind velocity for three-dimensionalopen cable-membrane structures

The aerodynamic unstable critical wind velocity for three-dimensional open cable-membrane structures is investigated. The geometric nonlinearity is introduced into the dynamic equilibrium equations of structures. The disturbances on the structural surface caused by the air flow are simulated by a vortex layer with infinite thickness in the structures. The unsteady Bernoulli equation and the circulation theorem are applied in order to express the aerodynamic pressure as the function of the vortex density. The vortex density is then obtained with the vortex lattice method considering the coupling boundary condition. From the analytical expressions of the unstable critical wind velocities, numerical results and some useful conclusions are obtained. It is found that the initial curvature of open cable-membrane structures has clear influence on the critical wind velocities of the structures.

Review of vortex methods for rotor aerodynamics and wake dynamics

Electric vertical take-off and landing(eVTOL)aircraft with multiple lifting rotors or prop-rotors have received significant attention in recent years due to their great potential for next-generation urban air mobility(UAM).Numerical models have been developed and validated as predictive tools to analyze rotor aerodynamics and wake dynamics.Among various numerical approaches,the vortex method is one of the most suitable because it can provide accurate solutions with an affordable computational cost and can represent vorticity fields downstream without numerical dissipation error.This paper presents a brief review of the progress of vortex methods,along with their principles,advantages,and shortcomings.Applications of the vortex methods for modeling the rotor aerodynamics and wake dynamics are also described.However,the vortex methods suffer from the problem that it cannot deal with the nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics associated with the viscous effects and the flow behaviors in the post-stall regime.To overcome the intrinsic drawbacks of the vortex methods,recent progress in a numerical method proposed by the authors is introduced,and model validation against experimental data is discussed in detail.The validation works show that nonlinear vortex lattice method(NVLM)coupled with vortex particle method(VPM)can predict the unsteady aerodynamic forces and complex evolution of the rotor wake.

Aeroelastic trim and flight loads analysis of flexible aircraft with large deformations

A method for static aeroelastic trim analysis and flight loads computation of a flexible aircraft with large deformations has been presented in this paper,which considers the geometric nonlinearity of the structure and the nonplanar effects of aerodynamics.A nonplanar vortex lattice method is used to compute the nonplanar aerodynamics.The nonlinear finite element method is introduced to consider the structural geometric nonlinearity.Moreover,the surface spline method is used for structure/aerodynamics coupling.Finally,by combining the equilibrium equations of rigid motions of the deformed aircraft,the nonlinear trim problem of the flexible aircraft is solved by iterative method.For instance,the longitudinal trim analysis of a flexible aircraft with large-aspect-ratio wings is carried out by both the nonlinear method presented and the linear method of MSC Flightloads.Results obtained by these two methods are compared,and it is indicated that the results agree with each other when the deformation is small.However,because the linear method of static aeroelastic analysis does not consider the nonplanar aerodynamic effects or structural geometric nonlinearity,it is not applicable as the deformations increase.Whereas the nonlinear method presented could solve the trim problem accurately,even the deformations are large,which makes the nonlinear method suitable for rapid and efficient analysis in engineering practice.It could be used not only in the preliminary stage but also in the detail stage of aircraft design.

Transient aeroelastic responses and flutter analysis of a variable-span wing during the morphing process

To investigate the transient aeroelastic responses and flutter characteristics of a variablespan wing during the morphing process,a novel frst-order state-space aeroelastic model is proposed.The time-varying structural model of the morphing wing is established based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory with time-dependent boundary conditions.A nondimensionalization method is used to translate the time-dependent boundary conditions to be time-independent.The time-domain aerodynamic forces are calculated by the reduced-order unsteady vortex lattice method.The morphing parameters,i.e.,wing span length and morphing speed,are of particular interest for understanding the fundamental aeroelastic behavior of variable-span wings.A test case is proposed and numerical results indicate that the flutter characteristics are sensitive to both of the two morphing parameters.It could be noticed that the aeroelastic characteristics during the wing extracting process are more serious than those during the extending process at the same morphing speed by transient aeroelastic response analysis.In addition,a faster morphing process can get better aeroelastic performance while the mechanism comlexity will arise.