Nonlinear Aeroelastic Analysis of a Wing with Control Surface Freeplay

Abstract

In this paper, nonlinear aeroelastic characteristics of a wing with control surface freeplay were investigated. The transonic small disturbance equation was applied to calculate unsteady aerodynamic forces in subsonic/transonic region. The fictitious mass method was used to apply a modal approach to nonlinear structural models. Nonlinear aeroelastic time responses were calculated by the coupled time integrationmethod. In this study, it was found that aerodynamic nonlinearity, initial flap angle and freeplay angle affect aeroelastic characteristics.