Advanced Modeling Tools for Aeroservoelastic Analysis and Simulation
Current and future air vehicle developments, in particular Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV), are driven by new applications including remote sensing, communication relay,
environmental monitoring, and other critical missions. To support these missions, advanced mathematical models are required to support vehicle design and to prepare
for flight test for aircraft designs that introduce significant aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic (ASE) couplings. Specific technical applications that motivate the
need for advanced aeromechanical models include simulation-based design of flight control and propulsion systems for high efficiency, structural stability, and adequate
control at all flight conditions; time-accurate simulation of aeroelastic effects; and formulation of effective, validated, full-vehicle dynamics analyses for ASE
applications. CDI has been developing analyses to support these applications to yield a modular, state of the art software tool suite for use in full aircraft
simulations. These tools, based upon full-envelope flight dynamics modeling methods, unsteady free wake models, and finite element-based aeroelastic/servoelastic
tools will enable ASE simulation of current and prospective UAVs. This software will support both near term flight demonstrations of prospective vehicles and long-term
design and analysis tasks.
The development and validation of a first-iteration Distributed Aeroservoelastic Simulation (DAS) Toolbox has been initiated by CDI as part of a NASA Dryden sponsored
effort. This toolbox is structured to address the need for fast, high fidelity simulation of representative air vehicles while offering a unified model supporting both
simulation and design analysis applications. In addition to numerous validation studies based on the existing literature for aeroelasticity and unsteady aerodynamics,
capstone flight simulation demonstrations have been undertaken with a representative aeroservoelastic model of the NASA Predator B/Altair UAV. The simulation environment
is also structured to enable operation of separate aerodynamic, flight simulation, and aeroelastic modules on networked computers. Continuing development will lead to
modular software tools with the appropriate balance of fidelity and cost to address a range of analysis and simulation needs, while complementing existing low order
ASE analyses, rapidly maturing CFD methods, and flight testing.
Unsteady Wake Structure for a Rectangular Wing in Sinusoidal Motion.
Real Time Aeroservoelastic Simulation with Freely Distorting Wake. Please wait while movie is being loaded...
