PG-EAM - Graduate Program in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering
PT EN
PhD Thesis PG-CTE 2024

High-fidelity fluid-structure interaction applied to static aeroelasticity of typical airliner wings

Author

J Allan Antunes Lyrio

Advisors

Concentration Area

Sistemas Espaciais, Ensaios e Lançamentos

Program

Ciências e Tecnologias Espaciais

Defense Date

18/10/2024

Thesis Number

80160

Abstract

In recent commercial aircraft developments, the use of lightweight materials combined with high aspect ratio wing design can improve airframe efficiency and reduce operational costs. However, these trends lead to increased structural flexibility that, under the high dynamic pressure conditions of transonic flows, cause changes in aircraft shape and, consequently, in the aerodynamic response. Therefore, the use of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) techniques shall be the key to well-predicted flight mechanics and aircraft performance response, as well as aircraft structural loads, reducing recalculations after flight test campaigns. Towards competitive and safe aircraft design, over the past two decades, many research centers and industries have established important collaborative benchmark cases in order to improve knowledge about aeroelastic effects in transonic flows. Remarkable examples of these efforts are the High Reynolds Aerostructural Dynamics (HIRENASD) project, where wind tunnel static pressure and displacement measurements were used in a collaborative way to improve computational processes, and the NASA Common Research Model (CRM) through aerostructural test in the 6th AIAA CFD Drag Prediction Workshop (DPW-6) focused on wind tunnel shape predictions. The present work focuses on a high-fidelity static aeroelastic analysis environment development and validation to be used at Instituto de Aeron'autica e Espaço (IAE) and at Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) for aerospace simulations at high Reynolds numbers and high Mach numbers. The framework is developed to be coupled with the in-house BRU3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, where the surface pressure distributions from BRU3D simulations are transferred to the structural model via shape functions. The structural deflections obtained from the modularized static structural analysis are transferred to the CFD fluid mesh with the help of a Radial Basis Function (RBF) approach. All procedures have been implemented in FORTRAN and integrated via shell script. Results using cited test cases demonstrate robustness and consistency for aerodynamic coefficients and structural deflection predictions in different dynamic pressure values and grid refinements.

Keywords

Aeroelasticidade Asas Dinâmica dos fluidos computacional Estruturas de aeronaves Aerodinâmica Engenharia aeronáutica