Aeroelastic tailoring of a composite wing with a decoupler pylon as a wing/store flutter suppressor

An analytical investigation was conducted to determine the influence of the decoupler pylon on the aeroelastic behavior of a composite, rectangular wing. It is assumed that the wing is carrying a fuselage at its semispan and an external store attached to a decoupler pylon at a various station along the wing's span and that the aircraft is in a free-flight condition (unrestrained vehicle). Passive soft-spring/damper elements are used to decouple wing modes from store pitch modes. The effect of some parameters on the ability of the decoupler pylon to suppress flutter are analyzed. It is shown by analysis that the decoupler pylon provides substantial increase in flutter speed and that the ability of the decoupler pylon to suppress flutter is influenced mainly by the spanwise and chqrdwise pivot point location of the external attached store. Furthermore, it is shown that the aeroelastic tailoring of the wing and angle of sweep have a major influence on the flutter instability of the configuration.