Integrated determination of sensitivity derivatives for an aeroelastic transonic wing

The incremental iterative technique is used to effectively couple for three-dimensional transonic flow about a twisted unswept rectangular wing, an aerodynamic solution for the pressure distribution with a structural solution for the corresponding deflections and, using the quasianalytical approach, simultaneously obtain the aerodynamic, structural, and coupling sensitivity derivatives for the fully coupled system. The solution includes aerodynamic sensitivities for nine design variables at all flowfield points, structural sensitivities for four design variables at 490 points on the wing, and 450 coupling sensitivities. Subsequently, fully coupled system sensitivity derivatives are obtained. The results often show significant differences between the discipline and system sensitivity derivatives and that the system derivatives are sensitive to the location and number of coupling derivatives.