A Methodology of Large Scale Computational Aeroelasticity for the MDA/MDO Environment

A methodology that enables the investigation of static and dynamic nonlinear aeroelastic phenomena of flight vehicles is presented. A time accurate Euler/Navier Stokes solver is coupled with a general linear structural solver in physical coordinates to solve the equations of motion. For static aeroelastic analysis, a pseudo time approach is employed along with relaxation of the structural deformations to obtain converged solutions. Transient analyses are solved by time marching the fluid and structural equations in a staggered fashion. The methodology is exercised by performing static aeroelastic calculations for two configurations, a generic fighter wing and the Validation of Aeroelastic Tailoring (VAT) wind tunnel model.