Non-linear Structural Analysis of Main Wing Spar of High Altitude Long Endurance UAV

In order to increase endurance flight efficiency of long endurance electric powered UAV, main wing of UAV should have high aspect ratio and low structural weight. Since a spar which consists of thin and slender structure for weight reduction can cause catastrophic failure during the flight, it is important to develop verification method of structural integrity of the spar with the light weight design. In this paper, process of structural analysis using non-linear finite element method was introduced for the verification of structural integrity of the spar. The static strength test of the spar was conducted to identify structural characteristic under the static load. Then, the experimental result of the spar was compared to the analytical result from the non-linear finite element analysis. It was found that the developed process of structural analysis could predict well the non-linear structural behavior of the spar under ultimate load.