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Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips / DAVIDE BALATTI

Swansea University Author: DAVIDE BALATTI

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.62924

Abstract

Aeroelasticity is the science that investigates the mutual interaction between aerody-namic, elastic, and inertia forces and how this affects the static and dynamic structural response. Aeroelastic models can be defined considering different levels of fidelity de-pending on the models’ aim. Gust loa...

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Published: Swansea 2023
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Khodaparast, Hamed H.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62924
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fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2023-03-13T09:41:44.9657722</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>62924</id><entry>2023-03-13</entry><title>Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>232927f5628572c2bbcff1111ac5772b</sid><firstname>DAVIDE</firstname><surname>BALATTI</surname><name>DAVIDE BALATTI</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2023-03-13</date><abstract>Aeroelasticity is the science that investigates the mutual interaction between aerody-namic, elastic, and inertia forces and how this affects the static and dynamic structural response. Aeroelastic models can be defined considering different levels of fidelity de-pending on the models&#x2019; aim. Gust loads are among the most critical cases an aircraft can encounter, and so mitigating the loads enables the design of a lighter structure, consequently reducing production and fuel consumption costs. Hinged wingtips have shown potential to improve the wing aerodynamic performance while alleviating struc-tural loads. The aim of this work is the numerical and experimental study of aeroelastic wings with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts. Measurements from wind tunnel tests are used to validate the numerical model. Two numerical models, representative of the same aircraft with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts, were considered, a detailed and a simplified one. The latter model, due to its low number of degrees of freedom, was used for wingtip design optimisation. Gust and turbulence events cannot be measured di-rectly, but they can be identified from in-flight measurements. Cubic B-spline functions were used for gust identification considering simulated flight data from the simplified and detailed models. Results have shown the ability of the simplified model to identify the gust and turbulence considering simulated data from the detailed model. To validate the numerical models, a gust generator was designed, installed and commissioned for the Swansea University wind tunnel. Experimental results have shown the difficulty of creating a perfect &#x2018;1-cos&#x2019; gust at the desired location. Two techniques to improve the &#x2018;1-cos&#x2019; gust were considered. In the first case, the transfer function between the vane rotation and the gust produced at the aircraft model location was identified, and its in-verse was used to calculate the vane rotation. The improvements using this approach are limited by the strong nonlinearity of the aerodynamics. A parametric study of the vane rotation has shown that a more complicated vane rotation function allows &#x2018;1-cos&#x2019; gusts at the aircraft model location to be obtained with a mean square error two orders of magnitude smaller than the initial case. An elastic wing able to accommodate different wingtips was manufactured. Three wingtips, namely a fixed wingtip, a hinged wingtip, and a hinged wingtip with a torsional spring at the hinge were considered. Static and dynamic wind tunnel tests have shown the potential of hinged wingtips in reducing wing gust loads. Measured gust loads were used to validate the aeroelastic models.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication>Swansea</placeOfPublication><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>Aeroelasticity, hinged wingtips, gust load alleviation, gust identification, numerical modelling, wind tunnel test, experimental validation</keywords><publishedDay>10</publishedDay><publishedMonth>3</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2023</publishedYear><publishedDate>2023-03-10</publishedDate><doi>10.23889/SUthesis.62924</doi><url/><notes>ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8811-2530</notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><supervisor>Khodaparast, Hamed H.</supervisor><degreelevel>Doctoral</degreelevel><degreename>Ph.D</degreename><degreesponsorsfunders>Swansea University</degreesponsorsfunders><apcterm/><funders/><projectreference/><lastEdited>2023-03-13T09:41:44.9657722</lastEdited><Created>2023-03-13T09:25:29.7559752</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Aerospace Engineering</level></path><authors><author><firstname>DAVIDE</firstname><surname>BALATTI</surname><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>62924__26825__598aa0d4e5724483bde75b06ccc4f1e1.pdf</filename><originalFilename>Balatti_Davide_PhD_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2023-03-13T09:37:01.5023194</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>69202941</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis &#x2013; open access</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>Copyright: The author, Davide Balatti, 2023.</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2023-03-13T09:41:44.9657722 v2 62924 2023-03-13 Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips 232927f5628572c2bbcff1111ac5772b DAVIDE BALATTI DAVIDE BALATTI true false 2023-03-13 Aeroelasticity is the science that investigates the mutual interaction between aerody-namic, elastic, and inertia forces and how this affects the static and dynamic structural response. Aeroelastic models can be defined considering different levels of fidelity de-pending on the models’ aim. Gust loads are among the most critical cases an aircraft can encounter, and so mitigating the loads enables the design of a lighter structure, consequently reducing production and fuel consumption costs. Hinged wingtips have shown potential to improve the wing aerodynamic performance while alleviating struc-tural loads. The aim of this work is the numerical and experimental study of aeroelastic wings with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts. Measurements from wind tunnel tests are used to validate the numerical model. Two numerical models, representative of the same aircraft with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts, were considered, a detailed and a simplified one. The latter model, due to its low number of degrees of freedom, was used for wingtip design optimisation. Gust and turbulence events cannot be measured di-rectly, but they can be identified from in-flight measurements. Cubic B-spline functions were used for gust identification considering simulated flight data from the simplified and detailed models. Results have shown the ability of the simplified model to identify the gust and turbulence considering simulated data from the detailed model. To validate the numerical models, a gust generator was designed, installed and commissioned for the Swansea University wind tunnel. Experimental results have shown the difficulty of creating a perfect ‘1-cos’ gust at the desired location. Two techniques to improve the ‘1-cos’ gust were considered. In the first case, the transfer function between the vane rotation and the gust produced at the aircraft model location was identified, and its in-verse was used to calculate the vane rotation. The improvements using this approach are limited by the strong nonlinearity of the aerodynamics. A parametric study of the vane rotation has shown that a more complicated vane rotation function allows ‘1-cos’ gusts at the aircraft model location to be obtained with a mean square error two orders of magnitude smaller than the initial case. An elastic wing able to accommodate different wingtips was manufactured. Three wingtips, namely a fixed wingtip, a hinged wingtip, and a hinged wingtip with a torsional spring at the hinge were considered. Static and dynamic wind tunnel tests have shown the potential of hinged wingtips in reducing wing gust loads. Measured gust loads were used to validate the aeroelastic models. E-Thesis Swansea Aeroelasticity, hinged wingtips, gust load alleviation, gust identification, numerical modelling, wind tunnel test, experimental validation 10 3 2023 2023-03-10 10.23889/SUthesis.62924 ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8811-2530 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Khodaparast, Hamed H. Doctoral Ph.D Swansea University 2023-03-13T09:41:44.9657722 2023-03-13T09:25:29.7559752 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Aerospace Engineering DAVIDE BALATTI 1 62924__26825__598aa0d4e5724483bde75b06ccc4f1e1.pdf Balatti_Davide_PhD_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2023-03-13T09:37:01.5023194 Output 69202941 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Davide Balatti, 2023. true eng
title Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
spellingShingle Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
DAVIDE BALATTI
title_short Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
title_full Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
title_fullStr Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
title_full_unstemmed Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
title_sort Numerical and experimental studies of aeroelastic hinged wingtips
author_id_str_mv 232927f5628572c2bbcff1111ac5772b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 232927f5628572c2bbcff1111ac5772b_***_DAVIDE BALATTI
author DAVIDE BALATTI
author2 DAVIDE BALATTI
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.62924
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Aerospace Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Aerospace Engineering
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description Aeroelasticity is the science that investigates the mutual interaction between aerody-namic, elastic, and inertia forces and how this affects the static and dynamic structural response. Aeroelastic models can be defined considering different levels of fidelity de-pending on the models’ aim. Gust loads are among the most critical cases an aircraft can encounter, and so mitigating the loads enables the design of a lighter structure, consequently reducing production and fuel consumption costs. Hinged wingtips have shown potential to improve the wing aerodynamic performance while alleviating struc-tural loads. The aim of this work is the numerical and experimental study of aeroelastic wings with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts. Measurements from wind tunnel tests are used to validate the numerical model. Two numerical models, representative of the same aircraft with hinged wingtips subjected to gusts, were considered, a detailed and a simplified one. The latter model, due to its low number of degrees of freedom, was used for wingtip design optimisation. Gust and turbulence events cannot be measured di-rectly, but they can be identified from in-flight measurements. Cubic B-spline functions were used for gust identification considering simulated flight data from the simplified and detailed models. Results have shown the ability of the simplified model to identify the gust and turbulence considering simulated data from the detailed model. To validate the numerical models, a gust generator was designed, installed and commissioned for the Swansea University wind tunnel. Experimental results have shown the difficulty of creating a perfect ‘1-cos’ gust at the desired location. Two techniques to improve the ‘1-cos’ gust were considered. In the first case, the transfer function between the vane rotation and the gust produced at the aircraft model location was identified, and its in-verse was used to calculate the vane rotation. The improvements using this approach are limited by the strong nonlinearity of the aerodynamics. A parametric study of the vane rotation has shown that a more complicated vane rotation function allows ‘1-cos’ gusts at the aircraft model location to be obtained with a mean square error two orders of magnitude smaller than the initial case. An elastic wing able to accommodate different wingtips was manufactured. Three wingtips, namely a fixed wingtip, a hinged wingtip, and a hinged wingtip with a torsional spring at the hinge were considered. Static and dynamic wind tunnel tests have shown the potential of hinged wingtips in reducing wing gust loads. Measured gust loads were used to validate the aeroelastic models.
published_date 2023-03-10T04:23:20Z
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