Numerical analysis of geometrical nonlinear aeroelasticity with CFD/CSD method

Abstract A nonlinear static aeroelastic methodology based on the coupled CFD/CSD approach has been developed to study the geometrical nonlinear aeroelastic behaviors of high-aspect-ratio or multi-material flexible aerial vehicles under aerodynamic loads. The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver combined with the three-dimensional finite-element nonlinear solver is used to perform the fluid-structure coupling simulation. The interpolation technique for data transfer between the aerodynamic and structural modules employs radial basis function algorithm as well as dynamic mesh deformation. A high-aspect-ratio structure with multi-material is modeled by the finite element method to investigate the effects of geometrical nonlinearity on the aeroelastic behavior. Numerical simulations of the linear and nonlinear static aeroelasticity were conducted at transonic regime with different angles of attack. By comparing the aeroelastic behaviors of linear and nonlinear structure, it shows that geometrical nonlinearity plays an important role for flexible high-aspect-ratio wings undergoing the large static aeroelastic deformation and should be taken into account in aeroelastic analysis for such structures.