Computational aeroelastic analysis of a competition cargo UAV of box wing type

Resumo

SAE aero design is a competition in which university teams design a radio-controlled cargo aircraft
aiming to obtain its highest structural efficiency. Several unconventional configurations have been developed and
the aeroelastic analyses during the design phase must be well established. Analytical aeroelasticity methods are
difficult to implement in unconventional aircraft, given the difficulty of obtaining the structural interaction of all
components. Besides, the analysis needs to have a well-defined modeling workflow to not obtain erroneous results.
The main objective of this work is to contribute to the aeroelastic analysis of an unconventional box wing type
aircraft and also to assist aero design competitors, through the implementation of an aeroelastic analysis workflow
in a real aero design project. The work starts with the elaboration of a CAD model for the selected aircraft, followed
by the construction of a finite element model for the structural model. To represent the unsteady aerodynamics,
aero panels were used accordingly to the Doublet Lattice Method and then interpolated with the structural mesh,
allowing a complete aeroelastic analysis. Both static and dynamic aeroelasticity analyses were conducted. The
initial results showed that the aircraft would present flutter inside the flight envelope, so it was necessary to apply
flutter suppression techniques by modifying the geometry and structural elements to mitigate the problem. The
work presents aeroelastic information about the box wing aircraft configuration as well as techniques for solving
problems related to this kind of geometry. An aeroelastic workflow for an aero design aircraft is presented aiming
to assist aero design teams to carry out their aeroelastic projects.