1 ANALYSIS AND CONTROL OF COMPOSITE WING STRUCTURES

ABSTRACT: Due to the nature of anisotropy, in the analysis of composite wing structures one usually cannot neglect the coupling effects. However, due to the structural complexity it is difficult to consider all the coupling effects point by point insides the composite wing structures. Hence, in engineering applications several assumptions are made to develop a suitable mathematical model. Under this consideration, the usual way to analyze the composite wing structures is section by section such as the classical beam model, the coupled bending-torsion beam model, and the refined model. To have an improved prediction for the mechanical behavior of the stiffened composite multicell wing structures, the comprehensive model incorporating the various elastic and structural couplings, the warping restraint, the transverse shear deformation, the shape of airfoil effects and so on should naturally be a better choice for the structural analysis. However, it is expectable that the more comprehensive the model is, the more difficult to get meaningful and useful analytical results. In order to benefit from the accuracy of the comprehensive model as well as the simplicity of the classical beam model, in this study the comprehensive model is rewritten into a simple and elegant form by using the matrix form representation. Due to its simplicity, the vibration analysis by the comprehensiv