Development of an aeroelastic analysis tool for structural sizing of high-lift devices during preliminary design

The design of complex aircraft elements such as high-lift devices has large influence on the performance of modern transport airplanes. At the cost of increased wing weight, these devices are included in the wing to ensure safe takeoff and landing. In order to meet sustainability challenges on future air transportation systems, high-lift devices need to be designed as efficiently as possible. Therefore, multidisciplinary design considerations should already start in preliminary design phase. Up to now the focus of high-lift flow-physics research has been mainly on the creation of high-fidelity aerodynamic analysis methods which are not applicable to early aircraft design stages. The increase in computational power in the last decade allows both a shift of design methodologies from empirical to computational methods and a more extensive incorporation of disciplines other than aerodynamics. The goal of this thesis is to present an initial solution to the requirement for improved high-lift system representations on preliminary design level. Structural and aerodynamic disciplines are jointly considered in the developed high-lift system analysis tool. First, a literature research is conducted considering high-lift device characteristics, parametric modelling techniques and possible aerodynamic calculation methods. Herewith a theoretical basis for development of the analysis tool is obtained. Based on the outcomes of an existing structural model generator, a link is established to a low-fidelity aerodynamic vortex-lattice calculation method. Obtained wing loads are thereafter applied at the structural wing representation to acquire stress and displacement distributions. Knowing these, an aeroelastic coupling method is established and extended with a structural sizing routine. Aerodynamic results are validated using existing data of the Fokker-100 wing. Finally, an application of the routine is shown by performing initial structural sizing of a forward-swept wing including a trailing edge flap. The aeroelastic analysis tool developed during this thesis provides a solid basis for enhancement of the understanding of interconnections and sensitivities between the aerodynamic and structural disciplines involved in preliminary high-lift device design. Although the initial results of the analysis tool are quite promising, extension of the aerodynamic analysis method, as well as incorporation of additional modelling capabilities are required for the methodology to become generally applicable.Aerospace Design, Integration & OperationsAerospace Engineerin