Dynamic Simulation of Vehicle Maneuvers for Loads Analysis

Presented at AIAA Aviation 2020 ForumTesting critical loads during specific dynamic maneuvers is essential to aircraft structural design, and several such dynamic load cases must be demonstrated during the certification process. A simulation capability is developed in this work to calculate critical loads on the vertical tail of a business jet resulting from yaw maneuvers required for certification. The data produced from these simulations can be used to inform future structural design decisions. Models for the pilot and flight control system are developed to simulate the pilot control actions needed to perform the maneuvers within the boundaries of pilot capabilities and flight control system limits. Aerodynamic and propulsive data are used to calculate the forces and moments on the aircraft and solve the 6-degree of freedom equations of motion to accurately model the aircraft’s trajectory. Sectional aerodynamic characteristics of the horizontal and vertical tail are used to calculate the structural loads at each section of the tail. The summation of these forces and moments yields the loads at the vertical tail root, which can be used to assess the structural design of the tail. The simulation is demonstrated on a T-tail business jet with three weight conditions and at flight conditions throughout the flight test envelope. The ultimate loading conditions and the number of control application cycles required to reach ultimate loads at the vertical tail are determined using the maneuver simulation