Aeroelastic Modeling, Loads Analysis and Structural Design of a Fighter Aircraft

The DLR Future Fighter Demonstrator (FFD) is a highly agile, two-seated aircraft with twin-engines with reheat and a design flight speed extending into the supersonic regime up to Ma=2.0. Based on a given conceptual design, this work focuses on the aeroelastic modeling, including structures, masses and aerodynamics. With these models, a comprehensive loads analysis with 688 maneuver load cases, covering the whole flight envelope, is performed. Based on the resulting section and nodal loads, the structural model is subject to a structural optimization resulting in a preliminary, total primary structural mass of ~3.3t. To confirm the results, the aerodynamic panel methods (VLM and ZONA51) are compared to higher fidelity results obtained from CFD, showing a moderate agreement in terms of surface pressure distribution