High-Efficient parametric aeroelastic modeling and experimental validation for a morphing aircraft testbed

This paper presents a novel, highly efficient parametric modeling method for fast aeroelastic analysis and vehicle-mounted test validation. The most attractive feature is that the parameter-varying structural dynamics due to the morphing process is presented via the Craig–Bampton mode synthesis approach. The aerodynamic forces are computed via a GPGPU-based unsteady vortex-lattice method. The modeling procedure results in a parametric, low-dimensional aeroelastic modeling method that enables efficient aeroelastic analysis of the morphing aircraft. This paper presents a folding-wing aircraft designed and manufactured to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed modeling method. A single-of-freedom folding scheme is proposed in the form of spiral bonding. Through the symmetrical boundary of the mechanism, the symmetry of the morphing wings on both sides is strictly guaranteed. Numerical results illustrate that the parametric method can effectively capture the primary modes and their variation trends across a wide range of morphing parameters. The results show the aerodynamic computation efficiency improved by three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the results indicate that the morphing aircraft of concern may suffer from a divergent motion at small folding angles and exhibit a flutter at large folding angles. These aeroelastic behaviors of the morphing aircraft are nonlinear dynamics by nature.