Transonic Aeroelastic Instability Suppression for a Swept Wing by Targeted Energy Transfer Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Copyright 2014 by Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. Targeted energy transfer is studied as a means for suppression of transonic aeroelastic instabilities of a wind-tunnel swept wing, with a focus on designing a lightweight nonlinear energy sink that improves the critical flutter condition. The aeroelastic response modes of the wing with a nonlinear energy sink coupled to the tip are identified and tested for robustness using a medium-fidelity computational aeroelasticity model, and confirm that robust suppression of transonic aeroelastic instabilities is achievable. Accordingly, a nonlinear energy sink is designed based on a parametric study, and its transonic aeroelastic effects are studied using medium- and high-fidelity models. The results of both models indicate an improvement in stability over a broad range of conditions; the high-fidelity model predicts an approximately 40% increase in the dynamic pressure at the critical stability condition. Finally, a prototype winglet-mounted nonlinear energy sink is modeled to examine its aeroelastic effects. The results show that the nonlinear-energy-sink design is robust, but the winglet design plays a critical role that must be considered in the overall effect.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF AIRCRAFT

author list (cited authors)

  • Hubbard, S. A., Fontenot, R. L., McFarland, D. M., Cizma, P., Bergman, L. A., Strganac, T. W., & Vakakis, A. F.

citation count

  • 24

complete list of authors

  • Hubbard, Sean A||Fontenot, Raymond L||McFarland, D Michael||Cizma, Paul GA||Bergman, Lawrence A||Strganac, Thomas W||Vakakis, Alexander F

publication date

  • September 2014