Fluid-Structure Coupled Analysis of a Transport Aircraft and Flight-Test Validation

The estimation of aerodynamic loads of a transport aircraft taking into account static aero-elastic deformations at steady-state flight conditions is described. Within the scope of a pilot study a fluid-structure coupled (FSC) simulation approach based on state of the art numerical fluid dynamics and structural analysis methods has been applied to an Airbus A340-300 aircraft in both cruise and high-lift configurations. Coupled analyses were performed using an in-house simulation procedure linking DLR’s flow solver TAU and the commercial finite-element code NASTRAN™. Numerical results were validated against flight test data generated in the research project AWIATOR (Aircraft Wing with Advanced Technology Operation) funded by the European Union. A good agreement of simulation results and flight test data, including both fluid dynamics and structural deformation properties, was observed. Aero-elastic effects in cruise flight were found to be larger than in high-lift, where only slats and the wing’s leading edge region are affected. Work presented in this paper is part of a co-operation between DLR and Airbus Deutschland within the joint research project HIT (High-Lift Innovative Technologies).