Aeroelastic analysis of a flutter demonstrator with a very flexible high-aspect-ratio swept wing

The goal to develop aircraft which are greener, safer, and more cost effective can be only maintained by significant innovations in aircraft design methods. An integrated multidisciplinary design approach can lead to a considerable performance enhancement of future derivative aircraft. Advanced aerodynamic and structural design technologies can be achieved by passive as well as active suppression of aeroelastic instabilities. To demonstrate the potential of this approach, an UAV with a high-aspect-ratio wing and clearly predefined flutter characteristics is developed within the EU funded project Flutter Free FLight Envelope eXpansion for ecOnomical Performance improvement (FLEXOP). The FLEXOP UAV will be used as an experimental test platform. The aeroelastic behavior of the preliminary aircraft design is investigated. Therefore, a tool for aeroelastic analysis based on a small-disturbance Euler solver is deployed. The results obtained by means of the small-disturbance Euler solver and a doublet lattice method (DLM) based on linear potential theory are compared and discussed.