Aeroelasticity

^[G] = Glossary link

    Aeroelasticity does not assume the aircraft is rigid^[G], but assumes the aircraft is elastic^[G]; however, the simplifying assumption in aeroelasticity is that it assumes the aircraft does not translate and rotate as a whole, or if it does, it does so uniformly (or steadily). This assumption really means that the aircraft is fixed to a point, just like wind tunnel models. Hence, the aeroelasticity suppresses all the degrees of freedom^[G] of Flight Dynamics^[G]. It keeps only the elastic (or vibration) degrees of freedom.  The motion in aeroelasticity is represented by a set of partial differential equations, meaning it has infinite degrees of freedom. In practice, we can never deal with infinite degrees of freedom and we usually approximate the partial differential equations by a set of ordinary differential equations.

    Aeroelasticity is integral to the construction of an airplane, as it is impossible to create a perfectly rigid wing.  However, there has been no real way to model an aircraft and account for the aeroelasticity of the wing up to this point;  modeling such an aircraft was our goal.  To see how aeroelasticity affects stability, see the Aeroelasticity + Stability page.

    Here you will find graphs and charts pertaining to our results.

    Here you will find screen captures and downloadable videos from the simulation.