Numerical simulation on gust responses of high aspect ratio aircraft

The bending moment and torque of a high aspect ratio (AR) wing are redistributed when encountering gust turbulence, leading to the strong coupling of aerodynamics and structural dynamics. Affected by gust encounter, the original attitude and stability of the aircraft may also change. In order to obtain the aircraft dynamic load distribution and flight dynamic response accurately during gust encounter, multidisciplinary numerical simulations were conducted on a wing-and-tail configuration with a straight wing of AR = 20 under different amplitudes of the typical 1-cos gust, comprehensively considering the effects of aerodynamics, structural dynamics, and longitudinal attitude response. The impact of different disciplines on the dynamic load distribution and attitude response was explored. The results show that there is a linear superposition relationship for the responses after coupling different disciplines. With the increase of gust amplitude, this linear superposition relationship is no longer valid. In the aircraft load design stage, the multidisciplinary method adopted in this paper can serve as an accurate assessment tool for gust design, evaluating the impact of gust disturbances on the aircraft.