Comparison of low, medium and high fidelity numerical methods for unsteady aerodynamics and nonlinear aeroelasticity

Abstract

The unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic behaviour of a 2D wing section with and without flap is analysed with Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method and Theodorsen theory (low fidelity), Euler (medium fidelity) and Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (high fidelity) methods. The aeroelastic study is carried out both for linear cases and for non-linear structural configurations presenting cubic stiffness and freeplay. The critical flutter speed as well as the limit cycle oscillations present in the non-linear cases are compared. The methods showed good agreement in capturing unsteady aerodynamics and linear and non-linear aeroelasticity for the cases studied.