The progress towards lighter and more efficient aircraft structures has led to some very flexible wing configurations that deform to a great extent under flight loads. Such designs experience unique aeroelastic phenomena that the industry-standard linear structural and aeroelastic models might not accurately predict. In recent years, there has been an ongoing effort in the aeroelasticity community to develop novel nonlinear models in both the structure and aerodynamic disciplines to analyze very flexible configurations. These models require validation, which calls for aeroelastic wind tunnel or flight tests. Aeroelastic wind tunnel tests can be used to assess the accuracy and validity of computational models and point to new physics.
The seminar will present the design, analyses, and wind-tunnel testing of the Pazy wing – a very flexible wing model designed to study nonlinear aeroelastic phenomena due to geometrically large deflections. Wind tunnel tests were conducted at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering subsonic wind tunnel in conditions that lead to static and dynamic, stable and unstable, responses. At extreme conditions, static deformations of 50% span were recorded, as well as instances of limit-cycle oscillations.
