Multi-Fidelity Gust Loads Analyses of a High Aspect Ratio Jet Transport with Laminar Wings
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A high aspect ratio wing jet transport (ULTIMATE-NLF) with a laminar wing was designed for the project ULTIMATE funded by the German Federal Aeronautical Research Programme (LuFo). The design of the wing features both a high aspect ratio (15.6) as well as an innovative laminar airfoil with Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF). A particular challenge is the structural design and optimization of the highly flexible wing due to the impact of aeroelastic effects, which must be considered throughout the whole design process. So far, only potential aerodynamic methods (MSC Nastran SOL144 and SOL146) were applied for the calculation of all steady and unsteady loads. In this work we present an approach for the structural optimization of the wing of the ULTIMATE-NLF configuration that computes relevant load cases (steady and quasi-steady maneuver as well as gust loads) by high fidelity aerodynamic methods (RANS and URANS) coupled with flight mechanics and structural dynamics. In addition, we investigate the differences of the loads between a fully turbulent flow assumption as well as free transition modeling (using the LST/e^N approach).
