Unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic calculations for wings using Euler equations

A procedure to solve simultaneously the Euler flow equations and modal structural equations of motion is presented for computing aeroelastic responses of wings. The Euler flow equations are solved by a finite-difference scheme with dynamic grids. The coupled aeroelastic equations of motion are solved using the linear-acceleration method. The aeroelastic configuration adaptive dynamic grids are time-accurately generated using the aeroelastically deformed shape of the wing. The unsteady flow calculations are validated with the experiment, both for a semi-infinite wing and a wall-mounted cantilever rectangular wing. Aeroelastic responses are computed for a rectangular wing using the modal data generated by the finite-element method. The robustness of the present approach in computing unsteady flows and aeroelastic responses that are beyond the capability of earlier approaches using potential equations are demonstrated.