Modeling and simulation of aerial refueling multi-body system based on ALE-ANCF method

The hose-drogue system is a common method for soft aerial refueling, whereby the refueling tanker tows the drogue through the hose. In this paper, a mathematical-physical model of the hose-drogue system is developed and simulated using the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF) finite element method. A numerical solution program based on ANCF and ALE-ANCF method was developed to simulate and analyze the horizontal and elongation release processes of the hose-drogue system at different towing points (underneath the wing and the belly of the aircraft). This program was developed by introducing an Arbitrary Eulerian-Lagrange (ALE) description. The numerical solution program, developed based on the ANCF and ALE-ANCF methods, represents a significant advancement in computational efficiency for the rigid-flexible coupled multibody system of the air refueling hose-drogue system. This program can provide a valuable reference for the qualitative design of the hose-drogue multibody system in soft air refueling, while maintaining the necessary accuracy.