Aeroelastic Modeling of Deformable-Airfoil Wings Through Unsteady Lifting-Line Theory
Author(s)
Date Issued
2026
Type
conferenceObject
Volume
69
Start Page
370
End Page
374
Journal
CEAS - AIDAA Conference 2025
Abstract
This paper presents a state-space formulation for the aeroelastic stability analysis of deformable-airfoil wings. The proposed approach couples the wing structural dynamics modeled as a cantilever plate (through an FEM approach) with aerodynamic loads computed through an Unsteady Lifting-Line Theory (ULLT), which evaluates the unsteady sectional loads using the Küssner-Schwarz and accounts for wake effects through the Biot–Savart law. The corresponding bound circulation is obtained via the Kutta–Joukowski theorem extended to unsteady flows. The distributed aerodynamic loads are projected onto the shape functions introduced in a Galërkin solution approach, thus yielding an aerodynamic operator expressed through transcendental transfer functions, which is then approximated into a rational statespace form. This enables straightforward aeroelastic stability assessment through eigenvalue analysis and provides a framework suitable for control design. The model’s accuracy is validated using the paper flutter problem, whose aeroelastic behavior is representative of deformable-airfoil wings.
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Giansante_CEASAIDAA2025.pdf
Size
449.35 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e97699ca5f2dc709e8a8e1040278736a
Conference(s)
CEAS - AIDAA Conference 2025