BACKGROUND |
The AGARD Manual on Aeroelasticity was developed over several decades of the 1950’s and 1960’s and was last revised in 1971. It provided detailed information and descriptions for various aeroelastic methods in use at that time and was the standard by which all aeroelastic analyses were conducted. With the advent of high speed computing capabilities in the 1960’s-1970’s, the earlier simplified methods described in the AGARD Manual were gradually replaced by the newly evolving aeroelastic methods based on lifting surface models (panel methods) for aerodynamics and finite element models (FEM) for structures. Although the simple methods were still applicable to high aspect ratio wings, tails, etc., the low aspect ratio wings for high speed and supersonic aircraft needed the more advanced methods to achieve acceptable accuracy. During the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s, the aerodynamic panel and FEM based aeroelastic methods fully matured to the point that they have become the standard and that complete aircraft with control surfaces can now be analyzed with high confidence. In addition, with the inception of fly-by-wire in the 1970’s the field of aeroelasticity was expanded to include active controls which became the new field of aeroservoelasticity. In order to bring the AGARD Manual on Aeroelasticity back into relevance, it needs to be upgraded with a new manual to reflect the advances made between 1970 and 2010 on aerodynamic and FEM methods, test techniques, data acquisition capabilities and model design fabrication processes. The new manual format should be similar to the original and stand as a companion to that legacy documentation. Also, the new manual should have a part that summarizes ongoing advanced aeroelastic methods development as a look into the future of aeroelasticity. This activity is proposed by AVT-ET-104.
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