A coupled Aeroelastic-Flight Dynamic Framework for Free-Flying Flexible Aircraft with Gust Interactions

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Autori principali: Tantaroudas, Nikolaos D., Karachalios, Ilias
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Tantaroudas, Nikolaos D.
Karachalios, Ilias
author_facet Tantaroudas, Nikolaos D.
Karachalios, Ilias
contents A complete, self-contained mathematical framework for modelling the coupled aeroelastic and flight dynamic behaviour of free-flying flexible aircraft subject to atmospheric gust encounters is presented. The framework integrates three physical disciplines: geometrically-exact nonlinear beam theory for structural dynamics, unsteady two-dimensional strip aerodynamics based on Theodorsen thin-aerofoil theory with indicial functions for shed-wake and gust-penetration effects, and quaternion-based rigid-body flight dynamics for singularity-free attitude propagation. The coupled system is assembled into a first-order state-space form amenable to time-domain simulation, model order reduction, and control design. Detailed derivations of all coupling terms, including coordinate transformations between aerodynamic and structural frames, the Jacobian block structure, and gust input matrices, are provided. Two gust models are treated: the certification-standard discrete gust and the Von Karman continuous turbulence spectrum. The framework is verified against published benchmarks, including high-altitude long-endurance aircraft configurations and a very flexible flying-wing, demonstrating close agreement in structural frequencies, flutter speed, and static aeroelastic deflections. This paper serves as a self-contained reference for researchers implementing coupled aeroelastic-flight dynamic analysis tools for very flexible aircraft.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_21650
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A coupled Aeroelastic-Flight Dynamic Framework for Free-Flying Flexible Aircraft with Gust Interactions
Tantaroudas, Nikolaos D.
Karachalios, Ilias
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
A complete, self-contained mathematical framework for modelling the coupled aeroelastic and flight dynamic behaviour of free-flying flexible aircraft subject to atmospheric gust encounters is presented. The framework integrates three physical disciplines: geometrically-exact nonlinear beam theory for structural dynamics, unsteady two-dimensional strip aerodynamics based on Theodorsen thin-aerofoil theory with indicial functions for shed-wake and gust-penetration effects, and quaternion-based rigid-body flight dynamics for singularity-free attitude propagation. The coupled system is assembled into a first-order state-space form amenable to time-domain simulation, model order reduction, and control design. Detailed derivations of all coupling terms, including coordinate transformations between aerodynamic and structural frames, the Jacobian block structure, and gust input matrices, are provided. Two gust models are treated: the certification-standard discrete gust and the Von Karman continuous turbulence spectrum. The framework is verified against published benchmarks, including high-altitude long-endurance aircraft configurations and a very flexible flying-wing, demonstrating close agreement in structural frequencies, flutter speed, and static aeroelastic deflections. This paper serves as a self-contained reference for researchers implementing coupled aeroelastic-flight dynamic analysis tools for very flexible aircraft.
title A coupled Aeroelastic-Flight Dynamic Framework for Free-Flying Flexible Aircraft with Gust Interactions
topic Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21650