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Virginia Tech

Numerical Wing/Store Interaction Analysis of a Parametric F16 Wing

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

A new numerical methodology to examine fluid-structure interaction of a wing/pylon/store system has been developed. The aeroelastic equation of motion of the complete system is solved iteratively in the time domain using a two-entity numerical code comprised of ABAQUS/Standard and the Unsteady-Vortex-Lattice Method. Both codes communicate through an iterative handshake procedure during which displacements and air loads are updated. For each increment in time the force/displacement equilibrium is found in this manner. The wing, pylon, and store data considered in this analysis are based on an F16 configuration that was identified to induce flutter in flight at subsonic speeds. The wing structure is modeled as an elastic plate and pylon and store are rigid bodies. The store body is connected to the pylon through an elastic joint exercising pitch and yaw degrees of freedom. Vortex-Lattice theory featuring closed ring-vortices and continuous vortex shedding to form the wakes is employed to model the aerodynamics of wing, store, and pylon. The methodology was validated against published data demonstrating excellent agreement with documented key phenomena of fluid-structure iteration. The model correctly predicts the effects of the pylon induced lateral flow disruption as well as wing-tip-vortex effects. It can identify the presence of aerodynamic interference between the store, pylon, and wing wakes and examine its significance with respect to the pressure and lift forces on the participating bodies. An elementary flutter study was undertaken to examine the dynamic characteristics of a stiff production pylon at near-critical airspeeds versus those of a soft-in-pitch pylon. The simulation reproduced the stabilizing effect of the stiffness reduction in the pitch motion. This idea is based on the concept of the decoupler pylon, introduced by Reed and Foughner in 1978 and flight tested in the early 1980's. NOTE: (3/07) An updated copy of this ETD was added after there were patron reports of problems with the file.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Engineering Mechanics
Department dc:contributor.department
Engineering Mechanics
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1999

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Cattarius, Jens
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Inman, Daniel J.
  • Mook, Dean T.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Meirovitch, Leonard
  • Hendricks, Scott L.
  • Lindner, Douglas K.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-092799-223838
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/29122

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Cattarius, Jens. Numerical Wing/Store Interaction Analysis of a Parametric F16 Wing. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29122