Aeroelastic tailoring offers an effective way to exploit the anisotropic properties of the composite materials used in lightweight aerospace structures. This paper presents a design methodology for experimental wings that employ a typical wingbox structure. The proposed methodology combines three different analysis tools: P , a low-fidelity aeroelastic framework with tailoring capabilities, O BLESS, an open-source toolbox for optimization of blended stacking sequences and MSC N , a commercial software commonly used in industry for aeroelastic analyses. An experimental wing is designed using the proposed framework. The developed design is manufactured using carbon fibre pre-preg and hand layup technique. Finally, the manufactured wing is tested in the wind-tunnel at speeds up to 25 m/s. Both static and dynamic tests are performed, where for the latter a gust generator is used. The experimental results provide a source of comparison for the numerical models used in the proposed design methodology.
This study describes a novel measurement approach for combined flow and structural measurements in wind tunnels using Robotic Volumetric PTV. The measurement approach is based on the application of a particle tracking algorithm on images including flow or structure tracers, where the latter are implemented by means of fiducial markers. The main steps of the measurement procedure comprise the simultaneous acquisition of flow and structure tracers in the same images, the distinction of the tracers leading to separate flow and structure image sets, the application of Lagrangian Particle Tracking and the further post-processing, and recombination of the obtained data. The approach is applied to the fluid-structure interaction between a flexible plate with a span of 1.2 m and a periodic gust. The total measurement volume amounts approximately to 150 liters. A phase-averaged description of the fluid-structure interaction problem is presented, with the focus on the effects of the spatio-temporal averaging of the flow information. The structural displacements obtained from the PTV system are validated against a scanning vibrometer. The phase-averaged displacement of the markers is also analyzed, assessing both the validity of the phase-averaged approach and the physical coherence of their motion with respect to a structural model of the plate. It is found that Robotic Volumetric PTV is suitable for the measurement of large-scale structural displacements, while it should not be used to measure small-scale vibrations. Finally, a visualization of the combined measurement is presented, together with an analysis of the consistency between the measured structure and flow field.
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