Abstract

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) is used at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) on Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) to better understand physical phenomena on aircraft. M&S allows for the reduction of cost and risk by providing a better understanding of required flight tests and the interactions between various forces and the aircraft (i.e. wind resistance, pressure change, and temperature change). Without this process, the lives of pilots would be at a much greater risk when testing their aircraft and there would be little to no funds to fly due to the cost to repair or modify the aircraft. This process uses aero-structure interaction simulation and fluid mechanics simulation data measuring wing tip flutter to characterize and correlate the simulated findings on complex aircraft configurations. The data that has been gathered can be analyzed with Microsoft Office Excel’s data analysis function. Fourier analysis is performed on the Z coordinate of each data set to help measure amplitude versus frequency based off data measuring deflection versus time. The findings have shown the peak frequency varies based on the time interval and amount of data points tested. With a smaller time interval and more data per period, there is more accuracy in determining the shape of the graph but variance in peak frequencies. With a larger time interval and less data per period, determining the true peak frequency is more effective.

Disciplines

Other Mathematics

Mentor

Jason Lechniak

Lab site

Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB)

Funding Acknowledgement

This material is based upon work supported by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0952013 and Grant No. 0833353. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation or the National Science Foundation. This project has also been made possible with support of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The STAR program is administered by the Cal Poly Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESaME) on behalf of the California State University (CSU).

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URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/156

 

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