COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF ANISOTROPIC COMPOSITE AIRCRAFT WINGS SUITABLE FOR AEROELASTIC ANALYSES

A comprehensive plate-beam structural model suitable for aeroelastic a nalyses of aircraft wings made of anisotropic composite materials is d eveloped. The equations governing the static and dynamic aeroelastic e quilibrium of cantilevered swept-wing structures and the associated bo undary conditions are derived by means of the Hamilton variational pri nciple. These equations incorporate a number of effects: 1) anisotropy of the materials of constituent layers, 2) warping inhibition, 3) tra nsverse shear flexibility, and 4) rotatory inertias. A uniform swept-w ing model composed of a transversely isotropic material is considered to illustrate the coupled and separate effects of transverse shear def ormation and warping restraint upon its divergence and static aeroelas tic load distribution. An exact method based upon the Laplace integral transform technique is used to solve the above mentioned problems. Th e results displayed in this article reveal the importance of transvers e shear and warping restraint effects in predicting more accurately th e static aeroelastic response of swept-forward wings. However, for swe pt-back wings, these effects represent higher-order corrections to the classical theory.