INTEGRATED SOLUTION FOR COMPUTATIONAL STATIC AEROELASTICITY OF ROCKETS

A solution scheme for computational static aeroelastic problems of man euvering night vehicles, with linear structure and nonlinear aerodynam ics, is presented. A general steady computational fluid dynamics code that can handle both Navier-Stokes and Euler formulations is modified to include aeroelastic effects. A modal representation of the free str ucture is imported from a standard finite element code and integrated in the regular computation convergence scheme. The integrated process can solve direct problems with given aerodynamic states or more compli cated aeroelastic trim problems for defined maneuvers. Occasional upda tes of the vehicle shape and the body fitted computational grid yield an efficient convergence to aeroelastic equilibrium. An application to a generic rocket at supersonic Eight demonstrates the process efficie ncy and exhibits significant aeroelastic effects on the aerodynamic st ability derivatives.