Numerical Investigation of Aeroelastic Characteristics of Grid Fin

Grid fin is widely used in the field of aerospace because of its unique advantages in the aerodynamic and structural performance. Meanwhile, the aerodynamic and structural characteristics of the grid fin are quite different from those of the conventional rudder. Deep understanding of the aeroelastic characteristics and mechanism of the grid fin is of great reference value for the fine design of grid fin. In this paper, an efficient reduction-order-method-based aeroelastic analysis method is established, and the method is verified by the flutter case of AGARD 445.6 wing. Finally, based on this method, the flowfield characteristics and the variation of flutter characteristics with Mach number are studied in detail. The results show that in the subsonic region, the transonic flutter “dip” of the grid fin occurs earlier than that of the conventional wing due to the acceleration effect of the grid fin on the airflow. In the transonic region, when the flowfield is characterized by a bow shock wave, the critical flutter speed increases slightly with the increase of Mach number. However, in the supersonic region, when the flowfield is characterized by an oblique shock wave, the flutter critical velocity increases substantially with the increase of Mach number. It is found that the variation law of the flutter boundary with Mach number is very similar to that of the normal force and the pitching moment with Mach number, and there is a close relationship between them. The ratio of flutter speed of the grid fin to the freestream velocity will reach the minimum value near Ma 1.6. At the same time, it is discovered that the flutter instability of the grid fin is mainly caused by the coupling of the bending mode and torsional mode of the grid fin, and the instability mode is the torsional mode. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the flutter coupling characteristics of the grid fin differ greatly from those of the conventional rudder surface due to the great difference in structural characteristics and unsteady aerodynamic characteristics.