A method for aeroelastic load redistribution of very flexible wing with a high-aspect-ratio

Very flexible wing of the aircraft with a high-aspect-ratio under goes large bend and twist deformation, which leads to a distinct redistribution of the aeroelastic load. A new method is developed for the aeroelastic load redistribution of the flexible wing based on a new beam element with only two degree of freedoms (two general bend angles). By using the beam element, the complex geometrically nonlinear computation for the bend deformation of the wing is converted to be a simple linear problem. Meanwhile, the twist deformation of the wing can be linearly solved in the local coordinate system, avoiding the complex geometrically nonlinear computation in the global coordinate system. In a word, the present method simplifies the aeroelastic load redistribution of the flexible wing through transforming a geometrically nonlinear problem to be a linear one. The results are in a very good agreement with the analytical solutions and indicate that the present method is accurate and efficient for engineering practice.