AEROELASTIC STABILITY CALCULATIONS OF A LAMINAR WING USING VISCOUS-INVISCID INTERACTION

Laminar wing technology has drawn interest since the 1930s because of the poten-
tial reduction in drag and fuel consumption it can provide. Despite numerous studies carried out on this topic, multiple challenges remain to be solved before this technology can be integrated into the aircraft design process. In particular, the prediction of transition from laminar to turbulent flow and its effect on the aeroelastic behaviour of the aircraft are still active areas of research. Within this context, the present work proposes a novel approach for calculating the aeroelastic stability of laminar wings. A steady flow solution is first calculated by means of a viscous-inviscid interaction methodology, which is then used to correct an unsteady compressible source and doublet panel method. Finally, the flutter analysis is performed by means of a non-iterative p-k method. The methodology is illustrated for the case of the CAST 10-2 aerofoil, for which steady flow and flutter solutions are compared to experimental data. Although the present approach is unable to capture the complex unsteady physics inherent to transitional transonic flows, the results suggest that the methodology can still capture variations in the location of the transition, as well as their effects on the aerodynamic loads and aeroelastic stability of the aerofoil. Future research directions include improving the viscous-inviscid interaction method and investigating the entire flutter boundary.