Department of Aerospace Engineering @ METU

AEE305 Numerical Methods

2023-2024 Fall
HW#2
A chordwise 1-m long wind tunnel model for a MD3-160 aircraft wing mounted on translational
and rotational elastic supports is given in the figure:

The following 2nd order coupled ODEs approximate the vertical and angular displacements of
the wing, z and α, respectively: s
dz2
dz 1 2 1 2
dz 2
M 2 + cz + kz z = CL S ρ∞ U∞,r cos(δα) = CL S ρ∞ U∞ U∞ +
dt dt 2 2 dt
s
d2 α dα 1 2 1 2 +
dz 2
I 2 + cα + kα α = aCL S ρ∞ U∞,r cos(δα) = aCL S ρ∞ U∞ U∞
dt dt 2 2 dt
The model wing has a mass of M = 150 kg, a mass moment of inertia of I = 50 kg · m2 ,
a projected area of S = 15 m2 . The elastic supports are placed at the center of mass which
is located a = 0.05 m away from the aerodynamic center (located at the quarter chord).
The variation of the lift coefficient for the symmetric airfoil can be assumed linear CL =
5.96αef f [rad] up to αef f < 12 deg. Note α and αef f are not the same. The latter is measured
⃗ ∞,r that includes the effects of the vertical motion, while the
from the relative velocity vector U
former is measured from horizontal. The elastic properties of the supports are given as
Vertical stiffness, kz = 20 kN/m
Vertical damping, cz = 300N/m/s
Angular stiffness, kα = 15 kN m/rad
Angular damping, cα = 150 N m/rad/s
The wing is set at an angle of attack α(0) = 8 deg under a steady flow with a freestream
velocity, U∞ = 50 m/s and at t = 0 it is subjected to a gust with ż(0) = 2 m/s. Integrate the
governing equations in time to determine the dynamic motion of the wing. Use the incomplete
4th order classical Runge-Kutta solver provided.
• Plot the time variations of vertical displacement and angle of attack
• Experiment with the step size and choose a proper value.
• Plot the time variations of vertical and angular velocities
• Experiment with 40 < U∞ < 90m/s discuss the results
• Experiment with the initial conditions and discuss the results
• Experiment with the negative and positive values of a and discuss the results
• Apply adaptive stepping for a bonus.