Static Modal Formulation of Aeroelastic Effects in Overall Aircraft Loads Models

A new method for the estimation of the flexible aerodynamic loads is proposed, based on a modal approach. This paper proposes a new methodology to elastify static loads models on a modal base, reducing thus the order of the problem to solve and opening a way forward to perform the Aerodynamic Influence Coefficient matrix calculation with high fidelity CFD tools. The main effort lays in the definition of a method to establish a modal basis of static deformations that allows capturing the deformations of the aircraft with sufficient accuracy. This is performed combining aircraft aeroelastic modes and residual vectors.