Enhanced Modal Solutions for Structural Dynamics in Aerothermoelastic Analysis

Hypersonic vehicle design and simulation require models that are of low order. Modeling of hypersonic vehicles is complicated due to complex interactions between aerodynamic heating, heat transfer, structural dynamics, and aerodynamics in the hypersonic regime. This work focuses on the development of efficient modal solutions for structural dynamics of hypersonic vehicle structures under transient thermal loads. The problem is outlined, and aerothermoelastic coupling mechanisms are described. A previously developed reduced-order time-domain aerothermoelastic simulation framework is used as the starting point for this study. This paper focuses on two main modeling areas: 1) a surrogate modeling technique is employed for directly updating the generalized stiffness matrix and thermal loads based on the transient temperature distribution, and 2) basis augmentation techniques are employed in order to obtain more accurate solutions for the structural dynamic response. The techniques to be studied are described and applied to a representative hypersonic vehicle all-movable lifting surface.