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Large-Deflection Flexible UAV Wing under Follower Aerodynamic Pressure
Geometrically nonlinear aeroelastic wing spar-rib-skin analysis under live follower pressure (nlgeom follower) with large tip rotation and axial foreshortening.
High-altitude long-endurance (HALE) solar UAV wings deflect by more than 20% of their semi-span in flight. At such large rotations, aerodynamic pressure rotates with the deformed wing surface normal (follower load) rather than remaining vertical, and the wingtip pulls inward along the spanwise axis (u_x < 0). Linear small-strain FEA predicts zero spanwise tip displacement (u_x = 0) and ignores follower normal rotation. WebCAE's corotational NLGEOM solver with live follower pressure (nlgeom follower) captures both the +534.5 mm vertical tip deflection and the -69.55 mm spanwise foreshortening.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •Tapered swept wing semi-span L = 2.4 m (root chord 0.48 m, tip chord 0.28 m), 65 nodes (13 × 5 grid, 360 active DOFs).
- •48 four-node MITC4 skin panels (t = 4 mm, Al-composite E = 70 GPa, ν = 0.33, ρ = 2700 kg/m³) loaded with live follower pressure (nlgeom follower).
- •24 longitudinal beam elements forming front and rear spars (12 × 16 mm) + 24 transverse rib beam elements (8 × 12 mm).
- •Clamped wing root at x = 0 (nodes 1..5); 10-step Newton-Raphson nonlinear continuation.
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Root rib at x = 0 (nodes 1..5) fully clamped in all 6 degrees of freedom.
- •Live follower pressure (nlgeom follower) applied across all 48 quad skin panels, rotating with the deformed normal.
- •10-step Newton-Raphson continuation (50 total iterations, 0 cutbacks).
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Converges across all 10 load steps (50 total Newton iterations, 0 cutbacks) to λ = 1.000.
- ✓Wingtip vertical deflection reaches u_z = +534.49 mm (22.3% of the 2.4 m span) accompanied by u_x = -69.55 mm spanwise foreshortening.
- ✓Fundamental bending mode frequency is f₁ = 1.770 Hz (with higher modes at 9.77, 11.35, and 26.06 Hz).
Aeroelastic and UAV structural engineers can evaluate large wing deflections, geometric foreshortening, and follower aerodynamic loads in seconds.
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