Static aeroelastic approach based on Vortex lattice Method and Euler-Bernoulli beam theory for structural analysis of fixed wing sUAS.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles performing in the Andean Region (3000-5000 m.a.s.l) impose different operating requirements for the structural design due to the harsh atmospheric conditions. At preliminary design stage where various configurations need to be tested, it is needed a versatile and low-cost computational method to assess the structural behaviour of Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) in the aforesaid demanding operating conditions. In this regard, this work develops a static aeroelasticity method adapted for the case of sUAS, which is accurate enough to capture main trends in material performance and geometrical features. This method is based on the well-known Vortex Lattice Method for the aerodynamic force assessment and uses the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory to evaluate the static aeroelasticity of the sUAS concepts. Results were contrasted with open-access information and comparison showed that the proposed method reproduces static aeroelasticity phenomena with good accuracy. Afterwards, a study case using a sUAS concept developed in previous works was analyzed operating in the pilot zone at the Andean Region in order to evaluate wing deflections.