Calculation of Hinge Moments for a Folding Wing Aircraft Based on High-Order Panel Method

Abstract

Calculating hinge moments during the morphing process is a critical aspect in the folding wing design. The deficiencies of the traditional flat-plate aerodynamic model in the calculation are expounded in this work, and a flight simulation platform based on a high-order panel method is established. On the basis of the platform, a typical flight-folding process of the aircraft is simulated, and the results of different aerodynamic models are compared. Results show that airfoil thickness has a great influence on the aerodynamic loading distribution of wing surfaces and thus affects the hinge moments during the folding process. The flat-plate method, which ignores the influence of the airfoil thickness, shows a great simulation error in hinge moment, whereas the high-order panel method can effectively describe the thickness effect and obtain reliable simulation results.