Coupled Multibody-Mid Fidelity Aerodynamic Solver for Tiltrotor Aeroelastic Simulation

This paper proposes a new aeroelastic solution applicable to fixed and rotarywing aircraft by joining the multibody solver MBDyn and the mid-fidelity aerodynamic tool DUST, through the partitioned multi-physics coupling library preCICE. The coupled MBDyn-DUST simulation environment is intended for the evaluation of performance, loads, and vibratory levels of aircraft of unconventional configuration, such as tiltrotors, during critical transient maneuvers, and to perform aeroelastic stability assessment. The coupling has been tested and validated using simple aeroelastic models available in the literature, and subsequently used to simulate a tiltrotor roll maneuver in airplane mode.