Nonlinear aeroelastic trim analysis and wind tunnel test for high altitude long endurance aircraft

In this paper a nonlinear aeroelastic trim equations are established based on coupled dynamic equations by utilizing the quasi-steady hypotheses for high altitude long endurance aircraft. Combined with nonplanar vortex lattice methods and nonlinear finite element method (FEM), iterative methods are adopted to accomplish the nonlinear static trim analysis. A wind tunnel test is implemented to reveal the nonlinear trim characteristics and verify the theoretic analysis method.