Parametric aeroelastic modeling based on component modal synthesis and stability analysis for horizontally folding wing with hinge joints

To investigate the aeroelastic stability of a folding wing effectively, a parametric aeroelastic analysis approach is proposed. First, the fixed interface component modal synthesis is used to derive the structural dynamic equation for a folding wing, in which the elastic connection is considered. The unsteady aerodynamic model is established by the doublet lattice method (DLM), and the aeroelastic model is achieved from integration of the DLM with the component modal analysis. The generalized aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix is established by modes kept and constraint modes of each component. The aeroelastic stability of a folding wing is investigated based on the Gram matrix in control theory. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified via comparison with traditional flutter eigenvalue analysis for both extended and folded configurations. The proposed method identifies coupled modes and improves computational efficiency when compared to classical aeroelastic stability analysis methods, such as the p–k method.