Mathematical Modelling and Simulation Analysis of an Aircraft Wing Using SimMechanics

Abstract

Flexible structures outperform rigid ones thanks to their lightweight, dexterous maneuverability as well as their suitability towards high vibration. To this end, a rectangular-shaped wing is modeled as a flexible cantilever beam under two loading conditions, namely the former is a uniformly distributed force which is triggered by gravity while the latter is a tip load. In the same context, this paper addresses the lumped parameter method (LPM) for modeling a flexible wing using SimMechanics (also called Simscape Multibody) and Simulink environment by considering the wing as a concatenation of small elements connected together through springs and dampers. To verify the proposed model, simulation examples are carried, from which it is found that the simulation results approximately match the analytical findings. To emphasis, comparatively speaking, the obtained results from SimMechanics model provides with the same results as in modal analysis which is performed through Ansys workbench, namely the achieved deflection as well as modes shape from the conventional formulas fit in with the deflection obtained from the developed model in SimMechanics.