Computationally efficient gust load analysis at high angles of attack

This study presents a computationally efficient methodology for gust load analysis at high angles of attack. Two approaches, a convolution-based approach, and a kriging-based ap-proach, are presented here to compute generalized gust forces for a wide variety of flow and structural parameters based on only a few computational fluid dynamic simulations (CFD) of the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. These generalized gust forces can be subsequently integrated into a state-space aeroelastic analysis for computation of gust re-sponses. Since gust excitations about the high mean angles of angles can lead to flow separation, CFD simulations of RANS equations are necessary for accurate results. However, owing to the large computational expense associated with the CFD simulations, their application for iden-tifying critical gust loads is limited. The convolution-based approach requires very few CFD simulations but is limited to small gust induced angles of attack. The kriging-based approach requires a few more CFD simulations but can be applied for any general gust load. However, both these approaches require much lower computational expense than performing the same gust analysis via direct CFD simulations. Thus, they offer a computationally efficient mean to analyze gust loads at high mean angles of attack.