Effect of laminate parameters of composite skin on aeroelastic optimization of high-aspect-ratio wing

This paper demonstrated design studies of aeroelastic optimization on composite skins of a high-aspect-ratio wing, subject to aeroelastic constraints and strength/strain constraints. In optimization, the ply thickness of wing skin panels was adopted as design variables. The impacts of laminate proportion and unbalance laminate of wing skin panels on optimization results meeting all design constraints were discussed. The results indicate that the maximal vertical deformation and twist angle at wing tip and the flutter speed decrease with the proportion of 0°plies increasing, and there is less variation in the aileron efficiencies of the optimal results. The optimal distribution has made it clear that the unbalance level of the skin laminates has great effects on the static aeroelastic characteristics. The maximal twist angle at wing tip increases with the axis of stiffness moving forward, while the maximal vertical deformation at wing tip keeps almost unchanged, but the aileron efficiency decreases.