Analysis of wing-body interaction flutter for a preliminary space shuttle design

Subsonic flutter analyses for a preliminary space shuttle design were performed to determine the effect of wing-body aerodynamic interaction on the vehicle flutter speed. It was found that the proximity of the large bodies of the shuttle to the wing reduces critical flutter speed by 11%. Aerodynamic reflection off the bodies is the dominant interaction effect while aerodynamic forces caused by body motion are of secondary importance in most cases. The analyses employed a doublet-lattice representation of the space shuttle, where in the wing and body surfaces were modeled by a lattice of nonplanar lifting surface elements. Axial singularities were introduced to account for body incidence, volume, and camber (slender body) effects. A series of studies on the placement and number of these elements was performed to ensure convergence of the results

Design and fabrication of realistic adhesively bonded joints

Eighteen bonded joint test specimens representing three different designs of a composite wing chordwise bonded splice were designed and fabricated using current aircraft industry practices. Three types of joints (full wing laminate penetration, two side stepped; midthickness penetration, one side stepped; and partial penetration, scarfed) were analyzed using state of the art elastic joint analysis modified for plastic behavior of the adhesive. The static tensile fail load at room temperature was predicted to be: (1) 1026 kN/m (5860 1b/in) for the two side stepped joint; (2) 925 kN/m (5287 1b/in) for the one side stepped joint; and (3) 1330 kN/m (7600 1b/in) for the scarfed joint. All joints were designed to fail in the adhesive