Creating meshes for Nastran aeroelasticity analyses

Aeroelasticity analyses study the stability and response of aeroelastic systems. When you create finite element models for Nastran aeroelasticity analyses, you create two separate meshes:

• The structural mesh, which is comprised of Nastran structural elements, such as CROD, CBAR, and CQUAD4 elements.

• The aerodynamic mesh, which is comprised of nonstructural CAERO1 and CAERO2 elements.

You use splines, such as SPLINE1 and SPLINE2 elements, to couple the structural and aerodynamic meshes.

Creating the structural mesh

You create a structural mesh to model the structure of the aircraft, including the fuselage and wings, with finite elements. Typically, you use a combination of 1D and 2D elements to create the structural mesh. Additionally, the structural elements also define the stiffness and mass properties for the aircraft.

Note:

You cannot use axisymmetric elements in a structural mesh for aeroelasticity analyses.

Creating the aerodynamic mesh

You create an aerodynamic mesh to model the aerodynamic surfaces of the aircraft. Aerodynamic elements are boxes on which there are aerodynamic forces. The aerodynamic elements, even for complex vehicles, must be in regular arrays.

• You can use the Aero Panel command to model aerodynamic panels that represent the wings or lifting surfaces. You can use the options in the Aero Panel dialog box to create an aerodynamic panel comprised of nonstructural 2D CAERO1 elements.For more information, see Creating aerodynamic panel meshes.

• You can use the Aero Body command to model aerodynamic slender body and interference bodies. Interference bodies represent the wing-body interaction. You can use the options in the Aero Body dialog box to create an aerodynamic body comprised of nonstructural 2D CAERO2 elements. For more information, see Creating aerodynamic body meshes.

Coupling the structural and aerodynamic meshes

You use the Aero Spline command to create splines to connect specific nodes in the structural mesh to nodes in the aerodynamic mesh. Splines map loads and displacements between models

• For high aspect ratio wings, bodies, or other beam-like structures, you should use linear spline elements (SPLINE2).

• For low aspect ratio wings, where the structural nodes points are distributed over an area, you should use surface spline elements (SPLINE1).

For more information, see:

• Create an aero spline

• Interconnection of the Structure with Aerodynamics in the Simcenter Nastran Aeroelastic Analysis User's Guide

• The Interpolation from Structural to Aerodynamic Models in the Simcenter Nastran Aeroelastic Analysis User's Guide.

Where do I find it?

Application	Pre/Post
Prerequisite	A FEM file as the work part and displayed partSimcenter Nastran as the specified solver

Learn more

Creating aerodynamic panel meshes

Creating aerodynamic body meshes

Checking aerodynamic panel meshes

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Creating meshes for Nastran aeroelasticity analyses, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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