FINITE ELEMENT MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS OF FLIGHT VEHICLES

Flight in continuous atmospheric turbulence can cause the pilot to be subjected to severe buffeting, leading to cumulative fatigue that can impair mission performance and endanger the aircraft and aircrew. Future military aircraft concepts have been proposed with planforms that are different from present configurations, resulting from the need for low radar cross-section. The low wing loading and low-level, high-speed flight operational requirements of some new configurations can lead to extreme buffeting of the aircrew when flying for relatively long periods in turbulence. In severe turbulence aircrew tolerance may be limited to only a few minutes of sustained performance before the pilot?s abilities become impaired. There is therefore a need for a means of assessing the likely ride quality characteristics for the proposed aircraft configurations and how susceptible they may be to this problem. It is proposed to apply analytical methods for quantifying cumulative aircrew fatigue by enhancement of existing analysis software. Further, it is proposed to develop a ride quality meter that can be used in practice to provide real time or off-line information about the extent of fatigue exposure either directly to the aircrew or to aircraft operational personnel.