An Integrated Rapid Assessment of Flutter/Ejection Loads (RAFEL) Software System for Aircraft/Store Compatibility

Phase I has successfully proven the capability of ZAERO/UAIC the underlying software of RAFEL in capturing all three flutter/LCO cases in transonic flights classified by AF/SEO. In so doing, the transonic module ZTAIC and the g-method of ZAERO areinstrumental in providing the supercritical aerodynamics and accurate aeroelastic damping necessary for cases considered. ZONA will fully develop RAFEL in Phase II with: a) solution accuracy with flutter solution robustness covering all Mach ranges b)computation efficiency for massive store/aircraft combinations; and c) rapid selection of critical cases of flutter/LCO. Three subsystems of RAFEL will be first developed: i) store database generation system (SDG) to generate invariant AIC matrices ofstores, set up FEM and spline inputs, and save data on permanent database (ii) Massive Store Management (MSM) system to generate input file of and launch jobs for ZAERO/NASTRAN by retrieving data from permanent database (iii) Data Mining System (DMS) torapidly identify critical flutter/LCO configurations. A GUI system that can graphically display SDG stores and critical Flutter/LCO case will also be developed. ZONA is committed to work closely with AF/SEO to achieve a fully integrated RAFEL system in adistribute computing environment that will enhance the aircraft/store compatibility procedure.