Flutter Tests of the Pazy Wing

The paper presents the flutter and LCO tests of the Pazy wing, a very flexible wing model designed to study aeroelastic phenomena associated with nonlinear geometry and provide data for nonlinear aeroelastic model validation. The Pazy wing model, analyses, and data from earlier aeroelastic tests are provided in Ref. [1]. In the current study, three velocity sweeps were performed at different angles of attack (AoA), during which the wing entered and exited limit-cycle oscillations (LCO). A motion recovery camera system and fiber-optics Bragg grating sensors were used to track the deformations and strains over the wingspan. The wing encountered LCO when the wingtip deformation was approximately 25% of the span. The onset velocity, frequency, and mode shape varied depending on the test’s AoA. The paper first focuses on the onset of the oscillations, where the onset velocity and oscillation mode-shapes are analyzed. The paper then continues to investigate the LCO characteristics and the nonlinear behavior of the wing. The wing models and experimental data are publicly available through the 3rd Aeroelastic Prediction Workshop (https://nescacademy.nasa.gov/workshops/AePW3/public).