DLR - Institute of Aeroelasticity

Institute of Aeroelasticity

The discipline of Aeroelasticity comprises physical phenomena, which occur on structures in an airflow, when the aerodynamic forces interact with the elastomechanical forces in the structure. Aeroelastic effects occur for example on plants or on buildings in free airflow.

Full article

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lorenz Tichy
Head of Institute, Göttingen

Research topics

Aeroelasticity of aircraft

Aeroelastic effects influence aircraft design at several stages of the development and approval process. This includes questions regarding the effectiveness of control surfaces and determination of aeroelastic stability, divergence speed and flutter boundary. In addition to these, the static and dynamic loads acting on the aircraft are also of great importance for the design.

Aeroelasticity of helicopters

Rotor craft are elastic vibration systems with a highly complex dynamic behaviour. Along with the vibration-generating units in the area of the fuselage, such as the engine turbines, the rotating rotor head structure, including the elastic rotor blades, plays a decisive role in the overall dynamic system.

Aeroelasticity of turbomachinery

In the area of engines, increasing the power density and efficiency is a major goal. For compressors and turbines, this is generally achieved by increasing the pressure ratio while reducing the number of stages.

Wind energy

As part of the DLR MERwind project, the Institute is producing a fluid-structure interaction environment for wind turbines, where simulation and interaction methods are being transferred from the field of rotary-wing aircraft. The interaction environment provides interfaces with the aerodynamic and structural modelling activities of project partners so that they can be included in the project’s cross-institute multidisciplinary simulation chain and be used as part of the parameter investigations.

Department: Structural Dynamics and System Identification

Department: Loads Analysis and Aeroelastic Design

Department: Aeroelasic Simulation

Department: Aeroelastic Experiments