Zaero: a unified AIC module for aerodynamic/aeroelastic design and analysis

The ZAERO module is a unified unsteady/steady aerodynamic influence coefficient (UAIC) methodology for complex aircraft configurations which is applicable to all Mach numbers covering the unified subsonic, transonic, supersonic and hypersonic ranges. Various application examples in using ZAERO for unsteady pressure and flutter analysis and for wing structural design/optimization are presented. The stand-alone ZAERO has a versatile program structure in that it can readily be interfaced with existing FEM programs such as NASTRAN or ASTROS for aerodynamic/aeroelastic design and analysis. Seamlessty integrated with ASTROS, ZAERO is now the newly adopted aerodynamic module to replace the DLM/CPM and USSAERO for dynamic/static aeroelasticity applications within the ASTROSIMDO environment. Meanwhile, the development of an aeroservoelastic (ASE) module based on ZAERO is near completion. Almost all results obtained for the above examples show favorable comparisons with available data, thus demonstrating the capability and solution accuracy of ZAERO. While the releases of ZAERO and ASTROS* (^ZAERO+ASTROS) are forthcoming, the validation of the ZAERO/ASE module is aggressively being pursued at present.