216 J. AIRCRAFT VOL. 25, NO.

Aircraft Dynamic Response to Variable Wing

Sweep Geometry
Jiguang An,* Ming Yan,t Wenbo Zhou,J Xianghai Sun, and Zhen Yanf
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
and
Chuanren Qiu**
Shanghai Aircraft Company, Shanghai, China

A numerical method to obtain a complete solution of the dynamic response of a variable swept wing aircraft in
the course of changing the sweep angle is presented. Both aerodynamic and trajectory computations are in-
cluded. A method for calculating the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of wing/tail combinations at sub-
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sonic speeds under varying sweep backs is developed. The method uses a potential flow model consisting of
discrete unsteady vortex rings distributed over the wing and tail surfaces. A set of complete equations for flight
dynamics in the main body axes is formed with a deformable system dynamics. The time history method is used
to calculate the aerodynamic characteristics and the aircraft responses. All aerodynamic and flight dynamic
parameters during the whole course of varying the sweep back have been obtained and such influences as various
control rules, flight Mach number, etc., on aircraft response during that vaiation have been satisfactorily
analyzed. Some computation examples and response analyses are presented that are useful for studying the
flight stability, maneuverability, and safety of wing sweep change at low altitudes.

R = flight range, m
Nomenclature S = static moment of an aircraft about the
A area, m2 origin O, N-s 2
a speed of sound, m/s T = thrust, N
b length, m t = time, s
C unsteady fundamental solution, Ref. 4 V = flight velocity, m/s
C(]80) steady aerodynamic coefficient correspon- a = angle of attack, deg
ding to the initial swept-back angle /30 at in- j8 = sweep angle of wing leading edge, deg
itial time step t0 7 = flight path elevation angle, deg
D drag, N A = increment
F force acting on an aircraft, N 5 = elevator deflection angle, deg
g gravity acceleration, m/s2 0 = pitch angle, deg
H flight altitude, m K = index of time step
/ inertia moment of an aircraft about origin 0 = angle of thrust, deg
0, N-m-sVdeg o> = rotational angular velocity, deg/s, Fig. 1
// ( / = 1 ,2 ) inertia moment of the right and left variable o>/(/= 1,2) = rotational angular velocity of the right and
wings about their own center of gravity left variable wings about their own rotating
L unsteady aerodynamic lift, N shaft, respectively, deg/s, Fig. 1
M moment acting on an aircraft, N - m , or
flight Mach number Superscripts
2
a,d,K,u =as defined above
m mass, kg, = J^M7-
i=6 = first derivative with respect to time, d/dt
= second derivative with respect to time,
n increment of normal load factor,
dVdf 2
(~) = vector
O,X, Y,Z main body coordinates, OX is aligned to the
axis of aircraft, Figs. 1 and 2 (= ) = tensor
Oe,Xe, Ye,Ze ground coordinates, Figs. 1 and 2 Subscripts
q dynamic pressure, N/m 2
a = aerodynamic
g = center of gravity
Received July 21,1986; presented as Paper 86-2234 at the AIAA At- / = 0,1,2 = fuselage and right and left wings of variable
mospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, Williamsburg, VA, Aug. sweep angle, respectively
18-20, 1986; revision received May 4, 1987. Copyright American ib - fundamental solution for dynamic step
Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1987. All rights variation
reserved. L =lift
* Visiting Professor, Engineering Mechanics Department; Senior M = moment
Engineer, China Aerodynamics Research & Development Center. ob = fundamental solution for pure swept change
tLecturer, Engineering Mechanics Department. Member AIAA.
JAssociate Professor, Engineering Mechanics Department. ref = reference
Member AIAA. t = thrust
Associate Professor, Engineering Mechanics Department. x,y,z = components of respective variable in the
^Professor, Engineering Mechanics Department. Member AIAA. main body coordinates
** Engineer. oo = freestream
 MARCH 1988 DYNAMIC RESPONSE 217

Introduction

V ARIABLE swept wing aircrafts have attracted the atten-

tion of specialist, scholars, and engineers because they
have good aerodynamic qualities when flying at various
speeds. During flight, the aerodynamic configuration and
aerodynamic characteristic undergo great change, an impor-
tant factor in enabling the aircraft to fly unsteadily. The wing
rotation about rotating shafts can cause a shift in the mass
center of the aircraft and a variation in the moment of inertia.
The variation in the momentum and angular momentum of
the wings can also influence the motion of the aircraft.
Dzygadlo and Maruszkiewiez1'2 analyzed the peculiarities of
the longitudinal motion of an aircraft with varying sweep
backs. Bulekov and Teryev3 derived a moment equation that
takes the aircraft center of gravity as the origin in the main
body axes and made use of the transfer function to compute
aircraft response characteristics to a pulse function in the
changing geometry. These works described how to simplify
and solve the motion equations, but did not involve the
essence of the unsteady aerodynamic variations.
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Since rotation of the wings will cause a shift of the aircraft Fig. 1 Main body coordinates and ground coordinates.
center of gravity, to make the calculation easier, in this paper
a set of motion equations in the main body axes has been Ye
derived, which takes a certain point on the symmetry axis of
aircraft as the origin. In the same way, to show more exactly
the variation in the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of
the wing during varying sweep backs, the conventional com-
putation method for the quasisteady aerodynamic
characteristics of an aircraft is used and a computation
method for unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of the air-
craft during varying sweep backs is introduced. This method is
used to compute the transient unsteady response of an fng
aircraft.
The purpose of this paper is to take into account the factors
mentioned above and to give the parameters of longitudinal Xe Ot
motion, flight attitude, and trajectory of the aircraft in the Fig. 2 Angles, forces, and moments used in this paper.
course of varying sweep backs that is, the longitudinal
dynamic response of an aircraft. It is suitable to assume
various rules for varying sweep backs, thrust change, and wings are assumed to be symmetric, then Eq. (1) can be re-
elevator deflection (including open- and closed-loop controls). duced into the form of the component,
The influences of flight altitude and Mach number are also
taken into account. _ o v co~ 2*3 v co_ + o v

Equations of Motion of Aircraft

To make the computation easier, the aircraft can be treated
as a combination of a fuselage (including the tail) and right
and left wings of variable swept angles.
During flight, because of the swept angle variation of the
wings, the aircraft cannot be regarded as a rigid body its
mass center is shifting along the fuselage. In this paper, the I \Xy<*\XI\yZ<>>\y + I Iz^lz

system of main body coordinates (O,X,Y,Z), the origin of

which is located at a certain fixed point on the symmetry axis (2)
(X axis) of the aircraft, is chosen as a computing coordinate
system and the system of ground coordinates (Oe,Xe, Ye,Ze)
as an inertia reference coordinate system (see Fig. 1). If only the longitudinal motion of an aircraft is discussed,
In the main body coordinates (O,X,Y,Z), the dynamic the components of each force and moment should be (see
equation for an aircraft with variable swept wings can be ex- Fig. 2),
pressed in vector form as
Fx= -D'

Fy-D- since + L - cosa + 7*- sin</> mg cos0

V)
? (3)

To solve Eqs. (2) and (3), the following geometric and

kinematic relations must be added:
(1)
a = arctg( Vy/Vx\, 0 = 7 +a

The longitudinal dynamic response of an aircraft with ^) 1/2 , M=V/a

variable swept wings is discussed in this paper. If the sweep
change and mass distribution of the right and left variable ?=K-cos7, ./^F-shry (4)
 J. AN ET AL. J. AIRCRAFT

0.02

0.04 O.OB O.OB

Fig. 3 Fundamental solutions of wing (alone), tail (alone), and tail Fig. 4 Unsteady fundamental solution of variable-sweep wing in the
(influenced by wing wash). course of changing geometry.

If the rules for sweep angle change 0 = 0 ( t ) , elevator deflec-

tion 6 = 6(0, and engine thrust T= T(t), as well as the rules
for dependence of atmospheric density and sound speed on
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flight altitude of an aircraft p = p(H) and a = a(H) are given,

Eqs. (2-4) can be solved. During flight of varying sweepbacks,
each static moment, inertia moment, and their derivatives with
respect to time in Eqs. (2) and (3) will vary continually with the
sweep angle of the wing. The method of transferring matrix is
adopted to determine these values.
Unsteady Aerodynamic Calculation
Fig. 5 Unsteady fundamental solution of variable swep wing in the
When an aircraft is flying under the condition of varying course of pure swept change.
sweptbacks, the sweptback angle of the wings will change over
a considerable range, as will the aspect ratio and aerodynamic
configuration of the wings. Consequently, a remarkable varia-
This divides a perturbation indicated by Eq. (5) into the three
tion in the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft will
occur. The dynamic response of the aircraft caused by this perturbations indicated by Eq. (6) that are taking place
simultaneously. The first perturbation in Eq. (6) corresponds
variation changes the aerodynamic characteristics of the air-
to the wing with a sweep angle 00 whose angle of attack sud-
craft. These are two factors that can cause the unsteady mo-
denly decreases 1 deg. According to the computation method
tion of the aircraft. described in Refs. 4 and 5, the unsteady fundamental solution
According to the computation model proposed in Refs. 4
in this case can be calculated. The second perturbation carinot
and 5, the computed unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of
wing and horizontal tail are. as shown in Fig. 3, the tail being in
cause aerodynamic variation because the angle of attack is
the wake vortices shedding continually downward from the zero. The third perturbation corresponds to the wing with a
wing trailing edges. It is evident that the tail receives first an sweep angle 01 whose angle of attack increases 1 deg. In the
same way, the unsteady fundamental solution in this case can
up wash and then a downwash of the vortex wake.
The principle of the computation of unsteady aerodynamic also be calculated. After the two unsteady fundamental solu-
tion are superimposed, the unsteady fundamental solution of
characteristics of the wing described in Refs. 4 and 5 can also
be used to compute unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of the wing in the course of varying sweep backs indicated by Eq.
variable sweep wings. During varying sweep backs, the wing (5) can be obtained. The superimposed course is shown in Fig.
configuration changes continually. Therefore, the shapes of 4. If the wing continuously changes its sweep angle after time
the vortex rings on the wings and in the wake will also change step tr, a series of superimposition for the perturbation
continually. This not only causes complications in the com- transfer may be made in the same way as above at each cor-
putation, but also requires a large computer. responding time step of varying sweep backs. This is shown in
: The method of perturbation transfer is adopted to compute Fig. 5. Thus, the superimposition formula for the unsteady
the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics caused by varying
fundamental solution of the unit angle of attack in the course
sweep backs. A perturbation caused by a change in the wing of varying sweep backs can be obtained as
configuration in the course of varying sweep backs is trans-
ferred into a series of composite "dynamic" perturbations (7)
that vary continually.
This is explained by an example of the pure swept change of
the unit angle of attack. First, the continuous variation of the In the same way, the method of computing the unsteady
sweep angle is discretized into its step variation A/3K at each fundamental solution in the case where there are sweep angle
time step t K ( k = Q, 1, 2,...). Suppose the real perturbation at changes after a dynamic step variation of the aircraft can be
the time step t{ is obtained by superimposing a series of the fundamental solu-
tions mentioned above at each corresponding time step caused
(5) by the sweep change to the dynamic unsteady fundamental
solution of the initial wing configuration (see Fig. 6). There is
Transfer this perturbatrion into a similar computation formula,

0 = 00, a=l deg-0 deg C<*>=C<*-' + 1 >(ft)+ (8)

where subscript / is the index of the initial time step of the

(6) dynamic step variation of the aircraft.
 MARCH 1988 DYNAMIC RESPONSE 219

(K-t+l)

Fig. 6 Unsteady fundamental solution of variable-sweep wing in the

course of varying sweep backs after a dynamic step variation.

Suppose the flight attitude and motion parameters of an air-

craft at any time step t are
Fig. 7 Variations of increment of normal load factors, pitching
angular velocity, angle of attack, flight path elevation angle, and
flight altitude vs time.
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CO, = 15

then the unsteady aerodynamic force and moment acting on

the aircraft at the time step t are
L (K) =

/=!
do)
Fig. 8 Variations of flight path elevation angle and pitching angular
Computation Method velocity vs time at different rotational angular velocities of wings
Equations (2) are nonlinear and have variable coefficients. about their own rotating shift.
L and Mza in Eq. (3) can be obtained from Eq. (10) and de-
pend not only on the sweep angle and motion attitude at that
time step, but also on their course of historical development. tal steady flight at the initial time step /0 is computed. Its
So it is extremely difficult to get an analytical solution for the parameters such as thrust, balance angle of attack, and
set of Eqs. (2). balance angle of elevator deflection can be computed by
In this paper, the time history method is adopted to com- iteration.
pute the aerodynamic characteristics and aircraft responses. From time step tl9 the aircraft begins to change its sweep
First, divide the course of varying sweepbacks into 1000 or angle. The sweep angle varies 30-70 deg at a constant angular
thousands of time steps and then make the computations from speed a>! =8, 10, or 15 deg/s and vice versa. In all computa-
time step t0 one by one. At any time step tK9 the variations of tion examples, M=0.65 and //=6000 m are taken to be the
the sweep angle and elevator deflection angle may be intro- typical state. To make comparisons in a few cases, different
duced. Having computed the unsteady aerodynamic altitudes H and Mach numbers M are used.
characteristics, compute all the magnitudes of the aircraft A longer time interval cannot be used to compute the
response according to Eqs. (2-4) at the same time step. The unsteady dynamic response. The time interval usually used in
results computed at time step tK are used as the input not only the computations is 0.005 s. For longer periods, the Runge-
of the next time step tK+l9 but also of any following time step. Kutta method is used and the time interval is 0.05 s. Four com-
In Eqs. (2), Vx, Vy, and cbz are implicit functions; thus, it is putations examples were computed and analyzed, as described
very complicated to write their explicit functions. So, the below.
method to solve linear algebra equations is chosen to compute
VXK\ V(K), and <Jozp) at any time step. Response to Sweep Change without Control
In this way, the computation is cycled over and over. The responses to sweep change without control (that is, the
Through the cross computations in turn at each time step, the thrust and elevator deflection angle keep their initial balance
numerical solutions over the whole course of varying sweep values) are computed first. Figure 7 shows a group of response
backs can be achieved. curves to sweep change when M=0.65, //=6000 m, co 1 =8
deg/s and 0 = 30-70 deg.
Computational Examples and Response Analyses For different rotational angular speeds of wing <t)l, response
To study the influence of the varying sweep angle on air- variation is the key to determining the sweep change rate.
craft motion, a hypothetic variable sweep aircraft in horizon- Figure 8 compares curves of coz and 7 in relation to different
 J. AN ET AL. J. AIRCRAFT

-I.S
-3.0-030

Fig. 11 Variations of flight altitude, flight path elevation angle, in-

crement of normal load factor, and elevator deflection angle vs time
for steady trim rule when coj =8 deg/s.

Fig. 9 Variation of flight altitudes vs time at different rotational

angular velocity of wings about their own rotating shift.

-/5 -O.i5
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Fig. 12 Variations of flight altitude-flight path elevation angle, in-

crement of normal load factor, and elevator deflection angle vs time
for level-off trim rule when ul = 8 deg/s.

-400

-1.5 -0./5 - -0.5

Fig. 10 Variations of flight altitude and flight path elevation angle vs
time at different Mach numbers.
Fig. 13 Variations of flight altitude, flight path elevation angle, in-
values of o^. The computation results show that a faster wj crement of normal load factor, and elevator deflection angle vs time
does not degrate the response characteristics. The influence of for steady trim rule when o^ = - 8 deg/s.
different e^ on AH is shown in Fig. 9.
The influence of different Mach numbers M on AH are
shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen that the variation tendencies
are the same at the beginning of sweep change. However,
because of the difference between the variations in the 33 1.5 0.15

aerodynamic characteristics caused by different Mach 0 0 0 0

numbers M, there are large differences in the long-duration -33 -/.5 -0.15 -0.5
responses. Two points are obvious in Fig. 10: -66 -3.0 -0.30 -1.0
1) It is dangerous to make sweep changes at low altitude if
the aircraft is flying without control.
2) The response is sensitive to the rate of variation in the
aerodynamic characteristics with 0. So, to keep good response Fig. 14 Variations of flight altitude, flight path elevation angle, in-
crement of normal load factors, and elevator deflection angle vs time
characteristics in the sweep change at different Mach numbers for level-off trim rule when w x = - 8 deg/s.
and altitudes, an autopilot is required.

Response to Sweep Change with an Autopilot Figures 13 and 14 show the response curves of the steady,
The above computational examples denote the inherent and level-off trim controls of an autopilot when 0 = 70 to 30
characteristics of response to sweep change without control of deg.
the heaving motion. Two types of the control are usually used For steady trim, the balance angle of attack decreases when
in autopilots; the automatic trimming for steady and level-off /3 = 7030 deg and the trim of pitch angle 6 leads to the
states are analyzed numerically in this section. positive flight path elevation angle 7. The trim effect is getting
Figure 11 shows the steady trim response to sweep change worse. Thus, level-off trim control is more suitable for im-
when ]8 = 30^70 deg. It can be seen that both 7 and AH re- proving the response quality of varying sweep backs.
ceived some restraint. However, since the balance angles of at- These computation results should be considered when
tack of the whole aircraft will vary with the sweep angles, the choosing an autopilot control method.
trim of the pitching angle introduces an error in flight path
elevation angle 7. The trim effect is far from ideal. Influence of Gravity Center Shift and Inertia Moment Variation
Figure 12 shows the level-off trim response to sweep change Figure 15 shows the influence of backward shift in the
when /3 = 3070 deg. Because the signal KH>AH+KffH is center of gravity when J3 increases from 30 to 70 deg during
connected when -3<0<10 deg, the altitude is stabilized which Axg is the total shift magnitude (ra). The curves in-
automatically. Therefore, the effect is better. dicate that the proper backward shift in the e.g. improves the
 MARCH 1988 DYNAMIC RESPONSE 221

Table 1 Influence of unsteady aerodynamic characteristics on response

AH

8 Quasisteady -0.9307 -2.6845 -0.8332 -1.4699 -0.4452 -60.7751

Unsteady -0.8587 -2.4457 -0.8261 -1.3774 -0.4452 -60.3454
p.d. % 8.4 9.3 0.8 6.7 0.0 0.7
10 Quasisteady -1.2095 -3.6705 -0.8490 -1.8611 -0.4534 -29.7935
Unsteady -1.1098 -3.3389 -0.8314 -1.7280 -0.4527 -29.5033
p.d. % 9.0 9.9 2.1 7.7 0.15 1.0
15 Quasisteady -1.5619 -5.0807 -0.9547 -2.3384 -0.4556 -13.9910
Unsteady -1.4311 -4.6660 -0.9118 -2.1587 -0.4547 -13.8034
p.d. % 9.0 8.9 4.7 8.3 0.2 1.4
20 Quasisteady -1.8128 -6.3159 -1.0073 -2.6742 -0.5014 -8.3004
Unsteady -1.6578 -5.7219 -0.9494 -2.4587 -0.4858 -8.1694
p.d. 7o 9.3 10.4 6.1 8.8 3.2 1.6
Note: The maximum is in the negative direction. Affe is the altitude loss at the time step when the variation in the sweep angle is complete.

Influence of Unsteady Aerodynamic Characteristics on the Response

to Varying Sweepbacks
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In the above examples, two computation methods for quasi-

steady and unsteady characteristics are used. The results are
rather similar (see Table 1).
Figure 16 shows response curves for cjz and AH obtained by
the two methods described above. There exist some phase
shifts in the curves for uz and the amplitudes are different.
The unsteady response tends to outstrip the other; but, for the
response curves of AH, they are nearly coincident.

Conclusion
This paper has described the equations of motion of an air-
-520 craft with variable swept wings during changes of the sweep
angle and presented a computational method of solving these
Fig. 15 Varations of flight altitude vs time under the conditions of
equations. Through computation and analysis, the following
backward shift in the center of gravity. preliminary conclusions can be made:
1) The dynamic response to varying sweep backs depends
primarily on variations in the aerodynamic characteristics.
The computational results indicate that it is dangerous to
make sweep change at low altitudes without an autopilot and
that the response is very sensitive to the aerodynamic varia-
tions. So, it is necessary to have an autopilot.
2) A great speed of sweep change does not seriously
deteriorate the response quality in a practical speed range. It is
thus acceptable to raise the speed of sweep change.
3) The computational examples show that, in the practical
speed range, the unsteady effect influences the short-period
parameters more obviously than the long-period ones, such as
the loss of altitude A//, the flight path elevation angle 7, and
speed variation AV.
4) By means of the method and computational program in
this paper, the influence of each design parameter on the
response to sweep change can be quantitatively checked and
the influence of autopilot parameters can also quantitatively
given. In this way, it will be helpful in aerodynamic design
and in the choice of parameters of an autopilot of a variable
sweep aircraft.
Fig. 16 Variations of flight altitude and pitching angular accelera-
tion vs time obtained by steady or unsteady aerodynamic method. References
^zygadlo, Z. and Marusckiewicz, J., "Dynamics of the
Longitudinal Motion of an Aircraft with a Variable Geometry Wing,"
aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft with varying sweep Journal of Technical Physics, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1978.
backs. This is because the backward shift in the e.g. can par- 2
Dzygadlo, Z. and Maruszkiewicz, J., "Dynamics of Control
tially cancel the influence of the backward shift in the pressure Longitudinal Motion of an Airplane with Variable Geometry Wing,"
center on the aerodynamic moment and decrease the initial Journal of Technical Physics, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1978.
3
nose-downward moment, as well as decrease the nose- Bulekov, V.P. and Teryev, E.D., "Dynamics of Variable Sweep
downward angular velocity of rotation, flight path elevation Wing Aircraft in the Course of Changing Geometry," Proceedings of
angle 7, and loss of altitude AH. the 5th IFAC World Congress, 5, 1972.
4
The inertia moment of variable wings is about 10% relative An, J., Yan, Z., Quie, C., and Zhou, W., "The Numerical Com-
putational of Airplane Response to Abitrary Vertical Gust Distribu-
to that of the whole aircraft and its variation has little in- tions," Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 22, Nov. 1985, pp. 988-992.
fluence on 7 and AH. 5
Chen, K. and Zhou, W., "Calculation of Aircraft Characteristics
In the same way, the influence of the variations of 7 and AH for Subsonic Non-coplanar Wings in Unsteady Flow," Journal of
with the static moment can also be neglected. Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, Vol. 20, No. 5, 1986.