In this paper, we present an aero‐structural model of a tethered swept wing for airborne wind energy generation. The carbon composite wing has neither fuselage nor actuated aerodynamic control surfaces and is controlled entirely from the ground using three separate tethers. The computational model is efficient enough to be used for weight optimisation at the initial design stage. The main load‐bearing wing component is a nontypical “D”‐shaped wing‐box, which is represented as a slender carbon composite shell and further idealised as a stack of two‐dimensional cross section models arranged along an anisotropic one‐dimensional beam model. This reduced 2+1D finite element model is then combined with a nonlinear vortex step method that determines the aerodynamic load. A bridle model is utilised to calculate the individual forces as a function of the aerodynamic load in the bridle lines that connect the main tether to the wing. The entire computational model is used to explore the influence of the bride on the D‐box structure. Considering a reference D‐box design along with a reference aerodynamic load case, the structural response is analysed for typical bridle configurations. Subsequently, an optimisation of the internal geometry and laminate fibre orientations is carried out using the structural computation models, for a fixed aerodynamic and bridle configuration. Aiming at a minimal weight of the wing structure, we find that for the typical load case of the system, an overall weight savings of approximately 20% can be achieved compared with the initial reference design.

中文翻译：

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用于机载风能发电的束缚后掠翼的结构分析和优化

在本文中，我们提出了用于机载风能发电的束缚后掠机翼的航空结构模型。碳纤维复合材料机翼既没有机身也没有气动控制面，并且使用三个独立的系绳完全从地面进行控制。该计算模型足够有效，可以在初始设计阶段用于权重优化。承重机翼的主要部件是非典型的“ D”形机翼盒，它表示为细长的碳复合材料壳，并且进一步理想化为沿各向异性一维梁模型布置的二维截面模型的堆栈。然后，将此简化的2 + 1D有限元模型与确定空气动力负荷的非线性涡旋步进方法组合。利用bri绳模型来计算将主系绳连接到机翼的bri绳中的气动力的函数，以作为各个力的函数。整个计算模型用于探究新娘对D-box结构的影响。考虑参考D-box设计以及参考空气动力学载荷工况，分析了典型马笼头配置的结构响应。随后，使用结构计算模型对内部几何形状和层压纤维的方向进行了优化，以实现固定的空气动力学和bri形结构。针对机翼结构的最小重量，我们发现对于系统的典型负载情况，与初始参考设计相比，可以实现大约20％的总体重量节省。