A recent consideration in aircraft design is the use of folding wingtips, with the aim of enabling higher-aspect-ratio wings with less induced drag but also meeting airport gate limitations. A formulation is introduced to account for finite rotations of rigid folding wingtips attached through hinges on a flexible airframe structure including also aerodynamic follower forces for the folding wingtip components. This study investigates the effects of geometric nonlinearities on the quasi-steady aeroelastic response of floating wingtips. It is found that the wingtip response can vary significantly when geometric nonlinearities are accounted for; however, a small impact was observed on the main airframe structure.

飞机设计中最近的一项考虑是使用折叠式翼尖，目的是使高纵横比的机翼具有较小的诱导阻力，但也能满足机场登机口的限制。引入了一种解决方案，以解决通过柔性机体结构上的铰链连接的刚性折叠翼尖的有限旋转，其中还包括折叠翼尖组件的气动从动力。这项研究调查了几何非线性对浮动翼尖准稳态气动弹性响应的影响。发现当考虑几何非线性时，翼尖响应会发生显着变化。但是，对机身主体结构的影响很小。