Static aeroelasticity and the flying wing, revisited

The roll dynamic behavior of some wing configurations is examined. Analysis shows that the static divergence instability which occurs for symmetrical or clamped sweptforward wings is modified by roll freedom. The instability found in the present highly idealized analysis is still of an aperiodic nature, but at a speed above the conventional divergence speed. The magnitude of this difference is seen to be a function of the ratio of the wing roll mass moment of inertia to the mass moment of inertia of the wing about the roll axis, and this difference may be quite significant.