Transonic Aeroelastic Analysis of the X-59 Aircraft Using FUN3D

The Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD), or X-59 aircraft, was designed and fabricated by the Lockheed-Martin (LM) Corporation under a contract from NASA as part of the QueSST Mission. One of the primary goals is to demonstrate that a low sonic boom is achievable via aerodynamic shaping. The aircraft is being prepared for its first flight in the very near term that will mark the beginning of an extensive envelope expansion campaign. In continued preparation for first flight, the combined NASA/LM X-59 team is preparing documents towards Airworthiness Certification including various tests and analyses. Given that the aircraft will reach a maximum Mach number of 1.4, a transonic aeroelastic analysis has been generated to address any potential concerns at transonic conditions. Three different methods, all based on the FUN3D code, were used to generate these solutions: FUN3D, FUN3D/AEROM, FUN3D/Linearized Frequency Domain (LFD). Results are presented for four Mach numbers: M=0.95, 0.97, 0,99, and 1.05.