Approach to establishing the effect of aeroelasticity on aerodynamic characteristics of the space shuttle orbiter

The static aeroelastic effects on the longitudinal stability and elevon/aileron effectiveness of the space transportation system (STS) Space Shuttle orbiter were estimated by a simplified approach called the elevon torsional stiffness (ETS) method. This method employs rigid model wind tunnel test results to predict aeroelastic effects. Lateral/directional stability and rudder effectiveness were based on results of a wind tunnel test in which a flexible tail model was used. Comparisons with selective flight data are made in this paper. Results of correlations with flight data (although limited at the present time) verify the predicted aeroelastic effects for the orbiter. The orbiter's structural characteristics are such that the effects of aeroelasticity, whether estimated using analytical techniques or simplified methods, do not appear to affect the vehicle performance to any great extent. The large amount of scatter in the flight-extracted data made verification of the aeroelastic corrections very difficult. Generally, the simplified elevon torsional stiffness method provided better correlation with flight test results than he analytical method and reduced the verification effort and cost.