This dissertation describes the aeroelastic analysis of a typical section, as well as the more complex aeroelastic and aerothermoelastic analysis of a low aspect ratio wing, in hypersonic flow.; Due to the inability to test aeroelastically and aerothermoelastically scaled wind tunnel models in hypersonic flow, computational aeroelasticity and aerothermoelasticity is essential to the development of hypersonic vehicles. Therefore, in order to advance this area in the hypersonic flow regime, several fundamental issues are addressed; including: the effectiveness of several approximate unsteady aerodynamic theories, the role of viscosity, the reduction of computational cost by using efficient time domain damping and frequency identification, the construction of appropriate and efficient grids, the sensitivity of the aeroelastic behavior generated using Euler and Navier-Stokes aerodynamics to computational parameters governing temporal accuracy, and the effect of aerodynamic heating on aeroelastic stability.; First, the aeroelastic behavior of a simple double wedge typical section is studied using several approximate aerodynamic theories, with and without an effective shape correction, and compared to that predicted using CFD solutions to the unsteady Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Next, the flutter boundary of a low aspect ratio wing is computed over a wide range of altitudes and Mach numbers using piston theory, Euler and Navier-Stokes aerodynamics. In general, the agreement is good, at moderate to high altitudes, for the three aerodynamic methods. However, the wing flutters at high Mach numbers in the absence of aerodynamic heating. Therefore, since aerodynamic heating is an inherent feature of hypersonic flight, and since the aeroelastic behavior of a vehicle is dependent on structural variations, an aerothermoelastic methodology is developed that incorporates heat transfer between the fluid and the structure using CFD based aerodynamic heating computations. The aerothermoelastic solution procedure is then applied to the low aspect ratio wing, operating on a representative hypersonic trajectory, for varying angle of attack and Mach number. It is observed that the aerothermoelastic behavior of the wing is sensitive to these two parameters. Furthermore, the wing is also found to be susceptible to thermal buckling due to the intense aerodynamic heating present along the representative trajectory.
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