The Junior Research Group on "Flow Physics of Load Reduction" (JRG-B2) investigates and develops active load control techniques to alleviate dynamic loads on transport aircraft wings caused by gusts and unsteady flight maneuvers. The research involves numerical studies based on (U)RANS simulations, wind tunnel experiments, as well as reduced order modelling. The group was established in 2019 and currently consists of three researchers.
Aircraft wings are subject to dynamic loads caused by unsteady gusts and flight maneuvers, which reduce passenger comfort and induce structural wing deformations that are typically countered by sturdier and, consequently, heavier wing designs. To reduce the wing weight, gust and maneuver load alleviation systems are already in use in today's aircraft, where they dynamically actuate existing control surfaces like ailerons or elevators to alter the wing lift distribution during an unsteady load encounter. These systems, however, suffer from the relatively slow response of conventional control surfaces and therefore cannot exploit the full potential of gust and maneuver load alleviation.