The drive for aircraft efficiency and minimum environmental impact is requiring the aerospace industry to generate technologically innovative and highly integrated aircraft concepts. This has changed the approach towards conceptual design and highlighted the need for modular low fidelity aircraft simulation models that not only capture conventional flight dynamics but also provide insight into aeroservoelasticity and flight loads. The key aspects that drive the need for modularity are discussed alongside integration aspects related to coupling aerodynamic models, flight dynamic equations of motion and structural dynamic models. The details of developing such a simulation framework are presented and the utility of such a tool is illustrated through two test cases. The first case focuses on aircraft response to a gust that has a spanwise varying profile. The second investigates aircraft dynamics during control surface failure scenarios. The Cranfield Accelerated Aeroplane Loads Model (CA2LM) forms the basis of the presented discussion.

The flight dynamics and handling qualities of any flexible aircraft can be analysed within the Cranfield Aircraft Accelerated Loads Model (CA2LM) framework. The modelling techniques and methods used to develop the framework are presented. The aerodynamic surfaces were modelled using the Modified Strip Theory (MST) and a state-space representation to model unsteady aerodynamics. With a modal approach, the structural flexibility and each mode’s influence on the structure deflections are analysed. To supplement the general overview of the framework equations of motion, models of atmosphere, gravity, fuselage and engines are introduced. The AX-1 general transport aircraft model is analysed as an example of the CA2LM framework capabilities. The results showed that, according to the Gibson Dropback criterion, the aircraft with no control system lacks the stability and its longitudinal handling qualities are unsatisfactory. Finally, the steps for future developments of the CA2LM framework are listed within conclusions.

Verification and validation of simulation models are critical steps in engineering. This paper aims at verifying the suitability of reduced order aerodynamic models used in an aeroservoelastic framework designed to analyze the flight dynamics of flexible aircraft, known as the Cranfield Accelerated Aircraft Loads Model. This framework is designed for rapid assessment of aircraft configurations at the conceptual design stage. Therefore, it utilizes or relies on methods that are of relatively low fidelity for high computational speeds, such as modified strip theory coupled with Leishmann–Beddoes unsteady aerodynamic model. Hence, verification against higher order methods is required. Although low fidelity models are widely used for conceptual design and loads assessments, the open literature still lacks a comparison against higher fidelity models. This work focuses on steady-trimmed flight conditions and investigates the effect of aerodynamic wing deformation under such loads on aerodynamic performance. Key limitations of the reduced order models used, namely fuselage and interference effects, are discussed. The reasons for the overall agreement between the two approaches are also outlined.