Passive Gust Loads Alleviation in a Truss-Braced Wing Using an Inerter-Based Device

This paper presents a novel method for gust loads alleviation in a truss-braced wing in which an inerter-based device located in the truss-structure is used to reduce peak-loads during a discrete “1-cosine” gust. Three candidate layouts are considered, and the device parameters are optimized to target the response of the first three structural modes. It is demonstrated that either a single damper or a combination of inerter-based devices can be used to achieve a reduction of approximately 4% for spanwise locations inboard of the strut attachment point and that this reduction is consistent across the full range of gust gradients. Furthermore, it is noted that the inerter-based device has a significantly smaller damping coefficient than the case where just a damper is used and that the device parameter values are viable within the scope of an aerospace application.