Rapid Prediction of Worst-Case Gust Loads Following Structural Modification.

An approach to reduce the computational effort required to determine the worst-case gust loads for aircraft is described, specifically when structural modifications are included as part of the design process. The Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula is employed to determine the gust response of the modified structure using a reanalysis approach and to undertake an efficient modal reanalysis. The approach is demonstrated successfully using a simple wing and full-scale aircraft finite-element models to determine the worst-case "1-cosine" gust following structural modification. Savings of about 56% were achieved for gust-response computations and 50% for the modal reanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]