Ride Quality in Transonic High-Aspect-Ratio-Wing Aircraft

Evaluating human comfort during flight through a ride quality metric is critical to meeting aircraft operational requirements. This paper investigates the ride quality of a transonic high-aspect-ratio-wing aircraft, representative of a potential future commercial transport configuration, compared with a standard-aspect-ratio-wing aircraft of the same class. The investigation explores the impact of wing aspect ratio and airframe flexibility on ride quality during longitudinal gust encounters. The computational study uses a nonlinear aeroelastic–flight dynamics modeling, analysis, and simulation framework, which is enhanced to evaluate an acceleration-based ride quality metric. For a rigid airframe, the high-aspect-ratio-wing aircraft shows higher ride quality than the standard-aspect-ratio-wing aircraft due to the longitudinal redistribution of pitch-induced vertical accelerations. Wing flexibility enhances ride quality by absorbing the gust through out-of-plane bending deflections, with greater benefits for a higher aspect ratio. Fuselage flexibility degrades ride quality due to added out-of-plane bending accelerations, particularly at the most forward and aft fuselage locations. This study advances the understanding of ride quality in commercial transport aircraft by highlighting the physical mechanisms that impact fuselage accelerations during longitudinal gust encounters.