Gust response analysis of supersonic aircraft based on three-dimensional piston theory

The piston theory is a highly efficient method used for supersonic aerodynamic calculations at Ma>2.5. This study applies first-order piston theory to a three-dimensional surface mesh to derive the generalized aerodynamic influence coefficient (AIC) matrix, which can be separated into aerodynamic stiffness and damping. By employing a tightly coupled aeroelastic model, the modal response of the structure to gusts can be analytically solved in the frequency domain or semi-analytically in the time domain while the current solution relies on rational function approximation and ODE solvers.