# Engineering Mechanics

Proceedings Vol. 32 (2026)

ENGINEERING MECHANICS 2026

Copyright © 2026 Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

 

Kukla O.
pages 69 - 72, full text

Tilt-wing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft exhibit strongly nonlinear and configuration-dependent dynamics, with the transition between hover and forward flight representing the most challenging regime to model. While rigid-body dynamics follow conventional aircraft formulations, continu- ously varying aerodynamic and propulsive characteristics associated with wing tilt significantly increase mod- eling complexity. This paper discusses software-based simulation approaches for tilt-wing eVTOL aircraft with a focus on contin- uous transition modeling. The wing tilt angle is treated as a continuous state, and aerodynamic and propulsive forces are parameterized as functions of airspeed, angle of attack, and wing tilt. Special attention is given to propulsion–airframe interaction effects and to the representation of path-dependent (hysteresis) behavior through propulsion-dependent aerodynamic parameterization. The proposed approach enables continuous simulation of transition dynamics without introducing discrete mode switching.

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