Abstract:  To prevent the influence of flight safety caused by damage of key components of hypersonic aircraft wing
effectively, the damage evolution of key components of hypersonic aircraft wing and the effects of the flight
dynamics to the damage are studied. By establishing the damage model of the aircraft wing based on the material
parameters and computing the loading stress of the wing’s root, the effects of flight height, velocity, angle of attack
and aileron deflection angle to the damage characteristic are analyzed to determine the crucial variable which affects
the damage. Simulation results show that the angle of attack plays a major role in the damage evolution compared
with other variables. Therefore, in hypersonic flight, the angle of attack should be limited as far as possible to
guarantee the safety of the vehicle and extend its life span. The achieved results lays a solid foundation for the
damage-mitigating controller design, which also provides an important reference to enhance the structural reliability
and extend the life span for hypersonic aircraft.

Key words: hypersonic aircraft, aircraft wing, damage characteristics, crucial variable