• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.34-42
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• 2024

This study developed a morphing technology applicable to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with diverse flight characteristics. Existing morphing technologies require additional mechanisms and driving devices, posing challenges in constructing features such as ribs and spars within the wing structure, leading to structural instability. To address this, we developed a Variable-Camber and Variable-Chord (VCC) morphing flap that could maintains a continuously transforming surface during deformation, altering both camber shape and chord length simultaneously. Furthermore, we conducted design and fabrication of UAV wings incorporating these morphing flaps, ensuring structural stability by developing specialized shapes. Furthermore, structural experiments were conducted to simulate flight loads, followed by actual flight tests to validate performances of both morphing mechanism and wings. Finally, wind tunnel tests were conducted to compare results with aerodynamic analysis, confirming the effective applicability of this morphing technology.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.419-437
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• 2023

This paper presents the study of the effects of rigid-body motion simultaneously with the presence of the effects of temporal variation due to the existence of morphing speed on the aeroelastic stability of the two-stage telescopic wings, and hence this is the main novelty of this study. To this aim, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is used to model the bending-torsional dynamics of the wing. The aerodynamic loads on the wing in an incompressible flow regime are determined by using Peters' unsteady aerodynamic model. The governing aeroelastic equations are discretized employing a finite element method based on the beam-rod model. The effects of rigid-body motion on the length-based stability of the wing are determined by checking the eigenvalues of system. The obtained results are compared with those available in the literature, and a good agreement is observed. Furthermore, the effects of different parameters of rigid-body such as the mass, radius of gyration, fuselage center of gravity distance from wing elastic axis on the aeroelastic stability are discussed. It is found that some parameters can cause unpredictable changes in the critical length and frequency. Also, paying attention to the fuselage parameters and how they affect stability is very important and will play a significant role in the design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.846-852
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• 2012

The present paper is the preliminary study of the development of a morphing aircraft wing and investigates experimently the aerodynamic characteristics of a base airfoil and a morphing airfoil. The wind tunnel tests are conducted for a base Clark-Y airfoil, an airfoil with a mechanical flap, and a morphing airfoil. Lifts, drags, and pitching moments are measured by using a three-axis load cell and they are calibrated by considering solid blockage and wake blockage. The wind tunnel tests are conducted for various air speeds, Reynolds' numbers, and angles of attack. The experimental results show that the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing airfoil in lift-drag and lift-pitching moment are better than those of the airfoil with a mechanical flap.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2017

The performances of lifting surfaces are particularly critical in specific flight conditions like takeoff and landing. Different systems can be used to increase the lift and drag coefficients in such conditions like slat, flap or ailerons. Nevertheless they increase the losses and make difficult the mechanical design of wing structures. Morphing surfaces are a compromise between a right increase in lift and a reduction of parts movements involved in the actuation. Furthermore these systems are suitable for more than one flight condition with low inertia problems. So, flap and slats can be easily substituted by the corresponding morphing shapes. This paper deals with a genetic optimization of an airfoil with morphing flap with an already optimized nose. Indeed, two different codes are used to solve the equations, a finite volume code suitable for structured grids named ZEN and the EulerBoundary Layer Drela's code MSES. First a number of different preliminary design tests were done considering a specific set of design variables in order to restrict the design region. Then a RANS optimization with a single design point related to the take-off flight condition has been carried out in order to refine the previous design. Results are shown using the characteristic curves of the best and of the baseline reported to outline the computed performances enhancements. They reveal how the contemporary use of a morphing acting on the nose of the main component and the trailing edge of the flap drive towards a total not negligible increment in lift.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.441-450
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• 2017

The objective of this work is to present a conceptual design and the modelling of a distributed sensor system based on fiber optic devices (Fiber Bragg Grating, FBG), aimed at measuring span-wise and chord-wise variations of an adaptive (morphing) trailing edge. The network is made of two different integrated solutions for revealing deformations of the reference morphing structure. Strains are confined to typical values along the span (length) but they are expected to overcome standard ranges along the chord (width), up to almost 10%. In this case, suitable architectures may introduce proper modulations to keep the measured deformation low while preserving the information content. In the current paper, the designed monitoring system combines the use of a span-wise fiber reinforced patch with a chord-wise sliding beam. The two elements make up a closed grid, allowing the reconstruction of the complete deformed shape under the acceptable assumption that the transformation refers to regular geometry variations. Herein, the design logic and some integration issues are reported. Preliminary experimental test results are finally presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-5
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• 2006

Birds and insect in nature morph their mean camberline shapes to obtain both lift and thrust simultaneously. Previous unsteady thin airfoil theories were derived mainly for a rigid flapping airfoil. An extended unsteady thin airfoil theory for a deformable airfoil is required to analyze the unsteady two-dimensional aerodynamic characteristics of a biomorphing wing. Theodorsen's approach is extended to calculate the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a biomorphing airfoil. The mean camberline of the airfoil is represented as a polynomial. The unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing airfoil are represented as noncirculatory and circulatory terms. Present theory can be applied to the unsteady aerodynamic analysis of a flapping biomorphing airfoil and the aeroelastic analysis of a morphing wing.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.305-317
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• 2011

This paper presents an overview on flutter boundary prediction in tests which is principally based on a system stability measure, named Jury's stability criterion, defined in the discrete-time domain, accompanied with the use of autoregressive moving-average (AR-MA) representation of a sampled sequence of wing responses excited by continuous air turbulences. Stability parameters applicable to two-, three- and multi-mode systems, that is, the flutter margin for discrete-time systems derived from Jury's criterion are also described. Actual applications of these measures to flutter tests performed in subsonic, transonic and supersonic wind tunnels, not only stationary flutter tests but also a nonstationary one in which the dynamic pressure increased in a fixed rate, are presented. An extension of the concept of nonstationary process approach to an analysis of flutter prediction of a morphing wing for which the instability takes place during the process of structural morphing will also be mentioned. Another extension of analytical approach to a multi-mode aeroelastic system is presented, too. Comparisons between the prediction based on the digital techniques mentioned above and the traditional damping method are given. A future possible application of the system stability approach to flight test will be finally discussed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1393-1410
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• 2015

An original sensor system based on Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) for the strain monitoring of an adaptive wing element is presented in this paper. One of the main aims of the SARISTU project is in fact to measure the shape of a deformable wing for performance optimization. In detail, an Adaptive Trailing Edge (ATE) is monitored chord- and span-wise in order to estimate the deviation between the actual and the desired shape and, then, to allow attaining a prediction of the real aerodynamic behavior with respect to the expected one. The integration of a sensor system is not trivial: it has to fit inside the available room and to comply with the primary issue of the FBG protection. Moreover, dealing with morphing structures, large deformations are expected and a certain modulation is necessary to keep the measured strain inside the permissible measure range. In what follows, the mathematical model of an original FBG-based structural sensor system is presented, designed to evaluate the chord-wise strain of an Adaptive Trailing Edge device. Numerical and experimental results are compared, using a proof-of-concept setup. Further investigations aimed at improving the sensor capabilities, were finally addressed. The elasticity of the sensor structure was exploited to enlarge both the measurement and the linearity range. An optimisation process was then implemented to find out an optimal thickness distribution of the sensor system in order to alleviate the strain level within the referred component.