Energy-based aeroelastic analysis of a morphing wing

Roeland De Breuker; Mostafa Abdalla; Zafer Gürdal; Douglas Lindner

doi:10.1117/12.716731

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18 April 2007 Energy-based aeroelastic analysis of a morphing wing

Roeland De Breuker, Mostafa Abdalla, Zafer Gürdal, Douglas Lindner

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Proceedings Volume 6523, Modeling, Signal Processing, and Control for Smart Structures 2007; 652308 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.716731
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Aircraft are often confronted with distinct circumstances during different parts of their mission. Ideally the aircraft should fly optimally in terms of aerodynamic performance and other criteria in each one of these mission requirements. This requires in principle as many different aircraft configurations as there are flight conditions, so therefore a morphing aircraft would be the ideal solution. A morphing aircraft is a flying vehicle that i) changes its state substantially, ii) provides superior system capability and iii) uses a design that integrates innovative technologies. It is important for such aircraft that the gains due to the adaptability to the flight condition are not nullified by the energy consumption to carry out the morphing manoeuvre. Therefore an aeroelastic numerical tool that takes into account the morphing energy is needed to analyse the net gain of the morphing. The code couples three-dimensional beam finite elements model in a co-rotational framework to a lifting-line aerodynamic code. The morphing energy is calculated by summing actuation moments, applied at the beam nodes, multiplied by the required angular rotations of the beam elements. The code is validated with NASTRAN Aeroelasticity Module and found to be in agreement. Finally the applicability of the code is tested for a sweep morphing manoeuvre and it has been demonstrated that sweep morphing can improve the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft and that the inclusion of aeroelastic effects is important.

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Roeland De Breuker, Mostafa Abdalla, Zafer Gürdal, and Douglas Lindner "Energy-based aeroelastic analysis of a morphing wing", Proc. SPIE 6523, Modeling, Signal Processing, and Control for Smart Structures 2007, 652308 (18 April 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.716731

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