Aircraft wings are a compromise that allows the aircraft to fly at a range of flight conditions, but the performance at each condition is sub-optimal. The ability of a wing surface to change its geometry during flight has interested researchers and designers over the years as this reduces the design compromises required. Morphing is the short form for metamorphose; however, there is neither an exact definition nor an agreement between the researchers about the type or the extent of the geometrical changes necessary to qualify an aircraft for the title ‘shape morphing.’ Geometrical parameters that can be affected by morphing solutions can be categorized into: planform alteration (span, sweep, and chord), out-of-plane transformation (twist, dihedral/gull, and span-wise bending), and airfoil adjustment (camber and thickness). Changing the wing shape or geometry is not new. Historically, morphing solutions always led to penalties in terms of cost, complexity, or weight, although in certain circumstances, thes...

A Review of Morphing Aircraft

Shape morphing of aircraft wing: Status and challenges

The recently completed DARPA/AFRL/NASA Smart Wing program, performed by a team led by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), addressed the development and demonstration of smart materials based concep...

Overview of the DARPA Smart Wing Project

Morphing-wing research is growing in significance, as it is driven by the need to improve aircraft performance. There are many aspects to consider when designing a morphing wing, making the task a multidisciplinary challenge. This has led to a multitude of approaches to morphing-wing research. This paper provides an overview of the field, drawing together these different approaches. Morphing wings can be classified in terms of shape parameters (what to morph), performance benefits (why morph), and enabling technologies (how to morph). Regarding the structural system, the majority of morphing-wing concepts have consisted of distinguishable substructure, skin, and actuator components. However, these components need to be integrated to such a level that all share the functions of carrying loads and changing shape, thus blurring the distinction between these components. The trends include shifts from using conventional mechanisms and actuators to smart-material-based systems to topology-optimized compliant-mechanism designs. Furthermore, concepts found in nature may offer potential morphing solutions, and the working principles of muscles and plants may be emulated in a morphing wing. The focus of this paper is on morphing for traditionally fixed-wing aircraft and on the structural system in particular.

Realization of Morphing Wings: A Multidisciplinary Challenge

Aircraft morphing is referred to as the ability for an aircraft to change its geometry in flight. Formally, flaps, spoilers, and control devices are considered morphing, but in general, morphing in aerospace is associated with geometrical changes using smart materials such as shape memory alloys. Shape memory alloy is a material that changes shape under heating and produces force and deflections, which make it potential actuator for a wing morphing system. The motivation behind this study is the application to small-sized and medium-sized unmanned air vehicles and the potential to increase range or endurance for a given fuel load through improved lift-to-drag ratio. The camber line of an airfoil section, the predominant parameter affecting lift and drag, is changed by resistive heating of a shape memory alloy actuator and cooling in the surrounding air. Experiments were conducted under wind tunnel conditions to verify analysis and to investigate the effects of its application on the aerodynamic behavior o...

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Wing morphing control with shape memory alloy actuators

A key objective of the Smart Wing Phase 2, Test 2 is to demonstrate high-rate actuation of hingeless control surfaces using smart material-based actuators. Actuation rates resulting in a minimum of 20 degree(s) flap deflection in 0.33 sec, producing a sweep rate of at least 60 degree(s)/sec, are desired. This sweep rate is similar to those specified for many of the existing military platforms with hinged control surfaces. The ability to deploy control surfaces without discrete hingeline would, however, enhance platform mission by reducing radar cross section and improving aerodynamic performance. Studies on numerous actuation concepts and flexible structures were executed during the early and mid phase of the program in an effort to satisfy these goals. In the first study, several actuation concepts with different transducers were modeled and analyzed. These concepts included distributed piezoelectric stack actuators with and without hydraulic amplifiers and pumps, antagonistic tendon actuation, and eccentuation. The transducers selected for the trade studies included piezoelectric ultrasonic motors, actively cooled SMA, ferromagnetic SMA, and stacks made from piezoelectric ceramic wafer, piezoelectric single crystal wafer, irradiated PVDF-TrFE film, and dielectric elastomer film. Although many of the technologies are not fully mature, they provide a glimpse of what improvements could be possible with their successful development. The studies showed that distributed polymer stacks provided the most elegant solution, but eccentuation was deemed the most realistic and lowest risk approach to attaining the program goals. A common issue to all the concepts was the structural stiffness that the actuators worked against. This was resolved in the second study by developing a flexcore- elastomeric skin trailing edge structure with eccentuation using high power ultrasonic motors. This paper describes the two studies and the final concept in detail.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Development of high-rate large-deflection hingeless trailing-edge control surface for the Smart Wing wind tunnel model

Building on the research performed during the DARPA/AFRL/NASA Smart Wing Phase 1 program (Kudva, J.N. et al. (July 1999). Overview of the DARPA/AFRL/NASA Smart Wing Program, SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials, Newport Beach, CA, Vol. 3674, pp. 230 6; Martin, C.A. et al. (1999). Smart Materials and Structures Smart Wing Phase 1 Final Report, AFRL-ML-WP-TR-1999-4162, Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.) sought to improve vehicle aerodynamic efficiency using control surfaces actuated by smart materials, the goal of the Phase 2 effort was to develop larger scale, smart hingeless control surfaces capable of high-rate actuation and quantify their performance benefits at test conditions representative of operational flight environments. To achieve this goal, a 30-percent geometric scale, full-span wind tunnel model of a proposed Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) was designed and tested. The model incorp...

Brian J. Hallam

Papers

Development of high-rate large-deflection hingeless trailing-edge control surface for the Smart Wing wind tunnel model

Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Scaled Wind Tunnel Model for the Smart Wing Project: