Aerodynamic characteristics of morphing wing with flexible leading-edge

The morphing wing can improve the flight performance during different phases. However, research has been subject to limitations in aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing with a flexible leading-edge. The computational fluid dynamic method and dynamic mesh were used to simulate the continuous morphing of the flexible leading-edge. After comparing the steady aerodynamic characteristics of morphing and conventional wings, this study examined the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of morphing wings with upward and downward deflections of the leading-edge at different frequencies. The numerical results show that for the steady aerodynamic, the leading-edge deflection mainly affects the stall characteristic. The downward deflection of the leading-edge increases the stall angle of attack and nose-down pitching moment. The results are opposite for the upward deflection. For the unsteady aerodynamic, at a small angle of attack, the transient lift coefficient of the upward deflection, growing with the increase of deflection frequency, is larger than that of the static case. The transient lift coefficient of the downward deflection, decreasing with the increase of deflection frequency, is smaller than that of the static case. However, at a large angle of attack, an opposite effect of deflection frequency on the transient lift coefficient was demonstrated. The transient lift coefficient is larger than that of the static case when the leading edge is in the nose-up stage, and lower than that of the static one in the nose-down stage.     

折叠翼变体飞行器非定常气动特性实验研究

折叠翼变体飞行器是一种可以在飞行中改变自身气动外形的新型飞行器。研制出了一种折叠翼变体飞行器的风洞实验模型,在风洞实验中测得了模型不同变体位置下的气动力以及进行变体运动时气动力的动态变化过程,并通过PIV实验手段获得模型周围的流场在变体运动过程中的变化情况。结果表明：在机翼变形过程中,折叠翼模型有明显的非定常气动现象产生,而且折叠变形的速度越大,非定常现象越明显。出现非定常现象的主要原因是变体运动对机翼前缘涡的影响。     

Computational aerodynamic analysis on perimeter reinforced （PR）-compliant wing

Abstract Implementing the morphing technique on a micro air vehicle （MAV） wing is a very chal- lenging task, due to the MAWs wing size limitation and the complex morphing mechanism. As a result, understanding aerodynamic characteristics and flow configurations, subject to wing structure deformation of a morphing wing MAV has remained obstructed. Thus, this paper presents the investigation of structural deformation, aerodynamics performance and flow formation on a pro- posed twist morphing MAV wing design named perimeter reinforced （PR）-compliant wing. The numerical simulation of two-way fluid structure interaction （FSI） investigation consist of a quasi- static aeroelastic structural analysis coupled with 3D incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier- Stokes and shear-stress-transport （RANS-SST） solver utilized throughout this study. Verification of numerical method on a rigid rectangular wing achieves a good correlation with available exper- imental results. A comparative aeroelastic study between PR-compliant to PR and rigid wing per- formance is organized to elucidate the morphing wing performances. Structural deformation results show that PR-compliant wing is able to alter the wing＇s geometric twist characteristic, which has directly influenced both the overall aerodynamic performance and flow structure behavior. Despite the superior lift performance result, PR-compliant wing also suffers from massive drag penalty, which has consequently affected the wing efficiency in general. Based on vortices investigation, the results reveal the connection between these aerodynamic performances with vortices formation on PR-comoliant wing.     

A compliant polymorphing wing for small UAVs

This paper presents the development of a novel compliant polymorphing wing capable of chord and camber morphing for small UAVs. The morphing wing can achieve up to 10% chord extension and ±20° camber changes. The design, modeling, sizing, manufacturing and mechanical testing of the wing are detailed. The polymorphing wing consists of one continuous front spar fixed to the fuselage and a rear spar on each side of the wing. Each rear spar can translate in the chordwise direction (chord morphing) and rotate around itself (camber morphing). A flexible elastomeric latex sheet is used as the skin to cover the wing and maintain its aerodynamic shape whilst allowing morphing. The loads from the skin are transferred to the spars using the compliant cellular ribs that support the flexible skin and facilitate morphing. Pre-tensioning is applied to the skin to minimize wrinkling when subject to aerodynamic and actuation loads. A rack and pinion actuation system, powered by stepper motors, is used for morphing. Aero-structural design, analysis and sizing are conducted. Performance comparison between the polymorphing wing and the baseline wing (non-morphing) shows that chord morphing improves aerodynamic efficiency at low angles of attack while camber morphing improves efficiency at high angles of attack.     

Continuous morphing trailing-edge wing concept based on multi-stable nanomaterial

Morphing technology is one of the most effective methods to improve the flight efficiency of aircraft. Traditional control surfaces based morphing method is mature and widely used on current civil and military aircraft, but insufficiently effective for the entire flight envelope. Recent research on morphing wing still faces the challenge that the skin material for morphing should be both deformable and stiff. In this study, a continuous morphing trailing-edge wing with a new multi-stable nano skin material fabricated using surface mechanical attrition treatment technology was proposed and designed. Computational fluid dynamics simulation was used to study the aerodynamic performance of the continuous morphing trailing-edge wing. Results show that the lift coefficient increases with the increase of deflection angle and so does the lift-drag ratio at a small angle of attack. More importantly, compared with the wing using flaps, the continuous morphing trailing-edge wing can reduce drag during the morphing process and its overall aerodynamic performance is improved at a large angle of attack range. Flow field analysis reveals that the continuous morphing method can delay flow separation in some situations.     

Effects of wing flexibility on aerodynamic performance of an aircraft model

The low-speed wind tunnel experiment is carried out on a simplified aircraft model to explore the influence of wing flexibility on the aircraft aerodynamic performance. The investigation involves the measurements of force, membrane deformation and velocity field at Reynolds number of 5.4 × 10⁴–1.1 × 10⁵. In the lift curves, two peaks are observed. The first peak, corresponding to the stall, is sensitive to the wing flexibility much more than the second peak, which nearly keeps constant. For the optimal case, in comparison with the rigid wing model, the delayed stall of nearly 5° is achieved, and the relative lift increment is about 90%. It is revealed that the lift enhanced region corresponds to the larger deformation and stronger vibration, which leads to stronger flow mixing near the flexible wing surface. Thereby, the leading-edge separation is suppressed, and the aerodynamic performance is improved significantly. Furthermore, the effects of sweep angle and Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics of flexible wing are also presented.     

飞翼布局无人机变形机翼设计与模型验证研究

对飞翼布局无人机变形机翼和变形机翼传动机构进行了设计,根据设计结果制作验证模型进行风洞实验和外场飞行试验,以此研究伸缩段机翼对飞行器机翼整体气动性能的影响。结果表明:采用变形机翼技术,可以通过实时控制机翼的气动外形保持较高的气动效率,提高飞机在巡航状态下的升力和高速飞行状态下的机动性,满足飞机在各种任务剖面的战术性能要求。     

基于多控制面的二元机翼扭转变形抑制研究

针对前掠机翼的扭转发散,以加装前、后缘控制面且刚心靠后的二元机翼为模型,基于CFD/CSD松耦合静气弹数值计算方法,提出了一种基于多控制面的二元机翼扭转变形抑制方法。计算结果表明,前缘控制面单独上偏时,气动特性较差,扭转变形特性较好;后缘控制面单独下偏时,气动特性较好,扭转变形特性较差;前、后缘控制面联合偏转时,融合了两者单独偏转时各自的优势,在尽量减少气动性能损失的基础上降低了扭转变形峰值。该研究可为多控制面在前掠翼扭转发散主动抑制中的应用提供参考。     

Proportional fuzzy feed-forward architecture control validation by wind tunnel tests of a morphing wing

In aircraft wing design, engineers aim to provide the best possible aerodynamic performance under cruise flight conditions in terms of lift-to-drag ratio. Conventional control sur-faces such as flaps, ailerons, variable wing sweep and spoilers are used to trim the aircraft for other flight conditions. The appearance of the morphing wing concept launched a new challenge in the area of overall wing and aircraft performance improvement during different flight segments by locally altering the flow over the aircraft's wings. This paper describes the development and appli-cation of a control system for an actuation mechanism integrated in a new morphing wing structure. The controlled actuation system includes four similar miniature electromechanical actuators dis-posed in two parallel actuation lines. The experimental model of the morphing wing is based on a full-scale portion of an aircraft wing, which is equipped with an aileron. The upper surface of the wing is a flexible one, being closed to the wing tip; the flexible skin is made of light composite materials. The four actuators are controlled in unison to change the flexible upper surface to improve the flow quality on the upper surface by delaying or advancing the transition point from laminar to turbulent regime. The actuators transform the torque into vertical forces. Their bases are fixed on the wing ribs and their top link arms are attached to supporting plates fixed onto the flex-ible skin with screws. The actuators push or pull the flexible skin using the necessary torque until the desired vertical displacement of each actuator is achieved. The four vertical displacements of the actuators, correlated with the new shape of the wing, are provided by a database obtained through a preliminary aerodynamic optimization for specific flight conditions. The control system is designed to control the positions of the actuators in real time in order to obtain and to maintain the desired shape of the wing for a specified flight condition. The feasibility and effectiveness of the developed control system by use of a proportional fuzzy feed-forward methodology are demon-strated experimentally through bench and wind tunnel tests of the morphing wing model.     

Experimental validation of a new morphing trailing edge system using Price – Païdoussis wind tunnel tests

This paper presents the design and manufacturing of a new morphing wing system carried out at the Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity(LARCASE) at the ETS in Montréal. This first version of a morphing wing allows the deformation of its trailing edge, denote by Morphing Trailing Edge(MTE). In order to characterize the technical impact of this deformation, we compare its performance with that of a rigid aileron by testing in the LARCASE's price-Pa?doussis subsonic wind tunnel. The first set of results shows that it is possible to replace an aileron by a MTE on a wing, as an improvement was observed for the MTE aerodynamic performances with respect to the aileron aerodynamic performances.The improvement consisted in the fact that the drag coefficient was smaller, and the lift-to-drag ratio was higher for the same lift coefficient.     

双滑轨式机翼前掠机构设计

为了满足变体飞机在气动和结构方面的要求,基于变前掠翼布局,提出一种双滑轨式的翼身连动机构,使飞机气动布局可以在平直翼、前掠翼、三角翼之间自由转换。首先,通过结构框图和三维模型图对双滑轨式翼身连动机构进行了总体概述;其次,对设计过程中的具体问题进行了说明;最后,从功能实现和结构设计两个方面对双滑轨式翼身连动机构和传统单转轴式翼身连动机构进行了对比分析。双滑轨式翼身连动机构可以较好地满足气动外形变化的要求,并且,在同等条件下使翼根处载荷减小35.6%,转轴处载荷减小7.2%。因此,本方案可以作为变体飞机设计过程中的一种参考方案。     

Delaying stall of morphing wing by periodic trailing-edge deflection

Morphing wings can improve aircraft performance during different flight phases. Recently research has focused on steady aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing with a flexible trailing-edge, and the unsteady aerodynamic and stall characteristics in the deflection process of the morphing wing are worthy further investigation. The effects of the angle of attack and deflection rate on aerodynamic characteristics were examined, and based on the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing, a method was developed to delay stall by using the flexible periodic trailing-edge deflection. The numerical results show that the lift coefficients in the deflection process are smaller than those in the static situation at small angles of attack, and that the higher the deflection rate is, the smaller the lift coefficients will be. On the contrary, at large angles of attack, the lift coefficients are higher than those in the static case, and they become larger with the increase of the deflection rate. Further, the periodic deflection of the flexible trailing-edge with a small deflection amplitude and high deflection rate can increase lift coefficients at the critical stall angle.     

Transient aeroelastic responses and flutter analysis of a variable-span wing during the morphing process

To investigate the transient aeroelastic responses and flutter characteristics of a variablespan wing during the morphing process,a novel frst-order state-space aeroelastic model is proposed.The time-varying structural model of the morphing wing is established based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory with time-dependent boundary conditions.A nondimensionalization method is used to translate the time-dependent boundary conditions to be time-independent.The time-domain aerodynamic forces are calculated by the reduced-order unsteady vortex lattice method.The morphing parameters,i.e.,wing span length and morphing speed,are of particular interest for understanding the fundamental aeroelastic behavior of variable-span wings.A test case is proposed and numerical results indicate that the flutter characteristics are sensitive to both of the two morphing parameters.It could be noticed that the aeroelastic characteristics during the wing extracting process are more serious than those during the extending process at the same morphing speed by transient aeroelastic response analysis.In addition,a faster morphing process can get better aeroelastic performance while the mechanism comlexity will arise.     

Integrated optimization design of smart morphing wing for accurate shape control

Smart morphing wing, which is equipped with smart materials and able to change structural geometry adaptively, can further improve aerodynamic efficiency of aircraft. This paper presents a new integrated layout and topology optimization design for morphing wing driven by shape memory alloys (SMAs). By simultaneously optimizing the layout of smart actuators and topology of wing substrate, the ultimately determined configuration can achieve smooth, continuous and accurate geometric shape changes. In addition, aerodynamic analysis is carried out to compare smart morphing wing with traditional hinged airfoil. Finally, the optimized smart wing structure is constructed and tested to demonstrate and verify the morphing functionality. Application setbacks are also pointed out for further investigation.     

折叠机翼变体飞机非对称变形控制效率分析

折叠机翼变体飞机变形量大,变形引起的气动参数变化显著,提出一种将非对称变形作为操纵输入的控制方案,研究非对称变形的控制效率和有效区间。首先建立能够完整描述变形过程的非线性动力学方程和气动力模型;然后基于非对称变形控制方法建立一种非对称变形操纵模型;最后通过与常规操纵面效率对比和仿真的动态响应总结出非对称变形操纵的最大变形操纵有效区间。结果表明:在较低飞行速度下非对称变形操纵效率高,非对称变形操纵能够在基准折叠角度90°附近提供最高的滚转操纵效率。     

A study of morphing aircraft on morphing rules along trajectory

Morphing aircraft can meet requirements of multi-mission during the whole flight due to changing the aerodynamic shape, so it is necessary to study its morphing rules along the trajectory. However, trajectory planning considering morphing variables requires a huge number of expensive CFD computations due to the morphing in view of aerodynamic performance. Under the given missions and trajectory, to alleviate computational cost and improve trajectory-planning efficiency for morphing aircraft, an offline optimization method is proposed based on Multi-Fidelity Kriging (MFK) modeling. The angle of attack, Mach number, sweep angle and axial position of the morphing wing are defined as variables for generating training data for building the MFK models, in which many inviscid aerodynamic solutions are used as low-fidelity data, while the less high-fidelity data are obtained by solving viscous flow. Then the built MFK models of the lift, drag and pressure centre at the different angles of attack and Mach numbers are used to predict the aerodynamic performance of the morphing aircraft, which keeps the optimal sweep angle and axial position of the wing during trajectory planning. Hence, the morphing rules can be correspondingly acquired along the trajectory, as well as keep the aircraft with the best aerodynamic performance during the whole task. The trajectory planning of a morphing aircraft was performed with the optimal aerodynamic performance based on the MFK models, built by only using 240 low-fidelity data and 110 high-fidelity data. The results indicate that a complex trajectory can take advantage of morphing rules in keeping good aerodynamic performance, and the proposed method is more efficient than trajectory optimization by reducing 86% of the computing time.     

Z型翼变体飞机的纵向多体动力学特性

机翼变形时,变体飞机的翼面积、惯性特性、全机焦点和重心位置等均会发生较大的变化,从而引起飞机的动态特性也随之改变。为此对机翼变形过程中的Z型翼变体飞机进行了纵向多体动力学建模仿真;推导了变形过程中变体飞机的六自由度非线性动力学方程,并通过简化得到了解耦后的纵向动力学方程。机翼折叠动态过程的气动特性数值模拟结果表明,不同折叠角速度下飞机的气动力相差不大。在机翼折叠角速度较小且忽略非定常气动效应的情况下,采用气动力准定常假设对变形过程中不同机翼折叠角速度下变体飞机的纵向响应进行了数值仿真,并研究了重心位置移动和气动特性变化对飞机变形过程动态特性的影响规律。结果表明,折叠过程中气动特性的变化是影响飞机动态特性的主要因素,机翼折叠后飞机的速度和迎角增加,且飞行高度下降较大。     

伸缩机翼变体飞机气动特性研究

伸缩机翼变体飞机通过机翼伸缩调整机翼展长,从而改变机翼面积和展弦比,改变飞机的气动布局和机翼的气动特性,满足多任务点的设计要求。简要介绍伸缩机翼变体飞机的发展历史,重点研究一种采用伸缩机翼设计的超音速飞机的气动特性变化。研究结果表明：亚音速时机翼展长伸长,展弦比增大,飞机诱导阻力降低,升阻比提高,可以明显提高飞机的航程;超音速时机翼展长缩短,展弦比减小,飞机的波阻降低,升阻比增大,提高了超音速飞行性能。伸缩机翼概念用于超音速飞机设计时能很好地兼顾亚音速巡航和超音速冲刺。     

具有离体涡的边条布局的低速气动力数值计算

使用等效集中涡和输入涡来模拟边缘离体涡的涡格法,在本文中应用到边条机翼布局的气动力计算中。在进行边条机翼的“混合流型”的气动力计算时,对边条采用了产生离体涡的计算模式,在主翼上则采用了附着流动的计算模式。使用这种方法,对两组边条布局进行了计算,计算结果与实验数据进行了比较。     

齐莫曼翼与反齐莫曼翼空间流场测量对比分析

在低速风洞内,分别对齐莫曼翼和反齐莫曼翼的气动特性进行了测量,并应用PIV测试技术测量了两种微型飞行器机翼的空间流场,给出了空间流场的速度矢量图、涡量图和流线图。通过对比分析给出了两种机翼气动特性产生差别的主要流动机理。