Design, Implementation, and Performance Analysis of Actively

Abstract

The new technology of morphing wings has potential to impact the aeronautic industry as it greatly reduces the associated operational costs. This is achieved by drastically lowering the fuel consumption of aircrafts and enhancing their flight performance. Morphing wings have the capability to change their shape dynamically to achieve numerous aerodynamic characteristics that can fit different flight missions and operating environments. In this Thesis report, we investigate the potential enhancement in the aerodynamic performance of morphing wings made of NACA0012 airfoil. An aerodynamic analysis was first carried out to identify optimum morphing configurations. The obtained wing profiles showed capability to significantly increase the lift coefficient and reduce the drag coefficient, resulting in a high lift-over-drag ratio. The numerical analysis was conducted by interfacing the aerodynamic simulation tool XFOIL with MATLAB to obtain a user-friendly tool that eased the aerodynamic analysis and the optimization study. Based on the morphing shapes obtained from the optimization analysis, a morphing wing prototype was developed and tested. The prototype uses the Fish Bone Active Camber (FishBAC) mechanism to induce morphing in the trailing edge portion of the wing structure. Moreover, the FishBAC used in this Thesis was enhanced by adding an additional degree of freedom, which is an unprecedented contribution to this particular mechanism. The second degree of freedom significantly improved the morphing efficiency. Wind tunnel tests were conducted on the developed wing prototype to inspect the lift generation under various airspeeds and morphing configurations. Experimental measurements showed evidence of 60% increase in the lift thanks to the incorporation of morphing obtained from the optimization analysis. The experimental results showed also qualitative agreement with their numerical counterparts.