Drag optimisation of a wing equipped with a morphing upper surface

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe drag coefficient and the laminar-to-turbulent transition for the aerofoil component of a wing model are optimised using an adaptive upper surface with two actuation points. The effects of the new shaped aerofoils on the global drag coefficient of the wing model are also studied. The aerofoil was optimised with an ‘in-house’ genetic algorithm program coupled with a cubic spline aerofoil shape reconstruction and XFoil 6.96 open-source aerodynamic solver. The wing model analysis was performed with the open-source solver XFLR5 and the 3D Panel Method was used for the aerodynamic calculation. The results of the aerofoil optimisation indicate improvements of both the drag coefficient and transition delay of 2% to 4%. These improvements in the aerofoil characteristics affect the global drag of the wing model, reducing it by up to 2%. The analyses were conducted for a single Reynolds number and speed over a range of angles of attack. The same cases will also be used in the experimental testing of the manufactured morphing wing model.