Design and Experiment of a Seamless Morphing Trailing Edge

Abstract

Morphing trailing edge wing as an important morphing wing technology has gained wide attention because of its advantages, such as gust mitigation, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and reduced radar reflective area. However, the key problems such as low load carrying capacity and insufficient smooth deformation profile are still not solved in a balanced manner. The purpose of this paper is to design a seamless morphing trailing edge structure that has good load bearing capacity and can realize a chord-wise camber variation with a smooth contour subjected to the required aerodynamic load. In this paper, an innovative seamless trailing edge structure is proposed, and the critical dimensions and parameters are designed through a parametric study based on the 2D and 3D finite element models of the trailing edge structure. A physical prototype was designed and fabricated for deformation and load-bearing experiments. The finite element simulation and experimental results show that the morphing trailing edge can carry a 0.015 MPa aerodynamic load and realize the ±15° smooth camber change. The present study demonstrates the effectiveness and potential of the proposed morphing trailing edge concept for the real application on aircrafts.