Structural Dynamic Characterization of a Modular Morphing Wing Exploiting Finite Elements and Taguchi Methodology

Abstract

Detrimental environmental impacts due to the increasing demands of the aviation industry have gained tremendous global attention. With a potential fuel saving, along with high aerodynamic performance and maneuverability during different phases of a flight, adaptable wing design has become a viable alternative to its fixed-shape counterpart. A morphing wing design embraces, and can respond accordingly to, most of the flight condition variations effectively and efficiently. Despite these prospects, morphing wing design comes with some challenges due to its inherent complexity caused by an increased number of degrees of freedom. With the availability of various morphing parameters, the vibration signature of a morphing wing design plays a vital role in terms of its structural as well as aeroelastic characteristics. In the present paper, the dynamic characteristics of a re-configurable modular morphing wing developed in-house by a research team at Toronto Metropolitan University are investigated. This modular morphing wing, developed based on the idea of a parallel robot, consists of a number of structural elements connected to each other and to the wing ribs through eyebolt joints. Timoshenko bending beam theories, in conjunction with finite element methodology, are exploited. The free vibration of un-morphed (original) and morphed configurations undergoing multiple levels of sweep and spanwise morphing is presented through a design of experiment methodology.