Effect of Actuating Forces on Aeroelastic Characteristics of a Morphing Aircraft Wing

Abstract

An aircraft with morphing or adaptive wings can achieve its flight control through structural flexibility. In order to carry out such aircraft control, the wing structure is actuated by an external force. This leads to a change in aircraft aeroelastic and mechanical characteristics during flight such as lift, control effectiveness, divergence, flutter, buckling, and stress. The objective of this research is to demonstrate the aeroelastic and mechanical behaviors of a wing being actuated by external forces. Static and dynamic aeroelastic models of a wing structure subject to external loads are derived. An un-swept rectangular wing box, using a twisting morphing concept, is used for the demonstration. By applying various values of an actuator moment to the wing, aircraft design parameters e.g. flutter, divergence, lift effectiveness, buckling factor, and stress are computed. The investigation shows that the actuating force has an impact on the aeroelastic and mechanical characteristics. This effect should be taken into account during the design/optimization process of a morphing aircraft structure.