O. Stodieck, G. Francois, D. Heathcote, E. Zympeloudis, B.C. Kim, A.T. Rhead, D. Cleaver, J.E. Cooper
DOI Number: N/A
Conference number: IFASD-2017-048
A numerical and experimental investigation is described considering the design, manufacture and test of tow-steered composite wind tunnel wings. The generic construction of each wing consisted of a rectangular flat plate with foam aerofoil surfaces. Tow-steered composite layers of the wings were manufactured using two different techniques: Continuous Tow-Shearing and Discrete Stiffness Tailoring. Finite Element models of the wings were optimised in order to determine the tow-steered composite layer orientations, as well as unidirectional composite orientations, that reduced the maximum strains due to equivalent “manoeuvre” and “gust” loads (at a tunnel speed of 20 m/s). A series of static and dynamic, wind-on and wind-off tests were performed to validate the numerical modelling capability and to illustrate the capabilities of tow-steering technologies.