Chen Wang, Hamed Haddad Khodaparast, Michael I Friswell
DOI Number: N/A
Conference number: IFASD-2015-018
Numerous wing tip devices have been installed on commercial jets to reduce fuel consumption and provide more mission flexibility. Since these wing tip devices are in a fixed geometry and mainly designed for a specific mission segment, it is still possible to enhance their overall performance by introducing morphing technologies. Research on morphing aircraft has shown its potential by providing the capabilities of adapting the aircraft geometry to the changing flight condition. This paper will describe a morphing winglet for a typical narrow body airliner. Four morphing variables are considered in two flight conditions. The vortex lattice method is used to calculate the performance criteria which leads to aerodynamic benefits compared to the fixed winglet. This paper also proposes a compliant structure to realize the required spanwise morphing. The structure uses unsymmetrical stiffness to transfer the linear actuation into rotation. By using multiple units of the compliant structure a substantial rotation change can be achieved. The compliance of the structure is also constrained by the requirement of carrying aerodynamic loads. Thus a simple static aeroelastic analysis is conducted to find the real dihedral angle during flight. The work shown in this paper describes the pursuit of a practical morphing winglet. Although a moderate aerodynamic benefit has been found, the overall performance may not improve due to the implementation of the compliant structure, which will be addressed in future work.