Morphing structure actuation

Abstract

Because of superior benefits of morphing aircraft, interest in morphing structure has increased in the past few decades. The concept of a morphing wing able to adapt itself for different aerodynamic characteristics during flight is are what aircraft research is mostly heading to. This project mission is to demonstrate an actuation mechanism for the morphing wing structure design which is capable of extending the wing fuselage length along the leading edge with a smooth motion.

Before working towards the set goal, a brief literature review from the fundamental understanding of the interaction between aerodynamics, structures and materials would be required through researching and then followed by a conceptual design approach. A model airplane swept back wing was prepared to try out for the proposed morphing approach and the whole morphing mechanism and prototype were built upon this wing. An extensible linkage mechanism was design to provide one degree of freedom motion for the wing expansion. The combined mechanism design built upon the extensible linkage enabled it to extend smoothly and made the motion transmission from servo motor easier.

By conducting morphing test, the wing span was extended by 10% with the morphing structure fixed to. Based on this study, some recommendations about future work for conceptual design of morphing structure are presented before conclusions about this project.