Abstract
Morphing offers an attractive alternative compared to conventional hinged, multi-element high lift devices. In the present work, morphed shapes of a NACA 64A010 airfoil are optimized for maximum lift characteristics. Deformed shapes of the leading and trailing edge are represented through Bezier curves derived from locally defined control points. The optimization process employs the fast Foil2w in-house viscous-inviscid interaction solver for the calculation of aerodynamic characteristics. Transitional flow results indicate that combined leading and trailing edge morphing may increase maximum lift in the order of 100%. A 60–80% increase is achieved when morphing is applied to leading edge only—the so-called droop nose—while a 45% increase is obtained with trailing edge morphing. Out of the stochastic optimization algorithms tested, the Genetic Algorithm, the Evolution Strategies, and the Particle Swarm Optimizer, the latter performs best. It produces the designs of maximum lift increase with the lowest computational cost. For the optimum morphed designs, verification simulations using the high fidelity MaPFlow CFD solver ensure that the high lift requirements set by the optimization process are met. Although the deformed droop nose increases drag, the aerodynamic performance is improved ensuring the overall effectiveness of the airfoil design during take-off and landing.
Highlights
High lift devices such as leading edge (LE) slats and trailing edge (TE) flaps have been effectively employed for many years to increase the lifting performance of aircraft wings during take-off and landing
Three representative stochastic algorithms are integrated into the optimization process, all included in the Inspyred library of Python [11]: Genetic Algorithm (GA), Evolution Strategies (ES) and Particle Swarm Optimizer (PSO)
Two control points remain fixed, connecting the undeformed with the morphing part, and seven control points are distributed on the two sides, three on the upper and four on the lower side, as shown in (Figure 2a)
Summary
High lift devices such as leading edge (LE) slats and trailing edge (TE) flaps have been effectively employed for many years to increase the lifting performance of aircraft wings during take-off and landing. Morphed wings can attain similar aerodynamic performance characteristics to those of conventional high lift devices by tailoring the shape (both mean-line curvature and local thickness distribution) of the wing airfoil sections through the deployment of smart material elements at the LE and TE regions. Smart materials have the property of altering their shape when variable external conditions are imposed (e.g., Shape Memory Alloys—SMAs—deform through heating and cooling). In this way, varying LE and TE shapes can be achieved using lightweight distributed actuators, acting locally on the smart material elements. A typical example of morphing control is the droop nose airfoil, which compared to the traditional slat, exhibits lower drag levels (better aerodynamic performance) and better stall characteristics. The sole use of the droop nose wing cannot ensure as high levels of the maximum lift coefficient (CL,max) and the stall angle of attack (AoA) as those obtained by two- or three-elements slats
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