Delaying stall of morphing wing by periodic trailing-edge deflection

Abstract

Morphing wings can improve aircraft performance during different flight phases. Recently research has focused on steady aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing with a flexible trailing-edge, and the unsteady aerodynamic and stall characteristics in the deflection process of the morphing wing are worthy further investigation. The effects of the angle of attack and deflection rate on aerodynamic characteristics were examined, and based on the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing, a method was developed to delay stall by using the flexible periodic trailing-edge deflection. The numerical results show that the lift coefficients in the deflection process are smaller than those in the static situation at small angles of attack, and that the higher the deflection rate is, the smaller the lift coefficients will be. On the contrary, at large angles of attack, the lift coefficients are higher than those in the static case, and they become larger with the increase of the deflection rate. Further, the periodic deflection of the flexible trailing-edge with a small deflection amplitude and high deflection rate can increase lift coefficients at the critical stall angle.