Design and Flight Test of a Morphing UAV Flight Control System

Abstract

The goal of this research was to evaluate di erent con gurations of morphing wings. The morphing system employed piezoelectric actuators called Macro-Fiber Composites (MFCs) bonded to a thin composite wing. The strain of the MFCs causes deformation and morphing of the entire wing planform. Simulations were performed to evaluate the di erent con gurations. Finite element analysis calculated the de ections, and vortex lattice methods solved for the aerodynamic forces. Di erent wing parameters were varied to quantify their e ect on morphing performance. The performance was measured by the ability to actuate roll and ability to support aerodynamic loading. The parameters compared were: spanwise location of actuators, number and size of actuators, composite wing thickness, and composite material sti ness. Flight testing was then done with a wing built based on the simulation results. In addition to de ection measurements, roll doublets in ight were performed to measure the roll rate induced by the morphing wing. This roll rate was then converted to rolling moment coe cient. A simulation based on the ight test wing geometry was done and compared to the ight results. The simulation overestimated the wingtip de ection. However, the ight testing illustrated some of the variability involved with the manufacture and modeling of MFC-morphing wings. Given the di erent de ections, the rolling moment coe cient from simulation was consistent with that from ight testing.