Development of Smart Missile Fins with Active Spoiler

Abstract

For conventional missiles, electric or hydraulic actuators are mounted inside the missile fuselage to activate the aerodynamic control surfaces. These internally mounted actuators occupy considerable volume which otherwise can be used for payload or additional fuel. Reducing the size of the internal actuators and hence lowering the total actuator weight may improve the overall performance of missile significantly. The goal of this research is to develop a light-weight, low cost smart missile fin capable of surviving the supersonic operating environment while providing necessary performance comparable to existing missile fins. In this study, in an alternative to facilitate realistic design concepts and to generate enough actuation forces required for missile controls, smart fins with trailing-edge-mounted retractable wedge are considered. The retractable wedge stretches in or out appropriately to decrease the applied pitching moment of the missile fin. For the theoretical calculation, a commercial CFD software package is used to obtain the forces and the moments generated by the fin with retractable wedge. The piezoelectric actuation mechanism that is applicable to the wedge type actuator is also investigated.