Experimental validation of a new morphing trailing edge system using Price – Païdoussis wind tunnel tests

Abstract

This paper presents the design and manufacturing of a new morphing wing system carried out at the Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity (LARCASE) at the ETS in Montréal. This first version of a morphing wing allows the deformation of its trailing edge, denote by Morphing Trailing Edge (MTE). In order to characterize the technical impact of this deformation, we compare its performance with that of a rigid aileron by testing in the LARCASE’s price—Païdoussis subsonic wind tunnel. The first set of results shows that it is possible to replace an aileron by a MTE on a wing, as an improvement was observed for the MTE aerodynamic performances with respect to the aileron aerodynamic performances. The improvement consisted in the fact that the drag coefficient was smaller, and the lift-to-drag ratio was higher for the same lift coefficient.