Investigation of Smart Material Actuators & Aerodynamic optimization of Morphing Wing

Abstract

The design of wings in traditional aircraft creates a configuration with optimal performance but that suits to a single flight condition only. As the vehicle moves away from the given condition performance too declines thereof. Conversely, birds can adopt their wing profile to augment the performance at a wide range of flight conditions. Morphing technology offers aerodynamic proficiency over a wide range of flight conditions, and the key to enable this technology for adaptive structures is based on smart materials and actuators. This smart technology has impended to the development of multi-mission aerospace vehicles by shaping the adaptive wings that can adjust with the operating maneuvers. In this work, the analyses of adaptive wing section are performed by attaining a variable span geometry to increase the efficiency of an aircraft. The NACA4412 aerofoil is introduced to CFD solver, FLUENT. The aerodynamic coefficients are obtained at various angles of attack in both the extended (morphed) wing section as well as un-extended wing profile (un-morphed). Results show that the extended wing section increases the aerodynamic performance of wing profile by varying its aspect ratio at different angles of attack.