Morphing of a supercritical wing by means of trailing edge deformation and vibration at high Reynolds numbers: Experimental and numerical investigation

Abstract

This article examines the morphing effects of the trailing-edge deformation and vibration on the turbulent structures in the wake of a supercritical Airbus-320 wing. It is shown that the electroactive morphing has the capacity to produce an enhanced aerodynamic performance (lift increase, drag reduction) and reduce the amplitude of instability modes associated to aerodynamic noise. The appropriate actuation is achieved with piezoactuators placed in the trailing edge region. The work presented has been carried out numerically using the Navier–Stokes Multi Block (NSMB) code, as well as experimentally with measurements obtained in the S4 wind tunnel of IMFT by means of TRPIV (Time-Resolved PIV) with a sampling rate around 10 KHz. The Reynolds number is 1 Million. The study is carried out in the low subsonic regime at an incidence angle of 10°, corresponding to take-off/landing flight phases and analyses significant morphing effects obtained by optimal deformations and vibrations of the near trailing edge region. The interactions that are prompted in the wake region are analyzed by means of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), considering the near wake structure in respect of the morphing effects. The effects on the aerodynamic coefficients thanks to manipulation of specific vortex dynamics in the shear layers and the wake are discussed and optimal frequency/amplitude ranges for the vibrations are quantified.