Optimal Design and Analysis of a Wing with Morphing High Lift Devices

Abstract

Morphing technologies are becoming an ever present and potentially beneficial part of future aircraft development. The aim of this presented research was to explore the potential and evaluate the performance improvement of a next generation wing with morphing high lift devices in different flight cases. The study was focused on a whole wing fitted with a morphing leading edge (LE) and flap tailing edge (TE) considering aeroelastic effect mainly in take-off and landing conditions. In cruise case, the study was focused on the wing structure design with the aeroelastic effect on the lift redistribution towards the inboard. Based on the wing structure designed under realistic loading, the LE and TE morphing was optimized for the best performance in take-off and landing cases. In take-off condition, the results showe that morphing the entire flap TE had the most beneficial effect with an increase of lift by 8%. In the landing case, the lift drag ratio would be increased by reducing the flap angle. However the stopping distance was similar to the baseline. A better performance can be achieved by maintaining the high flap angle but optimizing the flap deploy position combined with device morphing. The results show that this leads to an increase of both lift and drag and consequently 6% reduction of stopping distance.