Performance Evaluation of a Morphing Joined Wing Aircraft Configuration

Abstract

The benefits of planform morphing applied to a 5m span Joined Wing UAV are investigated. The CEASIOM / NeoCAS software was used to create the geometry, develop an aeroelastic model to analyze flutter and divergence speeds, compute aerodynamic data and estimate the stability and control behavior. Several flight mechanics performance metrics (minimum level turn and pull-up radii, take-off and landing distances, excess power and range and endurance at several speeds) were computed. A typical flight mission was defined involving five stages: take-off, dash to target point, loiter for surveillance purposes, then dash-back and land at the original take-off point. Four different morphing strategies were then considered: Outboard Sweep, Dihedral Changes, Telescopic Rear Wing and Morphing Vertical Tail; all of which involve some gross deformation of the Joined Wing configuration, and the effect of the morphing considered on the performance, stability and control and aeroelastic criteria was considered. It was found that a Morphing Vertical Tail solution accompanied by changes in the main and rear wing sweep angles gave the biggest overall performance improvement.