The efforts towards more efficient aircraft create the need to advance the technology in terms of material, manufacturing, sensing and system integration technology, as well as the controller design. A natural push towards the advancements of the technology in these domains is partly powered by an increasing trend towards lighter and flexible aircraft structures. However, as the technology matures, the opportunity arises to push towards actively morphing technology that has the potential to benefit from significant performance gain, versatility and extended flight envelope in contrast to rigid designs, that is generally optimised to limited flight conditions. To overcome this limitation, this study focuses on the utilisation of smart multidisciplinary approach, where novel sensing, control and actuation methodologies are integrated into a smart adaptive structure. This concept, called the Smart-X wing, represents an autonomous smart morphing wing that is capable of in-flight performance optimisation of multiple objectives such as (i) drag optimisation (ii) load alleviation (iii) flutter suppression (iv) shape control. The methodology is applied both in terms of design, where the development of the subsystems is closely integrated into the initial stage, as in-flight operation, where, the smart subsystems are operating in a tightly coupled loop. Smart-X aims to mature the morphing technology both in terms of modelling, control and morphing design optimisation and demonstrate the benefits of active morphing technology. 

In this study, a comprehensive road map is given of the development, design, manufacturing, integration and wind-tunnel testing of the Smart-X wing as a collaboration between the Aeroelasticity group at Aerospace Structures and Computational Mechanics (ASCM), Structural Integrity and Composites (SI&C), Novel Aerospace Materials (NovAM) and the Control and Simulation (C&S) groups of the Delft University of technology. 

The Smart-X wing concept is composed of six morphing trailing edge modules equipped with fast piezoelectric actuators at the morphing trailing edge. The morphing is achieved by the TRanslation Induced Camber (TRIC), where the skin is actuated internally, allowing smooth and seamless morphing along the cord and control of the lift distribution both span and chordwise. Several sensing methodologies are developed for control feedback including a sensor fusion approach with fast-tracking of wing deformation utilising fuselage-mounted cameras and shape sensing via fibre optics. Furthermore, a piezoelectric stall sensor is developed to monitor flow separation and control effectiveness of flaps. The smart sensing feedback is integrated with model-free multi-objective control methodology to allow for real-time performance optimisation of the objectives as mentioned above. 

The morphing modules containing two sets of high-performance servos to allow for local symmetric (pure bending) and asymmetric (twist) morphing. The integration of various technologies and active morphing design developed for the Smart-X wing is demonstrated in static and dynamic wind-tunnel tests at the Open Jet Facility (OJF) at the Delft University of technology, equipped with a gust generator. Initial wind tunnel test results are discussed.  


Integration of Active Morphing Technology With Smart Morphing Wing Concept for Simultaneous In-Flight Performance Optimisation, Load Alleviation and Flight Dynamic Control

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace Division

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2020/volume/84027

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