Design and application of compliant mechanisms for morphing aircraft structures

Abstract

Morphing aircraft structures can significantly enhance air vehicle performance. This paper highlights ongoing work to design novel compliant mechanisms that efficiently morph aircraft structures in order to exploit aerodynamic benefits. Computational tools are being developed to design structures that deform into specified shapes given simple actuator inputs. In addition, these synthesis methods seek to optimize the stiffness of the structure to minimize actuator effort and maximize the stiffness with respect to the environment (external loading). These tools have been used to study two different types of morphing systems: (i) variable geometry wings and (ii) high-frequency vortex generators for active flow control. Several case studies are presented which highlight the design approach and computational and experimental results of these morphing aircraft systems.