Design and Wind-Tunnel Analysis of a Fully Adaptive Aircraft Configuration

Abstract

This work describes the design and construction of a fully adaptive aircraft configuration used as an experimental testbed for aerodynamic modeling and flight control. The adaptive model is designed to achieve large scale shape changes in order to investigate morphing for multi-mission UAVs. There are five independent planform changes along with independent twist control for each wing. Wind tunnel testing was conducted in Virginia Tech's Stability tunnel to analyze the aerodynamic characteristics and evaluate the usefulness of having a UAV with multiple configuration capability. Wind tunnel tests of various planform configurations indicate that different configurations yields minimum drag over a range of flight conditions.