Experimental and parametric analysis of corrugated composite structures for morphing skin applications

Abstract

One potential solution for a morphing wing concept could make use of a skin panel that incorporates corrugated laminates in a sandwich structure. Located in the trailing edge region it would have low inand out-of-plane stiffness in the wing chordwise direction in order to achieve large camber and chord length changes on a morphing aerofoil section. This investigation presents experimental and analytical results for a sandwich structure with trapezoidal corrugated skins. Furthermore, a parametric study analyses the effects of corrugation geometry and form on the structural elastic strain and equivalent elastic tensile modulus transversely to the corrugation direction. The results give a good indication of the wide envelope within which corrugated laminates can be designed to meet the requirements for a morphing skin application.