Aerodynamic Design of a Morphing Wing Sailplane

Abstract

The aerodynamic design methodology of a wing with a morphing forward section for an 18 meter class sailplane is shown in this paper. The airfoils have been designed by numerical optimization and reworked using inverse design methods. For the wing planform design a multiple vortex lifting line method has been coupled with an optimization algorithm. Overall aircraft performance calculations indicate the potential of the morphing forward-wing-section concept compared to conventional aircraft.