TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of membrane pre-stress on the aerodynamic characteristics of an elasto-flexible morphing wing
AU - Béguin, Benoît
AU - Breitsamter, Christian
N1 - Funding Information:
The support of these investigations by the German Research Association ( DFG ) grant BR1511-5/2 is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 2014/8
Y1 - 2014/8
N2 - This paper considers the experimental investigation of a morphing wing concept for subsonic UAV application, which is made up of an elasto-flexible membrane spanned over an articulated structure to allow large variations of the planform geometry. Due to its large flexibility, the wing surface deforms when subjected to aerodynamic loads and the wing camber depends passively on the flow conditions. In this context, the present study focuses on the potential of a variation of the membrane pre-stress to influence its deflection and control the wing camber. Based on a baseline version of the wind tunnel model, the pre-stress modification is achieved by moving the trailing-edge spar. The results of force and deformation measurements performed at several dynamic pressures indicate that varying the pre-stress effectively allows to influence the passive deformation of the wing surface and adjust the wing camber within a certain range at a given flow condition. This in turn can be used to adjust the aerodynamic performance and improve the lift-to-drag ratio compared to the baseline model where the pre-stress is constant.
AB - This paper considers the experimental investigation of a morphing wing concept for subsonic UAV application, which is made up of an elasto-flexible membrane spanned over an articulated structure to allow large variations of the planform geometry. Due to its large flexibility, the wing surface deforms when subjected to aerodynamic loads and the wing camber depends passively on the flow conditions. In this context, the present study focuses on the potential of a variation of the membrane pre-stress to influence its deflection and control the wing camber. Based on a baseline version of the wind tunnel model, the pre-stress modification is achieved by moving the trailing-edge spar. The results of force and deformation measurements performed at several dynamic pressures indicate that varying the pre-stress effectively allows to influence the passive deformation of the wing surface and adjust the wing camber within a certain range at a given flow condition. This in turn can be used to adjust the aerodynamic performance and improve the lift-to-drag ratio compared to the baseline model where the pre-stress is constant.
KW - Applied aerodynamics
KW - Experimental methods
KW - Membrane wing
KW - Morphing wing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903310560&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ast.2014.05.005
DO - 10.1016/j.ast.2014.05.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84903310560
SN - 1270-9638
VL - 37
SP - 138
EP - 150
JO - Aerospace Science and Technology
JF - Aerospace Science and Technology
ER -