Simplified Modeling of Topology-Optimized Compliant Mechanism for Multi-Fidelity Integration in Morphing Wings

In this paper, modeling techniques are assessed for simplified modeling of topology-optimized compliant mechanisms in a multi-fidelity approach for design of a morphing wing for high performance sailplanes. The desired airfoil shape is imposed on the forward morphing wing skin by compliant mechanisms that also act as supportive ribs. After the conceptual design and aerodynamic optimization, the decoupled design of the primary wing structure, morphing skin and series of compliant mechanisms is carried out in parallel using models of different scale and fidelity. A series of individual compliant mechanisms is designed using stress constrained nonlinear topology optimization with fine discretization. The center piece of this work is a down selection of modeling techniques which concludes in the integration of compliant mechanism models into the wing assembly by use of multi fidelity modeling. As such, simplified modeling techniques are compared with respect to computational cost, implementation effort and accuracy of results. The assessment is valid for topology-optimized compliant mechanisms in the context of a morphing wing. Validity beyond this application needs further investigation.