Design and fabrication of a shape memory-based bio-inspired morphing wing

2017 International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering. All rights reserved. Aircraft wings utilizing continuous morphing controls surfaces and bio-inspired geometries can increase aircraft performance for certain flight conditions. This potential increase in aerodynamic performance motivates the use of shape memory alloy-based (SMA) actuators, which mimic bird muscles and generate new outer mold lines (OML) while requiring a minimal interior volume for actuator installation. To experimentally demonstrate ex situ the capabilities of morphing technology, the design problem of morphing a bio-inspired wing for lower Reynolds numbers (e.g., landing flight) is considered. The geometric properties of avian-inspired airfoils harshly differ from more traditional airfoils in the sense that, for example, the maximum thickness of avian airfoils is far forward. Therefore, different aerodynamic analysis methods are necessary to evaluate aerodynamic properties of the wing. Potential flow and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are utilized to evaluate the geometry and a wind tunnel prototype is fabricated. A novel fabrication method is proposed and demonstrated for elastomeric SMA composite actuators, which are then utilized in a morphing wing concept. Preliminary results for the morphing wing prototype using an SMA composite actuator generates trailing edge deflections equivalent to 3.5% of the chord.

8th Conference on Smart Structures and Materials, SMART 2017 and 6th International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering, SMN 2017

Design and fabrication of a shape memory-based bio-inspired morphing wing Conference Paper