An experimental study has been carried out on an airfoil with slotted flap and spoiler using Joukowsky profiles. Pressure distributions were measured as functions of angle of attack, flap deflection angle, spoiler size and inclination. The results are uncorrected for wind tunnel wall effects but the data base is available to carry out the corrections. The results will be used to compare with predictions of a theoretical model, yet to be worked out, which combines work previously done by Williams, Jandali, Parkinson and Yeung. This theory will involve the potential flow about a two-element 'near'-Joukowsky airfoil system. The secondary airfoil is a simulated slotted flap. Various size spoilers are introduced to the system at arbitrary angles of inclination using methods proposed by Parkinson and Yeung. The experimental results are qualitatively reasonable and some interesting effects are observed. The behaviour of spoilers, when used with slotted flaps at various deflection angles, corresponds well with requirements of aircraft in approach or landing situations. Similarly, the use of slotted flaps alone provides the high lift at low angle of attack which is beneficial to aircraft taking off. Some recommendations are proposed for further testing with this equipment. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Using a general, unsteady, nonlinear vortex lattice method, the aerodynamic loads have been found on a 75° delta wing with and without leading edge vortex flaps. The flap had an area approximately 26 percent of the wing area with a constant chord of 6.7 percent of the wing mean aerodynamic chord and was deflected at 30°. Results for lift, drag, axial force, and pitching moment coefficients are compared with experimental data and show very good agreement. Individual pressure difference coefficients along the wing and flap are also presented and compared with experimental data. Overall, the method shows the leading edge vortex flap to be very effective in reducing drag while maintaining lift comparable to that of the plain wing. / Master of Science

Delaying stall is always an attractive option in the aerospace industry. The major benefit of delaying stall is increased lift during takeoff and landings as well as during high angle of attack situations. Devices, such as fluidic oscillators, can be integrated into wing flaps to help delay the occurrence of stall by adding energized air to the airflow on the upper surface of the wing flap. The energized air from the oscillator allows the airflow to remain attached to the upper surface of the wing flap. The fluidic oscillator being integrated in this thesis is an active flow control device (AFC). One common method for integrating any device into a wing flap is to remove a section of the flap and mechanically secure the device. A current trend in the aerospace industry is the increased use of fiber-reinforced composites to replace traditional metal components on aircraft. The traditional methods of device integration cause additional complications when applied to composite components as compared to metal components. This thesis proposes an alternative method for integration of the AFC devices, which occurs before the fabrication of wing flaps is completed and they are attached to the aircraft wing. Seven design concepts are created to reduce the complications from using current methods of integration on composite wing flaps. The concepts are based on four design requirements: aerodynamics, manufacturing, maintenance, and structure. Four of the design concepts created are external designs, which place the AFC on the exterior surface of the wing flap in two types of grooved channels. The other three designs place the AFC inside the wing flap skin and are categorized as internal designs. In order for the air exiting the AFC to reach the upper surface of the wing flap, slots are created in the wing flap skin for the internal designs. Within each of the seven design concepts two design variants are created based on foam or ribbed core types. Prototypes were created for all of the external design AFC devices and the side inserted AFC and retaining pieces. Wing flap prototypes were created for the rounded groove straight AFC design, the semi-circular groove with straight AFC, and the side inserted AFC designs. The wing flaps were created using the VARTM process with a vertical layup for the external designs. The rounded groove and semi-circular groove prototypes each went through three generations of prototypes until an acceptable wing flap was created. The side inserted design utilized the lessons learned through each generation of the external design prototypes eliminating the need for multiple generations. The lessons learned through the prototyping process helped refine the designs and determine the ease of manufacturing to be used in the design evaluation. The evaluation of the designs is based on the four design requirements stated above. The assessment of the designs uses two levels of evaluation matrices to determine the most fitting design concept. As a result of the evaluation, all four of the external designs and one of the internal designs are eliminated. The two remaining internal designs' foam core and ribbed variants are compared to establish the final design selection. The vertically inserted AFC foam core design is the most fitting design concept for the integration of an AFC device into a composite wing flap.

This research investigates on-blade partial span active plain trailing edge flaps (TEFs)with an aim to alleviate the helicopter vibrations. Among all the available smart materials, piezoelectric stack actuator(PEA)has shown its strong candidature for full scale rotor systems. Although, PEAs are quite robust in operation, however, they exhibit rate dependent hysteresis phenomenon and can generate only very small displacements. Dynamic hysteresis is a complex phenomenon which, if not modeled, can lead to drift in the vibration predictions. In this research, a comprehensive experimental analysis is performed on a commercially available piezostack actuator, APA-500L, which is well suited for full scale applications. Rate dependent hysteresis loops are obtained for helicopter operational frequencies. Nonlinear rate-dependent hysteresis loops are modeled using conic section approach and the results are validated with experimental data. Dynamic hysteresis exhibited by the PEA is further cascaded with the helicopter aeroelastic analysis and its effect on helicopter vibration predictions is investigated. PEAs generate high force but are limited by small translational motions. A linear to rotary motion amplification mechanism is required to actuate the TEF for vibration alleviation. A smart flap is designed and developed using computer-aided-design models. A rotor blade test section is fabricated and a lever-fulcrum mechanism (AM-1) is developed for a feasibility study. Smart flap actuation is demonstrated on the rotor blade test section. The conventional motion amplification devices contain several linkages, which are potential sites for structural failure. A novel pinned-pinned post-buckled beam linear-to-rotary motion amplifier (AM-2) is designed and developed to actuate the flaps. A new design of linear-to-linear amplification mechanism (LX-4) is developed and is employed in conjunction with AM-2 to increase the flap angles by an order of magnitude. An analytical model is developed using Mathieu-Hill type differential equations. Static and dynamic tests are conducted on a scaled flap model. Helicopter aeroelastic simulations show substantial reduction in hub loads using AM-2 mechanism. To further enhance the flap angles, an optimization study is performed and optimal beam dimensions are obtained. A new technique is also proposed to actively bias the flaps for both upward and downward motion. Critical flap design parameters, such as flap span, flap chord and flap location influences the flap power requirement and vibration objective function significantly. A comprehensive parametric investigation is performed to obtain the best design of TEFs at various advance ratios. Although, parametric study equips the designer with vital information about various critical system parameters, however, it is a computationally expensive exercise especially when used with large comprehensive helicopter aero elastic codes. A formal optimization procedure is employed to obtain the optimal flap design and location. Surrogate models are developed using design of experiments based on response surface methodology. Two new orthogonal arrays are proposed to construct the second order polynomial response surfaces. Pareto analysis is employed in conjunction with a newly developed computationally efficient evolutionary multi-objective bat algorithm. Optimal flap design and flap locations for dual trailing edge flaps are obtained for mutually conflicting objectives of minimum vibration levels and minimum power requirement to actuate the flaps.