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The material presented in this thesis uses concepts of the finite element and doublet panel methods to develop a structural-aerodynamic coupled mathematical model for the analysis of a morphing wing tip composed of smart materials. Much research is currently being performed within many facets of engineering on the use of smart or intelligent materials. Examples of the beneficial characteristics of smart materials might include altering a structure's mechanical properties, controlling its dynamic response(s) and sensing flaws that might progressively become detrimental to the structure. This thesis describes a bio-inspired adaptive structure that will be used in morphing an aircraft's wing tip. The actuation system is derived from individual flexible matrix composite tube actuators embedded in a matrix medium that when pressurized, radical structural shape change is possible. A driving force behind this research, as with any morphing wing related studies, is to expand the limitations of an aircraft's mission, usually constrained by the wing design. Rather than deploying current methods of achieving certain flight characteristics, changing the shape of a wing greatly increases the flight envelope. This thesis gives some insight as to the structural capability and limitations using current numerical methods to model a morphing wing in a flow. / Master of Science

The research presented in this thesis investigates the mechanical properties of candidate materials that could be used as a skin for a morphing wing. A morphing wing is defined as a wing that changes shape. Although engineers have been designing different morphing wing configurations, there has been limited research investigating materials that could be used as a skin for a morphing wing. Specifically, after investigating the different morphing wing abilities engineers at Virginia Tech are designing, criteria were determined for candidate materials. A suitable skin material for a morphing wing will have to be elastic, flexible, have high recovery, resistant to different weather conditions, resistant to abrasions and chemicals, and have a hardness number high enough to handle the aerodynamic loads of the aircraft while in flight. Using some of the preceding criteria, different materials were selected that are readily available in the commercial market. The materials tested were a type of thermoplastic polyurethanes, copolyester elastomer, shape memory polymer, or woven materials that are made out of elastane yarns. The first study determined the required forces to strain the material in a uniaxial direction. A test stand was designed with a gripping device to hold the material. By grounding one side of the material, the other side of the material was pulled using a winch. Using a force transducer and a string potentiometer the required forces and the amount the material was strained was recorded, respectively. Utilizing the same test stand, the amount the material recovered was also acquired. Also, by measuring how much the material necked the elongation ratio was calculated. The final test determined if the forces "relaxed" after being strained to a stationary position. It was found that each material performed differently, but some materials were definitely better suited for morphing wing material. The materials that were made out of thermoplastic polyurethanes, copolyester elastomer, and shape memory polymer required less force and were able to strain more, when compared to the woven materials. The second study determined if the material could be strained in a biaxial direction. The reason for this was for a better understand how the material would perform if the material was strained to an extreme condition. A test stand was designed using the same principles and components as the uniaxial test stand. The only difference was additional sensors were required to measure the force and strain along the other axis. Although a recovery analysis was warranted for the biaxial experiments, most of the materials test failed while being strained a small amount. Also, the material strained a lot less before ripping, when compared to the straining capabilities when only being strained in the uniaxial direction. After conducting the experiments, the results were similar to the uniaxial experimental results. In terms of required forces to strain the material, the thermoplastic polyurethanes and the copolyester elastomer required less force, when compared to the woven materials. The only advantage of the woven materials was they did not break. The final study determined how much the material deflected while being subjected to a pressure load before breaking. The test stand used an air compressor to supply a pressure load to the material, while a laser vibrometer measured how much the material deflected. A regulator was used to control the amount of pressure that was applied to the material. As the pressure load was increased, the material deflected more. The test stand also determined the maximum sustained pressure load the material could handle before breaking. After conducting all the experiments and analyzing the data, it was found woven materials are not suitable as a skin material. The reason air is allowed to pass through the woven material. Therefore, woven materials could not sustain the aerodynamic loads of an aircraft while in flight. The rest of the materials performed differently. Specifically if the material strained well and required less force while conducting the uniaxial and biaxial experiments, those materials could not sustain a high pressure load. Yet, the materials that did not strain well and required more force were able to handle a larger sustained pressure load. / Master of Science

This thesis work presents detailed results of the application of energy- and exergy-based methods to the integrated synthesis/design of an Air-to-Air Fighter (AAF) aircraft with and without wing-morphing capability. In particular, a morphing-wing AAF is compared to a traditional fixed-wing AAF by applying large-scale optimization using exergy- and energy-based objective functions to the synthesis/design and operation of the AAF which consists of an Airframe Subsystem (AFS-A) and Propulsion Subsystem (PS). A number of key synthesis/design and operational decision variables are identified which govern the performance of the AFS-A and PS during flight, and detailed models of the components of each of the subsystems are developed. Rates of exergy destruction and exergy loss resulting from irreversible loss mechanisms are determined in each of the AAF vehicle subsystems and their respective components. Multiple optimizations are performed on both types of AAF for a typical fighter aircraft mission consisting of 22 segments. Four different objective functions are used in order to compare exergy-based performance measures to the more traditional energy-based ones. The results show that the morphing-wing AAF syntheses/designs outperform those for the fixed-wing aircraft in terms of exergy destroyed/lost and fuel consumed. These results also show that the exergy-based objectives not only produce the "best" of the optimal syntheses/designs for both types of AAF in terms of exergy destroyed/lost and fuel consumed but as well provide details of where in each subsystem/component and how much specifically each source of irreversibility contributes to the optimal syntheses/designs found. This is not directly possible with an energy-based approach. Finally, after completion of the synthesis/design optimizations, a parametric study is performed to explore the effect on morphing-wing effectiveness of changing the weight and energy penalties used to model the actuations required for morphing. The results show that the morphing-wing AAF exhibits significant benefits over the fixed-wing aircraft even for unrealistic weight and energy penalties. / Master of Science

This thesis presents results of the application of energy-based large-scale optimization of a two-subsystem (propulsion subsystem (PS) and airframe subsystem-aerodynamics (AFS-A)) air-to-air fighter (AAF) with two types of AFS-A models: a fixed-wing AFS-A and a morphing-wing AFS-A. The AAF flies 19 mission segments of a supersonic fighter aircraft mission and the results of the study show that for very large structural weight penalties and fuel penalties applied to account for the morphing technology, the morphing-wing aircraft can significantly outperform a fixed-wing AAF counterpart in terms of fuel burned over the mission. The optimization drives the fixed-wing AAF wing-geometry design to be at its best flying the supersonic mission segment, while the morphing-wing AFS-A wing design is able to effectively adapt to different flight conditions, cruising at subsonic speeds much more efficiently than the fixed-wing AAF and, thus yielding significant fuel savings. Also presented in this thesis are partially optimized results of the application of a decomposition strategy for large-scale optimization applied to a nine-subsystem AAF consisting of a morphing-wing AFS-A, turbofan propulsion subsystem (PS), environmental controls subsystem (ECS), fuel loop subsystem (FLS), vapor compression/polyalphaolefin loop subsystem (VC/PAOS), electrical subsystem (ES), central hydraulics subsystem (CHS), oil loop subsystem (OLS), and flight controls subsystem (FCS). The decomposition strategy called Iterative Local-Global Optimization (ILGO) is incorporated into a new engineering aircraft simulation and optimization software called iSCRIPT™ which also incorporates the models developed as part of this thesis work for the nine-subsystem AAF. The AAF flies 21 mission segments of a supersonic fighter aircraft mission with a payload drop simulating a combat situation. The partially optimized results are extrapolated to a synthesis/design which is believed to be close to the system-level optimum using previously published results of the application of ILGO to a five-subsystem AAF to which the partially optimized results of the nine-subsystem AAF compare relatively well. In addition to the optimization results, a parametric study of the morphing AFS-A geometry is conducted. Three mission segments are studied: subsonic climb, subsonic cruise, and supersonic cruise. Four wing geometry parameters are studied: leading-edge wing sweep angle, wing aspect ratio, wing thickness-to-chord ratio, and wing taper ratio. The partially optimized AAF is used as the baseline, and the values for these geometric parameters are increased or decreased up to 20% relative to an established baseline to see the effect, if any, on AAF fuel consumption for these mission segments. The only significant effects seen in any of the mission segments arise from changes in the leading-edge sweep angle and wing aspect ratio. The wing thickness-to-chord ratio shows some effect during the subsonic climb segment, but otherwise shows no effect along with the taper ratio in any of the three mission segments studied. It should be emphasized, however, that these changes are made about a point (i.e. synthesis/design), which is already optimal or nearly so. Thus, the conclusions drawn cannot be generalized to syntheses/designs, which may be far from optimal. Also note that the results upon which these conclusions are based may very likely highlight a weakness in the conceptual-level drag-buildup method used in this thesis work. Further optimization studies using this drag-buildup method may warrant setting the thickness-to-chord ratios and taper ratios rather than having them participate in the optimization as degrees of freedom (DOF). The final set of results is a parametric study conducted to highlight the correlation between the fuel consumption and the total exergy destruction in the AFS-A. The results for the subsonic cruise and supersonic cruise mission segments show that at least for the case when the AFS-A is optimized by itself for a fixed specific fuel consumption that there is a direct correlation between the fuel burned and total exergy destruction. However, as shown in earlier work where a three-subsystem AAF with AFS-A, PS, and ECS is optimized, this may not always be the case. Furthermore, based on the results presented in this thesis, there is a smoothing effect observed in the exergy response curves compared to the fuel-burned response curves to changes in AFS-A geometry. This indicates that the exergy destruction is slightly less sensitive to such changes. / Master of Science

An investigation into an adaptable morphing concept for enhancing aircraft control and performance is described in this thesis. The impetus for the work was multi-legend. Initially, the work involved identifying and optimizing winglets on a swept wing baseline configuration to enhance the controllability and aerodynamic efficiency of unmanned aerial vehicles. Moreover, the other objective was to develop a realistic skin for a morphing aircraft concept that would allow subtle, more efficient shape changes to improve aircraft efficiency. In this regard, preliminary computations were performed with Athena Vortex Lattice modelling in which varying degrees of twist, swept and dihedral angle were considered. The results from this work indicated that if adaptable winglets were employed on small scale UAVs improvements in both aircraft control and performance could be achieved. Subsequent to this computational study, novel morphing wing and/or winglet mechanisms were developed to provide efficient shape changing as well as to develop a novel alternative method for a morphing skin. This new technique was numerically optimized in ANSYS Mechanical, experimentally investigated in a wind tunnel, and also compared with a baseline aileron configuration. Afterwards, flight testing was performed with an Extra 300 78 inch remote controller aircraft with the results being compared against existing fixed wing configurations. After evaluating numerical results, from various winglet configurations investigated in AVL, selected cases were found to provide good evidence that adaptable winglets, through morphing, could provide benefits for small scale aircraft control and performance as well as offering an acceptable alternative aircraft control methodology to the current discrete, 3-axis control philosophies. Using ANSYS Mechanical for structural analysis, rib configurations were also optimised in terms of weight, stress, and displacement, as well as required twist deformation magnitudes (±6° of twist achieved). Furthermore, the skin was found to be rigid with a low rate of surface wrinkling promoting a low drag surface. Ultimately, the viability of this novel concept mechanism was validated through flight testing with similar roll authority achieved compared to traditional aileron configuration. Finally, a morphing concept also provided potential shape changing performance with smooth aerodynamic surface finish. Leading to the possibility of the concept is being a viable skin for morphing application.

This thesis endeavors to develop a new locking method for a twisted morphing wing spar. The conventional wing has to have hinges and a discontinuous surface. These cause air separation that decreases aerodynamic performance. Unlike this old concept, the new airfoil comprises a square cross section spar into the wing blade. Twisting the spar changes the airfoil?s angle of attack to control lifting and thrust force without a discontinuous surface. A nastic actuator generates shear stress for twisting the spar. A thermoplastic polymer locks the twisted shape. Applying heat and solidifying the polymer makes the beam lock into the twisted position even after removing the shear stress. This concept was evaluated by computer simulation and an experiment with a prototype construction. The analysis with 5m long spar shows that +450Pa shear stress generated +2 degrees twist and maximum 1.49MN/m spring constant at the spar tip. This spring constant helps a designer select the locking material, Ultem. The analysis proves that the Ultem film?s shear spring constant is high enough to hold the aluminum spar?s spring back. Physical experiment conditions might differ from computer simulation because environmental limitations might be present. The prototype spar has to be less than 300mm long to fit in an electric oven. Tension made the beam twist and baked it with locking material. When the polymer softened, the beam was taken from the oven and cooled. The solidified locking material held the spar at twisted status. The observation shows no detectable spring back after removing tension. Analytic solution also presents no spring back in twisting the prototype section spar. The FEA of the section spar verifies the physical experiment results. As a normal polymer, the Ultem shows stress relaxation. The load drop affects deceasing elastic modulus. Subsequently, the Ultem is able to lock the twisted spar even after the relaxation.

The HECS wing was developed by NASA Langley Research Center and has a nonplanar, hyper-elliptically swept leading and trailing edge as well as spanwise camber. For this wing, the leading and trailing edges are swept back according to a hyper-elliptical equation. The span of the wing is also defined with hyper-elliptical anhedral giving it nonplanar spanwise camber. A single-degree-of-freedom mechanism is developed to provide a means for the wing to continuously change shape from its nonplanar to planar configuration. The mechanism uses a repeating quaternary-binary link configuration to translate motion from one segment to the next. A synthesis of the mechanism is performed, such that with one input to the first segment of the chain, the other wing segments move into their desired positions. Linear aerodynamic theory is applied to the HECS wing configuration at certain morphed positions in order to predict the aerodynamic loads. This work performs a linear static analysis of the mechanism at different morphed positions. A finite element representation of the mechanism as a structure is developed. Using the predicted aerodynamic loads, a structural analysis is performed. The analysis investigates different materials and cross sections of the members to determine a need for redesign due to failure from buckling and bending stress. From the analysis of the mechanism, a design is finalized which lightens the structure as well as increases the strength. These results are beneficial for the next phase of model development of the mechanism. / Master of Science

<p>This dissertation explores the aeroelastic stability of a folding wing using both theoretical and experimental methods. The theoretical model is based on the existing clamped-wing aeroelastic model that uses beam theory structural dynamics and strip theory aerodynamics. A higher-fidelity theoretical model was created by adding several improvements to the existing model, namely a structural model that uses ANSYS for individual wing segment modes and an unsteady vortex lattice aerodynamic model. The comparison with the lower-fidelity model shows that the higher-fidelity model typical provides better agreement between theory and experiment, but the predicted system behavior in general does not change, reinforcing the effectiveness of the low-fidelity model for preliminary design of folding wings. The present work also conducted more detailed aeroelastic analyses of three-segment folding wings, and in particular considers the Lockheed-type configurations to understand the existence of sudden changes in predicted aeroelastic behavior with varying fold angle for certain configurations. These phenomena were observed in carefully conducted experiments, and nonlinearities - structural and geometry - were shown to suppress the phenomena. Next, new experimental models with better manufacturing tolerances are designed to be tested in the Duke University Wind Tunnel. The testing focused on various configurations of three-segment folding wings in order to obtain higher quality data. Next, the theoretical model was further improved by adding aircraft longitudinal degrees of freedom such that the aeroelastic model may predict the instabilities for the entire aircraft and not just a clamped wing. The theoretical results show that the flutter instabilities typically occur at a higher air speed due to greater frequency separation between modes for the aircraft system than a clamped wing system, but the divergence instabilities occur at a lower air speed. Lastly, additional experimental models were designed such that the wing segments may be rotated while the system is in the wind tunnel. The fold angles were changed during wind tunnel testing, and new test data on wing response during those transients were collected during these experiments.</p> / Dissertation

This study presents a camber morphing concept as an alternative to existing plain flap or aileron type hinged control surfaces used in wings. Structural aspects of the concept are investigated with static nonlinear finite element analyses by using MSC Nastran. In order to assess the aerodynamic characteristics / CFD based 2D solutions are obtained using ANSYS Fluent. The camber morphing concept is applied to the full scale hingeless control surface and implemented in the adaptive camber wing. Hingeless control surfaces and adaptive camber wing are manufactured and changes made in manufacture stages are incorporated into finite element models. Finite element analyses of the wing are conducted with static and dynamic loading and comparison with experimental dynamic analyses are performed.