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Evaluating the Aerodynamic Performance of MFC-Actuated Morphing Wings to Control a Small UAV

The purpose of this research is to evaluate certain performance characteristics of a morphing<br />wing system that uses Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) to create camber change. This<br />thesis can be broken into two major sections. The first half compares a few current MFC<br />airfoil designs to each other and to a conventional servomechanism (servo) airfoil. Their<br />performance was measured in terms of lift and drag in a 2-D wind tunnel. The results<br />showed MFC airfoils were effective but limited by aeroelasticity compared to the servo. In<br />addition, a morphed airfoil and a flapped airfoil were rapid prototyped and tested to isolate<br />the effects of discontinuity. The continuous morphed airfoil produced more lift with less<br />drag.<br />The second half of this thesis work focused on determining the ideal MFC configurations for<br />a thin wing application. Simulations were run on a thin wing with embedded MFCs such<br />that the whole wing morphed. Finite element and vortex lattice models were used to predict<br />deflections and rolling moment coefficients. Different configuration parameters were then<br />varied to quantify their effect. The comparisons included MFC location, number of MFCs,<br />material substrate, and wing thickness. A prototype wing was then built and flight tested.<br />While the simulations overestimated the wing deflection, the flight results illustrated the<br />complexity and variability associated with the MFC morphing system. The rolling moment<br />coefficients from flight were consistent with the simulation given the differences in deflection. / Master of Science

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/19190
Date06 November 2012
CreatorsProbst, Troy Anthony
ContributorsMechanical Engineering, Kochersberger, Kevin B., Case, Scott W., Tarazaga, Pablo Alberto
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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