Preliminary aeroelastic assessment of a large aeroplane equipped with a camber-morphing aileron

Rosario Pecora; Francesco Amoroso; Rita Palumbo; Maurizio Arena; Gianluca Amendola; Ignazio Dimino

doi:10.1117/12.2260008

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4 April 2017 Preliminary aeroelastic assessment of a large aeroplane equipped with a camber-morphing aileron

Rosario Pecora, Francesco Amoroso, Rita Palumbo, Maurizio Arena, Gianluca Amendola, Ignazio Dimino

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Proceedings Volume 10166, Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2017; 101660E (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2260008
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2017, Portland, Oregon, United States

Abstract

The development of adaptive morphing wings has been individuated as one of the crucial topics in the greening of the next generation air transport. Research programs have been lunched and are still running worldwide to exploit the potentials of morphing concepts in the optimization of aircraft efficiency and in the consequent reduction of fuel burn. In the framework of CRIAQ MDO 505, a joint Canadian and Italian research project, an innovative camber morphing architecture was proposed for the aileron of a reference civil transportation aircraft; aileron shape adaptation was conceived to increase roll control effectiveness as well as to maximize overall wing efficiency along a typical flight mission. Implemented structural solutions and embedded systems were duly validated by means of ground tests carried out on a true scale prototype. Relying upon the experimental modes of the device in free-free conditions, a rational analysis was carried out in order to investigate the impacts of the morphing aileron on the aeroelastic stability of the reference aircraft. Flutter analyses were performed in compliance with EASA CS-25 airworthiness requirements and referring -at first- to nominal aileron functioning. In this way, safety values for aileron control harmonic and degree of mass-balance were defined to avoid instabilities within the flight envelope. Trade-off analyses were finally addressed to justify the robustness of the adopted massbalancing as well as the persistence of the flutter clearance in case of relevant failures/malfunctions of the morphing system components.

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Rosario Pecora, Francesco Amoroso, Rita Palumbo, Maurizio Arena, Gianluca Amendola, and Ignazio Dimino "Preliminary aeroelastic assessment of a large aeroplane equipped with a camber-morphing aileron", Proc. SPIE 10166, Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies 2017, 101660E (4 April 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2260008

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