Dr. Gianluca Amendola Profile

Dr. Gianluca Amendola

at Ctr Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali

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Publications (5)

Proceedings Article | 27 March 2018 Paper

Optimisation design process of a morphing winglet

Marco Lo Cascio, Alberto Milazzo, Gianluca Amendola, Maurizio Arena, Ignazio Dimino, Antonio Concilio

Proceedings Volume 10593, 1059305 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2297088

KEYWORDS: Aerodynamics, Skin, Aerospace engineering, Manufacturing, Finite element methods, 3D modeling, Computer aided design, Kinematics, Aluminum, Actuators

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Aeronautic and aerospace engineering is recently moving in the direction of developing morphing wing devices, with the aim of making adaptable the aerodynamic shapes to different operational conditions. Those devices may be classified according to two different conceptual architectures: kinematic or compliant systems. Both of them embed within their body all the active components (actuators and sensors), necessary to their operations. In the first case, the geometry variation is achieved through an augmented classical mechanism, while in the second case the form modification is due to a special arrangement of the inner structure creating a distributed elastic hinges arrangement. Whatever is the choice, novel design schemes are introduced. Then, it is almost trivial to conclude that standard methods and techniques cannot be applied easily to these innovative layouts. In other words, because new architectures are produced, the former construction paradigms cannot be maintained as they are but shall be somehow transformed and assimilated by the design engineers’ community. In the meantime, the realization process should go on and morphing elements shall be realized, irrespectively of the full maturity of the associated concepts. Therefore, if optimization methods are important for the better exploitation of usual constructions, they become absolutely necessary for the technological demonstration of the capability of such breakthrough systems. In fact, standing their aim of improving the effectiveness of the aircraft flight and reducing then its overall weight, mass impact plays a fundamental role. Promised benefits could completely vanish if the added should overcome the saved weight!

In the study herein presented, the design process of a morphing winglet is reported. The research is collocated within the Clean Sky 2 Regional Aircraft IADP, a large European programme targeting the development of novel technologies for the next generation regional aircraft. The ultimate scope concerns the definition of an adaptive system for alleviating the gust loads and possibly modifying the wing load distribution in the sense of minimizing the attachment momentum (the parameter that governs the wing sizing). The proposed kinematic system is characterized by movable surfaces, each with its own domain authority, sustained by a winglet skeleton and completely integrated with a devoted actuation system. Preliminary aeroelastic investigations did already establish the robustness of the referred structural layout. This paper summarizes the activities relating to the optimization of the envisaged morphing system architecture. Moving from a standard configuration, a process is carried out to identify the lighter adaptive layout that can bear the external and internal loads without experiencing excessive stress levels for its safe operation. The most severe loads are taken into account for this process, as provided by the industrial partner, showing the reliability of the proposed solution on-board of a standard commercial aircraft. The optimization process produces interesting, sometime surprising, results that promise to reduce the weight impact of the structural skeleton for more than 40% with exclusive reference to the regions undergoing the optimization process. Such figure reduces to 15% if the complete structure is taken into account, and 12% if the skin contribution is included. The innovative outcomes are discussed in detail. Results are verified with a dedicated study that proves the consistency of the procedure and the trustworthiness of the computations.

Proceedings Article | 27 March 2018 Paper

Technological demonstration of an adaptive aileron system

Gianluca Amendola, Ignazio Dimino, Antonio Concilio, Rosario Pecora, Francesco Amoroso, Leonardo Lecce

Proceedings Volume 10593, 1059304 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2297083

KEYWORDS: Aerodynamics, Actuators, Skin, Kinematics, Computer aided design, Manufacturing, Wind measurement, Aerospace engineering, Prototyping, Interfaces

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Variation of trailing edge camber proved to be one of the easiest and most effective ways to modify aerofoil shape to match different aircraft operational weights, with benefits approaching 3% of fuel savings or, equivalently, range extension. This is particularly the case of commercial planes, where both initial take-off conditions (because of the unpredictable payload or the specific required mission – transfer flight, for instance) and in-flight states (for the kerosene consumption) can undergo significant differences. Several studies (like the European Research Programs SARISTU or JTI-GRA) demonstrated that the most sensible region for installing an adaptive trailing edge system for those aims is towards the wing tip. This is unfortunately a very delicate area where usually ailerons are deployed and where significant mass insertions could affect the aeroelastic response with some risks of instabilities. Furthermore, the volume available are really limited so that the installation of a fully embedded system is challenging.

Moving from the experience taken in many former projects as the cited ones, the authors faced the problem of installing a fully integrated adaptive trailing edge system within the existing structural skeleton of a reference aileron and defined a design strategy to take into account the aeroelastic modifications due to the installation of such a device. Besides, the architecture preserved the original function of that control surface so that it could work as a standard aileron (classical rigid tab movement) with the augmented function of a deformable, quasi-static shape. In this sense, the proposed system exhibited a double functionality: a conventional rigid aileron with augmented shape modification capability plus a continuous, slow change of the trailing edge, occurring during flight for compensating aircraft weight variation.

The research was carried out within the Italian-Canadian program MDO-505 and led to the realisation of a multifunctional aileron with two operational motor systems (one for the classical aileron working and the other for the morphing enforcement), completely integrated so that no external element was visible or affected the aerodynamics of the wing. The manufacture of this device was possible thanks to the development of a suitable design process that allowed taking into account both the structural and the aeroelastic response of the integrated architecture. This system was part of an adaptive wing section that was completed with the realisations made by the ETS of Montreal, the Quebecoise Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation (CRIAQ) and the IAR-NRC, supported by Bombardier and Thales Canada. The joint demonstrator was tested in the wind tunnel at the NRC facilities in Ottawa and gave confirmation of the aerodynamic, aeroelastic and structural predictions.

The paper that is herein presented deals therefore with the design process and the manufacture of an adaptive trailing edge, installed within the existing aileron system of a wing segment, to undergo wind tunnel tests. The resulting device considers the definition of the kinematic structural system, the development of the integrated actuator system, their integration and the assessment of their static and dynamic structural response, and the verification of a safe aeroelastic behavior. Numerical and experimental results are presented, achieved in lab and wind tunnel environments.

Proceedings Article | 4 April 2017 Presentation + Paper

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

Proceedings Volume 10166, 101660E (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2260008

KEYWORDS: Embedded systems, Prototyping, Safety, Aerospace engineering, Actuators, Aerodynamics, Neodymium, Skin, Control systems, Finite element methods, Failure analysis

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Proceedings Article | 20 April 2016 Paper

Experimental characterization of an adaptive aileron: lab tests and FE correlation

Gianluca Amendola, Ignazio Dimino, Francesco Amoroso, Rosario Pecora

Proceedings Volume 9803, 98034P (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219187

KEYWORDS: Smart structures, Aerodynamics, Control systems, Design for manufacturability, Manufacturing, System integration, Actuators, Kinematics, Skin, Aerospace engineering, Finite element methods, Prototyping

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Proceedings Article | 20 April 2016 Paper

Numerical design of an adaptive aileron

Gianluca Amendola, Ignazio Dimino, Antonio Concilio, Marco Magnifico, Rosario Pecora

Proceedings Volume 9803, 98032A (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219167

KEYWORDS: Smart structures, Prototyping, Structural design, Complex systems, Finite element methods, Servomechanisms, Actuators, Skin, Kinematics, Aerospace engineering, Bismuth, Modeling

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The study herein described is aimed at investigating the feasibility of an innovative full-scale camber morphing aileron device. In the framework of the “Adaptive Aileron” project, an international cooperation between Italy and Canada, this goal was carried out with the integration of different morphing concepts in a wing-tip prototype. As widely demonstrated in recent European projects such as Clean Sky JTI and SARISTU, wing trailing edge morphing may lead to significant drag reduction (up to 6%) in off-design flight points by adapting chord-wise camber variations in cruise to compensate A/C weight reduction following fuel consumption. Those researches focused on the flap region as the most immediate solution to implement structural adaptations. However, there is also a growing interest in extending morphing functionalities to the aileron region preserving its main functionality in controlling aircraft directional stability. In fact, the external region of the wing seems to be the most effective in producing “lift over drag” improvements by morphing. Thus, the objective of the presented research is to achieve a certain drag reduction in off-design flight points by adapting wing shape and lift distribution following static deflections. In perspective, the developed device could also be used as a load alleviation system to reduce gust effects, augmenting its frequency bandwidth. In this paper, the preliminary design of the adaptive aileron is first presented, assessed on the base of the external aerodynamic loads. The primary structure is made of 5 segmented ribs, distributed along 4 bays, each splitted into three consecutive parts, connected with spanwise stringers. The aileron shape modification is then implemented by means of an actuation system, based on a classical quick-return mechanism, opportunely suited for the presented application. Finite element analyses were assessed for properly sizing the load-bearing structure and actuation systems and for characterizing their dynamic behavior. Obtained results are reported and widely discussed.

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