Next-generation flight control actuation technology will be based on “more electric” concepts to ensure benefits in terms of efficiency, weight and maintenance. This paper is concerned with the design of an un-shafted distributed servo-electromechanical actuation system, suited for morphing trailing edge wings of large commercial aircraft. It aims at producing small wing camber variations in the range between -5° and +5° in cruise, to enable aerodynamic efficiency improvements. The deployment kinematics is based on multiple “direct-drive” actuation, each made of light-weight compact lever mechanisms, rigidly connected to compliant ribs and sustained by load-bearing motors. Navier-Stokes computations are performed to estimate the pressure distribution over the interested wing region and the resulting hinge moments. These transfer to the primary structure via the driving mechanism. An electro-mechanical Matlab/Simulink model of the distributed actuation architecture is developed and used as a design tool, to preliminary evaluate the complete system performance. Implementing a multi-shaft strategy, each actuator is sized for the torque acting on the respective adaptive rib, following the effect of both the aerodynamic pressure and the morphing skin stiffness. Elastic trailing edge rotations and power needs are evaluated in operative conditions. Focus is finally given to the key challenges of the proposed concept: targeting quantifiable performance improvements while being compliant to the demanding requirements in terms of reliability and safety.
This paper deals with the estimation of the performance of a medium-size aircraft (3-hour flight range) equipped with an adaptive trailing edge device (ATED) that runs span-wise from the wing root in the flap zone and extends chord-wise for a limited percentage of the MAC. Computations are calculated referring to the full wing and do not refer to the complete aircraft configuration.
Aerodynamic computations, taking into account ideal shapes, have been performed by using both Euler and Navier- Stokes method in order to extract the wing polars for the reference and the optimal wing, implementing an ATED, deflected upwards and downwards. A comparison of the achieved results is discussed.
Considering the shape domain, a suitable interpolation procedure has been set up to obtain the wing polar envelop of the adaptive wing, intended as the set of “best” values, picked by each different polar.
At the end, the performances of the complete reference and adaptive wing are computed and compared for a symmetric, centered, leveled and steady cruise flight for a medium size aircraft. A significant fuel burn reduction estimate or, alternatively, an increased range capability is demonstrated, with margins of further improvements.
The research leading to these results has gratefully received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under Grant Agreement n° 284562.
This paper deals with the definition of the actuation specifications, needed to implement an Adaptive Trailing Edge
Device (ATE device) for a medium-size aircraft (3-hours flight range). It is well known that the weight reduction occurring during flight as consequence of the burned fuel, moves the aerodynamic configuration through a domain that can be far away from the unique design working point. The aircraft then flies into a non-optimal pattern for a great extension of its mission. An ATE device is able to compensate these effects by modifying the wing camber and attaining significant fuel savings (estimated around 3%) or, alternatively, increasing operative range. The device architecture is basically made of a structural kinematic chain (aimed at modulating the transmitted force/displacement) and an actuator. Starting from preliminary aerodynamic calculation of the pressure field over the wing profile and a model of the segmented structure aimed at reproducing the targeted profile shapes during cruise, a multibody model has been set up. The force levels on the driving system have been then computed. Based on this information and the reference geometry, the main characteristics (as for instance, necessary actuation force, angular displacement and necessary room) have been herein calculated. The research leading to these results has been gratefully funded by the European Union inside the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under Grant Agreement n° 284562.
In this paper, the feasibility of an active vibration control scheme using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors and
piezoelectric (PZT) actuators for vibration suppression of an aluminum plate is investigated. Four FBGs have been
bonded to the structure below the same number of PZT actuators in co-located configuration. A Proportional-Derivative
controller has been used to generate the command signals required to drive the actuators. Preliminary results from
"closed loop" configuration tests are reported showing up to 17 dB of noise reduction at 80 Hz.
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