5. INTRODUCTION
Improving aircrafts efficiency is one of
the key element of Aeronautics.
For increasing aircraft efficiency, 50%
of the researches are aimed
To reduce drag.
To increase lift.
To reduce structural weight.
To reduce system power take up.
7. DRAG AND LIFT
(a) Drag reduction is achieved by
Reducing surface friction drag.
Reducing form drag.
Reducing induced drag.
(b) Lift increase is achieved by
Finding the most efficient Angle of
Attack.
Inventing new lift augmenting
devices.
Changing wing shape and size.
8. NEW TRENDS IN
AERODYNAMICS
Blended wing body or BWB.
Twisteron.
Fanwing.
Spiroid Winglets.
Mission adaptive compliant
wings.
14. MISSION ADAPTIVE
WINGS
The mission adaptive wings are the
wings which should be able to
adapt itself to different flying
conditions and should be able to
fulfil conflicting mission
requirements by morphing their
wings.
15. CONFLICTING MISSION REQUIREMENTS
We want our aircraft to be used as
fighter i.e for high speed as well as
bomber i.e for high lift.
FIGHTER BOMBER
16. CONFLICTING MISSION REQUIREMENTS
We want our aircrafts to cruise at relatively
high speeds and at the same time it should
be, easily or efficiently, able to support lower
speeds such as those required for loitering,
taking off, or landing.
17. MORPHING
Morphing can be defined as “to cause
something to change its outward
Appearance”.
Wing that can sense its environment
and adapt its shape to perform
optimally in a wide range of flight
conditions.
25. MORPHING REQUIREMENTS
Morphing requirements are:-
Actuation system-
Change in the airfoil shape in a controlled manner
by different methods.
Wing structural characteristics-
withstand the aerodynamic forces and wing
loadings.
Must be able to achieve a seamless morph
Compromise between stiffness and flexibility in the
selected materials.
Aerodynamic characteristics -
Must ensure that the change in shape will result in
measurable changes in flight characteristics.
26. MORPHING METHODS
MULTIPLE ACTUATORS.
•To control the camber of the
aerofoil multiple actuators
distributed throughout the
wings were used.
•Fibre glass flexi panels were
bent by conventional rigid
link mechanism.
•These are aerodynamically
superior than conventional
flaps as their were no
discontinuities and seams.
27. INCHWORM ACTUATORS
Wing camber can be varied by employing
inchworm actuators arranged in a truss manner
within the wing ribs.
29. INTELLIGENT
ACTUATORS
PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS. Relation
between mechanical stress and an electrical
voltage. Its reversible process.
Disadvantages. Inadequate
displacement. Require excessive power, and/or
are complex and heavy.
30. Shape Memory Alloy. Shape memory alloys
(SMAs) are metals that "remember" their original
shapes. SMAs actuators are materials that "change
shape and mechanical characteristics in response to
temperature or electromagnetic fields.
Disadvantages. Insufficient Bandwidth. Require
excessive power, and/or are complex and heavy.
32. The energy was drawn from a few remotely
located actuators and then this energy was
distributed to the structure through some
intermediary mechanism.
Methodology employed is distributed
compliance rather than distributed actuation
Compliant Mechanisms (Structures) are
structures that are specifically optimized to
distribute localized actuation (strain) to
change the shape of the structure.
34. COMPLIANT MECHANISMS
•Monolithic.
•Joint Less Structures
•These structures exploits elasticity of the
material to produce desired functionalities.
•These functionalities can include force or motion
transmission, motion guidance, shape morphing
and energy storage and release.
35. COMPLIANT MECHANISM
The arrangement of the material within the
compliant mechanism is optimized so
compliance is distributed through small strains
to produce large deformations.
36. COMPLIANT MECHANISM
Note that the design does not embody any
flexural joints, which create stress concentrations
and poor fatigue life.
Compliant structure deforms as a whole and
avoids high-stress concentrations in which the
flexion is concentrated in localized regions.
38. COMPLIANT MECHANISM
These are flexible mechanisms that
transfer an input force
or displacement to another point
through elastic body deformation. These
are usually monolithic (single-piece) or
joint less structure.
39. ADVANTAGES
Minimize or eliminate assembly requirements.
Excellent repeatability since there is no
backlash.
No joints mean no joint friction, backlash, or
need for lubrication.
Can easily couple with modern actuators.
Can create motions not possible with
conventional rigid devices.
Materials friendly.
Weight reduction.
Fatigue resistant.
40. COMPLIANT MECHANISM
WINGS
When normal aerofoils or wings are made
mission adaptive by using the new technology
called compliant mechanism then they are
termed as mission adaptive compliant wings.
The MACW technology provides lightweight,
low-power, variable geometry re-shaping of the
upper and lower surface with no seams or
discontinuities.
42. MAKING OF MAW BY
COMPLIANT MECHANISM
FlexSys Inc, has developed a unique, variable-geometry,
trailing edge flap that can re-contour
the airfoil upper and lower surface.
43. Combined compliant flap system to a Natural
Laminar Flow (NLF) airfoil.
This airfoil can theoretically achieve up to 65%
chord laminar flow on the upper surface and up
to 90% chord laminar flow on the lower surface
as opposed to a conventional hinged flap which
can introduce flow separation at the flap knee.
44. The airfoil flap system is optimized to maximize
the laminar boundary layer extent over a broad
lift coefficient range.
Data from flight testing revealed laminar flow
was maintained over approximately 60% of the
airfoil chord for much of the lift range.
Drag results revealed that that was considerable
decrease in drag and hence good lift/ drag ratio.
FlexSys has developed morphing surfaces for
both the leading and trailing edge.
50. NOISE REDUCTION
Compliant structures enable development of a
seamless transition between the fixed and flapped
portions of the wing as shown in Figure.
51. • The main purpose of this region is to reduce
noise associated with the turbulent airflow
generated by the discontinuous surfaces at the
flap ends when the high lift flaps are deployed
for landing.
MAW FLAP CONVENTIONAL FLAP
52. MACW flaps can require less force and power
than a comparably sized conventional flap.
The MACW flap required 33% less actuation
force. This is because a compliant flap with 33%
shorter chord than a conventional flap can
provide the same CL and Cm performance.
54. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Can move into complex predetermined positions
with minimal force.
Can be locked in place at any desired
configuration.
Just as stiff and strong as a conventional control
surface.
The elimination of discontinuities in the flap
surface can provide lower drag and higher
control authority than comparable hinged flaps.
The elimination of joints and seams make the
flap more impervious to icing and fouling from
debris.
55. CONCLUSION
Sooner or later it will be possible to
make wings without ailerons, flaps
and thousands of individual parts.
They will have in principle only one
component, which continually
changes shape.
Do you find any similarities between these photograph? Yes, the similarity is that the both of them are changing the shape and size of there wings. But the question is why they are doing so? The answer is that they are trying to adopt themselves according to different flying condition.
This type of wings are called mission adaptive wings and technology by which we will achieve this change is called compliant technology . Hence the wings which changes its shape and size according to the mission by using compliant technology is called mission adaptive compliant wings. Mission adaptive compliant wing improves the efficiency of the aircraft. How its improve the efficiency of the aircraft? What are the other methods to improve efficiency. Let’s see.
Aircrafts efficiency can be increased by these methods. 50% of the researches to increase the aircraft efficiency are aimed to reduce drag, To increase lift To reduce structural weight To reduce system power take up. Look at these points carefully you will find that these are the four forces which balance the aircraft in the air.
Balancing these four forces in a most efficient way has been the biggest challenge for Aerodynamic since its invention . As Managing the weight and thrust are structural and propulsion problems, we will look into lift and drag which are more or less aerodynamics problem
By manipulating these forces we can use them to our advantage. To achieve this, the aero dynamists keep testing new designs. Lets have a look to some the latest trends to increase the efficiency of the aircraft by manipulating these two forces.
These are some latest trends which increases the aircraft efficiency by reducing drag and increasing lift and good lift by drag ratio.
Improved fuel economy due to less drag.
Increase lift to drag ratio by an amazing 50%.
Weight reduced by 25%.
Reduced noise impact (if the engines are placed above the wings)
Improved structural weight.
Twisterons work by twisting the wings during flight.
Twisting means aerodynamic washout (decreasing the camber towards wing tip) or geometric washout (decreasing angle of attack towards wing tip)
The amount of twist the Twisterons use is determined by altitude, weight and the speed the airplane is traveling
Cross-flow fan along the span of each wing.
The fan pulls the air in at the front and then expels it over the wing's trailing edge.
In transferring the work of the engine to the rotor, which spans the whole wing, the Fan Wing accelerates a large volume of air and achieves unusually high lift-efficiency.
As the name suggests
we want our aircraft to be used as fighter i.e high speed as well as bomber i.e high lift. Lets see what are conflicting mission requirements and morphing the two key word in definition.
Structures that morph their shape in response to their surroundings may at first seem like the stuff of science fiction, but take a look at nature and you will see lots of examples of plants and animals that adapt to their environment. Have you ever seen a eagle or albatross flying for hours together without flapping their wings. They change the shape and size of their wings to improve their efficiency. Tree leaves curl up in high winds to reduce their drag; bird wings bend and flex to improve their aerodynamics.
To control the camber of the aerofoil multiple actuators were used. These were distributed throughout the wings. In this figure we can see the trailing edge actuation of the wings by using the multiple actuators to vary the camber of the wing. Fibre glass flexi panels were bent by conventional rigid link mechanism. These are aerodynamically superior than conventional flaps as their were no discontinuities and seams.
Unfortunately, there were so many drawbacks. So many mechanical linkages and multiple actuators resulted in weight penalties and made the system very complex
In early 1995, during Phase I of the DARPA-funded Smart Wing Program, a variable wing camber system was investigated that employed inchworm actuators arranged in a truss manner within the wing ribs.
The other efforts investigated the effects of changing the shape of a wing using many small actuators distributed throughout a helicopter rotor or a supersonic wing.
The piezoelectric effect describes the relation between a mechanical stress and an electrical voltage in solids.
It is reversbile: an applied mechanical stress will generate a voltage and an applied voltage will change the shape of the solid by a small amount (up to a 4% change in volume).
Although in all these methods shape were changed by controlled structural deformation the flexibility of the underlying structure were not fully exploited.
In this method instead of using a plethora of actuators to locally deform a stiff structure, an alternative approach was used. The energy was drawn from a few remotely located actuators and then this energy was distributed to the structure through some intermediary mechanism. The primary design methodology employed in this effort utilized distributed compliance rather than distributed actuation
Compliant Mechanisms (Structures) are structures that are specifically optimized to distribute localized actuation (strain) to change the shape of the structure.
In this method instead of using a plethora of actuators to locally deform a stiff structure, an alternative approach was used.
. As we know all metal are elastic to some extent. Through compliant mechanism we can utilize the elasticity of underlying
In contrast, compliance is distributed to lower maximum stress, thereby significantly improve fatigue life. Just as designs in nature are strong but compliant, so are bio-inspired complaint mechanisms, which enhance “value" in a number of ways:
Just as designs in nature are strong but compliant, so are bio-inspired complaint mechanisms, which enhance “value" in a number of ways:
with modern actuators are= piezoelectric, shape-memory alloy, electro-thermal, electrostatic, fluid pressure, and electromagnetic actuators.
Materials friendly: can be built from any highly resilient material, including steel, aluminum, nickel Mission titanium alloys, polysilicon, ABS, polypropylene, polymer and metal matrix composites etc.
Weight reduction: no need for restoring springs or bulky hinges.
. Because NLF airfoils with long laminar runs have steep pressure gradients in the pressure recovery region, the gentle curvature change provided by a compliant flap can reduce or eliminate flow separation over the flap surface as opposed to a conventional hinged flap which can introduce flow separation at the flap knee.
Research is targeted at minimizing the force required to morph surfaces while maintaining maximum stiffness to withstand external loading.
The leading and trailing edge contain embedded compliant systems, consisting of a compliant mechanism, actuators, and a control system that triggers the actuators when flight conditions change.
. Comparing equally sized trailing edge flaps, MACW flaps can provide up to a 40% increase in control authority per degree deflection over hinged control surfaces
The boost in aerodynamic performance occurs not only at the aft portion where the trailing edge is located, but over the entire airfoil chord.
For instance, at zero degree AOA, the compliant flap achieves nearly a 75% increase in L/D compared to the plain hinged flap
allows the flap to be positioned with a linearly varying flap deflection along the wingspan. This has the benefit of allowing the flap to reshape the wing lift distribution closer to an elliptical distribution,
reducing the lift levels on outboard sections of the wing in order to minimize the wing
root bending moment – thus potentially saving weight. minimize the wing root bending moment – thus potentially saving weight.
compliant structures enable development of a seamless transition between the fixed and flapped portions of the wing as shown in Figure. The main purpose of this region is to reduce noise associated with the turbulent airflow generated by the discontinuous surfaces at the flap ends when the high lift flaps are deployed for landing.
One study comparing a MACW flap to a conventional trailing edge flap during a max G pull-up maneuver showed that the MACW flap required 33% less actuation force and 17% lower peak actuation power. This is because a compliant flap with 33% shorter chord than a conventional flap can provide the same CL and Cm performance.
This design paradigm of distributed compliance
While these structures have been described as “flexible,” they are optimized to resist deflection under significant external aerodynamic loading and are just as stiff and strong as a conventional control surface