Morphing Aircraft

Advances in the development of smart actuators and compliant structures have led to widespread interest in morphing wings. The aircraft system can therefore integrate morphing concepts to allow shape changes of the structure, and thus adapt its aero-dynamic properties to suit changing mission requirements. Morphing aircraft concepts are showing the potential to significantly reduce the mass and energy consumption, and improve flight per-formance, compared to traditional aircraft structures, and hence they are receiving widespread interest across the aerospace industry.

Reconfigurable smart structure(design, dynamic and lab demonstration)

The term ‘smart structures’ is commonly used to describe structures which have the ability to actively change their geometry or mechanical properties. Potential applications can be found in the aerospace, energy and marine sectors, e.g. use of MEMS-type devices which require frequent switching of compliant components and morphing of advanced aerofoils to generate additional lift. Our vision is to take advantage of modern dynamical system theory to develop entirely new devices that use the instability of mechanical systems to deliver energy-efficient shape-changing structures. Transitioning between actively controlled unstable states (so-called ‘heteroclinic connections’) can be significantly more energy-efficient than traditional structures which transition between stable states.

Dynamics and Control

More Information:
SABRE: Shape Adaptive Blades for Rotorcraft Efficiency(Coordinated by UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL)