A Combined Smart-Materials Approach for Next-Generation Airfoils

Johannes Scheller (1, 2) , Gurvan Jodin (1, 2) , Karl-Joseph Rizzo (1) , Eric Duhayon (1) , Jean-François Rouchon (3) , Michael S. Triantafyllou (4) , Marianna Braza (2)

1 LAPLACE - LAboratoire PLasma et Conversion d'Energie
2 IMFT - Institut de mécanique des fluides de Toulouse
3 LAPLACE-GREM3 - Groupe de Recherches en Electrodynamique
4 MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This article will present a morphing wing actuated using both surface embedded Shape memory alloys (SMAs) and trailing edge Macro-fiber composites (MFCs). This combination enables the airfoil to simultaneously achieve large scale deformations at low frequencies as well as rapid actuation with a limited amount of displacement. Thereby not only can the shape of the airfoil be optimized in function of the current mission profile but also the shear layer can be influenced. Each actuator is modelled using both a finite element and/or an analytical model and the results will be verified experimentally.

Keywords: Aerodynamics; Morphing; Piezoelectricity; Shape-memory Alloys

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Fluid Dynamics [physics.flu-dyn]; Engineering Sciences [physics]; Materials

Johannes Scheller, Gurvan Jodin, Karl-Joseph Rizzo, Eric Duhayon, Jean-François Rouchon, et al.. A Combined Smart-Materials Approach for Next-Generation Airfoils. Solid State Phenomena, 2016, Mechatronic Systems and Materials VII, 251, pp.106-112. ⟨10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.251.106⟩. ⟨hal-01347816⟩