Aircraft wings are a compromise that allows the aircraft to fly at a range of flight conditions, but the performance at each condition is sub-optimal. The ability of a wing surface to change its geometry during flight has interested researchers and designers over the years as this reduces the design compromises required. Morphing is the short form for metamorphose; however, there is neither an exact definition nor an agreement between the researchers about the type or the extent of the geometrical changes necessary to qualify an aircraft for the title ‘shape morphing.’ Geometrical parameters that can be affected by morphing solutions can be categorized into: planform alteration (span, sweep, and chord), out-of-plane transformation (twist, dihedral/gull, and span-wise bending), and airfoil adjustment (camber and thickness). Changing the wing shape or geometry is not new. Historically, morphing solutions always led to penalties in terms of cost, complexity, or weight, although in certain circumstances, thes...

A Review of Morphing Aircraft

A review of modelling and analysis of morphing wings

Research on aircraft morphing has exploded in recent years. The motivation and driving force behind this has been to find new and novel ways to increase the capabilities of aircraft. Materials advancements have helped to increase possibilities with respect to actuation and, hence, a diversity of concepts and unimagined capabilities. The expanded role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has provided an ideal platform for exploring these emergent morphing concepts since at this scale a greater amount of risk can be taken, as well as having more manageable fabrication and cost requirements. This review focuses on presenting the role UAVs have in morphing research by giving an overview of the UAV morphing concepts, designs, and technologies described in the literature. A presentation of quantitative information as well as a discussion of technical issues is given where possible to begin gaining some insight into the overall assessment and performance of these technologies.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/20/10/103001/pdf

Morphing unmanned aerial vehicles

Strategies towards a more sustainable aviation: A systematic review

Numerical simulation and wind tunnel tests investigation and validation of a morphing wing-tip demonstrator aerodynamic performance

An aero-structural design and analysis study of a telescopic wing with a conformal camber morphing capability is presented. An aerodynamic analysis of a telescoping wing, first with a high speed airfoil followed by an analysis with a low speed airfoil is performed. The data obtained from these analyses is used to determine the optimum polar curves for drag reduction at different speeds. This information in turn provided the background for devising an optimal morphing strategy for drag reduction assuming that the telescoping wing airfoil has the capability to step morph between the high and low speed airfoils. Next, a conformal camber morphing concept is introduced. The concept is based on a nonuniform thickness distribution along the chord of a wing shell section that deforms from a symmetrical airfoil shape into a cambered airfoil shape under actuation. Structural optimization based on finite element models is used to obtain the shell thickness distribution for minimum shell section weight and best airfoil shape adjustment. Finally, a comparison study between the performance of an aircraft equipped with a morphing wing (telescopic wing combined with conformal camber morphing) and the performance of the same aircraft equipped with an optimized fixed wing for 30m/s cruise speed and 100N weight is presented. Aerodynamic optimization based on computational fluid dynamics models is used for the optimum fixed wing geometric parameters calculations. The optimal wing configurations for various performance parameters are calculated. The morphing wing generally outperforms the optimum fixed wing with the exception of a 10% reduction in rate of climb and 4% drag penalty at 30m/s cruise speed.

Aero-Structural Optimization and Performance Evaluation of a Morphing Wing with Variable Span and Camber

*† ‡ A morphing concept of a telescopic wing with airfoil shape change capability was designed and analyzed using coupled fluid-structure interaction. Morphing strategies for drag reduction are proposed. Morphing benefits were estimated in terms of extra loading at take-off speed and drag reduction with speed. Loading was increased by 15 N and drag reduction varied from 1.7 to 12 N for a 100 N weight aircraft. A preliminary experimental telescopic wing based on this concept and geometry without airfoil shape change capability was built and ground tested in terms of actuation energy and structural loads. Actuation energy and actuation time results are promising for morphing in level flight. Functional problems such as closing a structural gap in the wing’s leading edge are still to be solved before flight testing. Future work will include design of airfoil morphing mechanisms to be incorporated in the experimental morphing wing.

Development of Morphing Strategies for Flight Demonstrator RPV

Development of Morphing Strategies for a Flight Demonstrator Remotely Piloted Vehicle

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Aero-Structural Optimization and Performance Evaluation of a Morphing Wing with Variable Span and Camber

Development of Morphing Strategies for Flight Demonstrator RPV

Development of Morphing Strategies for a Flight Demonstrator Remotely Piloted Vehicle