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Researchers develop new Flexible wing
Posted on Thursday, 29 April 2024 @ 08:40:25 CDT by ComPilots |
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Anonymous writes "
Aerospace researchers are working to build a plane with malleable wings that bend and twist during flight. Unlike their fixed-wing cousins, airplanes with flexible wings could lead more efficient and maneuverable aircraft for both military and commercial aviation.
Researchers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility (DFRC) at Edwards Air Force Base, California have already flown a plane with wings that bend, a modernized take on an aviation technique proven for more than 100 years.
The concept of reshaping an aircraft surface area is about as old as airplanes themselves. Orville and Wilbur Wright, for example, pulled on cables to warp the wings of their airplane in order to steer it during their historic 1903 flight. Today, airplanes use motorized flaps and ailerons attached to fixed wings to control and maneuver an aircraft.
Dryden researchers, working in tandem with the Air Force Research Laboratory, have modified the wings of an F-18 jet to carry a wing-length back flap and a segmented leading-edge flap, both connected to a fixed center that includes lighter, more flexible panel material. Together, the already test-flown system allows the flexible F-18 wing to twist and bend under aerodynamic pressure to control aircraft roll.
Researchers developed a model truss system of tiny actuators, struts and tendons to form the skeleton of a wing. While in flight, the interlocked, mechanized truss would pull on an attached wing skin of nickel-titanium or other memory alloy, shaping the outer surface from within.
To fly fast, the truss could fold into a small wing shape, then expand both wing cross-section and area to accommodate slower flight. Since memory alloys can return to their original shape, when the tendons pulling at them are released they'd just snap back into their default position.
"In a way, we're looking at an old idea with new materials. Manufacturing methods for actuators and other devices have really improved and people are still coming up with better ways all the time." The researchers said.
The truss system is still in the modeling stage, but researchers envision it could be placed inside a wing with a segmented, overlapping skin akin to a fish, and push and pull on the surface as needed. It would have to start off with small planes first, growing up through unmanned aircraft stages to an eventual full-size jet.
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