Real time morphing wing optimization validation using wind-tunnel tests

Abstract

In this paper, wind-tunnel results of a real time optimization of a morphing wing in the wind tunnel for delaying the transition toward the trailing edge are presented. A morphing rectangular finite aspect ratio wing, having a wind tunnel experimental airfoil reference airfoil cross section, was considered, with its upper surface made of a flexible composite material and instrumented with Kulite pressure sensors and two smart memory alloys actuators. Several wind-tunnel test runs for various Mach numbers, angles of attack, and Reynolds numbers were performed in the 6' × 9' wind tunnel at the Institute for Aerospace Research at the National Research Council Canada. Unsteady pressure signals were recorded and used as feedback in real time control while the morphing wing was requested to reproduce various optimized airfoils by changing automatically the two actuators' strokes. This paper shows the optimization method implemented into the control software code that allows the morphing wing to adjust its shape to an optimum configuration under the wind-tunnel airflow conditions. Copyright © 2009.