Research on morphing scheme and forward-swept wing parameters based on a forward-swept wing morphing aircraft

Abstract

The morphing aircraft can change the shape of the vehicle by local or whole to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft in a wide speed range, so as to achieve multi-task functions or multiple control purposes. Based on the self-developed numerical simulation platform ARI_CFD, a three-dimensional numerical simulation method is used to study the aerodynamic influence of the variable forward sweeping schemes and the main parameters of the forward-swept wing on the aircraft. The results show that, the two morphing schemes including “The forward-swept wing embedding in the main wing” and “the main wing rotation” both have advantages and disadvantages in the design aspects of the forward-swept wing and its morphing mechanism, in addition, the aerodynamic evaluation shows that the aerodynamic characteristics of the two morphing schemes are not very different and can be selected according to the specific condition as appropriate. With the increase of the exposed area of the forward-swept wing, the maximum lift-drag ratio of the whole aircraft increases first and then decreases with a non-monotonic changing law. Backward shifting of the forward-swept wing position is beneficial to improving the lift and lift-drag ratio of the whole aircraft, and is beneficial to increase the variable forward-swept wing size. By changing relative thickness of the forward-swept wing airfoil from 0.04 to 0.06, the lift-drag ratio of the forward-swept wing itself increases from 33.55 to 37.72, making transonic lift-drag ratio of the whole aircraft increases from 11.29 to 11.60. The use of a high-lift airfoil with bigger camber on the forward-swept wing can effectively increase the lift-drag ratio of the layout, and the aerodynamic efficiency gain of the whole aircraft can reach up to 13.2%. The optimization of the wing tip planform can enhance the aerodynamic efficiency near the wing tip, but the effect is very limited. The results show that a well-designed morphing aircraft with forward-swept wing can significantly improve transonic aerodynamic performance. It is verified that forward-swept wing morphing aircraft has much development potential as a multi-task vehicle within a wide speed range. This study can provide references for the design of the morphing aircraft.