Intelligent and Flexible Morphing Wing Technology:A Review

Abstract

The performance requirements for aircrafts are improving continuously in the field of military reconnaissance and strike, long-distance transportation, and medical rescue. But there exist bottlenecks in improving the flight efficiency and task adaptability using traditional wings, which limits the improvement of aircraft performances. The intelligent flexible morphing wing combines various technologies including flexible material, morphing structure, distributed control and sensing. It is capable of sensing various loads and the flight attitude, and changing its geometrical shape actively to adapt itself to different flight missions and environmental conditions to obtain excellent flight performance. It plays an important role in overcoming the shortages of traditional wings and improving the aircraft performance. At present, some researches on morphing wing have been carried out. Although some progress has been made, there still exist several problems need to be solved, which limit the application and development of the intelligent morphing wing technology. The solutions become an urgent topic for resolving. Therefore, the intelligent and flexible morphing wing technology is reviewed, the key problems are analyzed, the focal research points and methods concerning the flexible material, morphing structure, distributed control, sensing and system integration and collaboration are pointed out, and the future development is predicted.