Design and wind tunnel testing of a new concept of wing morphing camber system

Abstract

This thesis presents the design and manufacturing of a new morphing wing system realized at the Laboratory of Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity (LARCASE). This morphing wing system can morph the camber of the wing by modifying its trailing and leading edges. To allow this modification, slots were made in the ribs of the wing, which made them flexible according to the theory of compliant mechanism. The structural strength of the wing was studied with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) module of Catia V5 software by considering a pressure distribution on the wing surface. The aerodynamic performance of the morphing system was analyzed with the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) module in Ansys-Fluent. The functionality of the morphing system was verified by static tests in the workshop, then by dynamic tests using the LARCASE Price-Paidoussis subsonic wind tunnel. The results obtained from the wind tunnel tests have show that the morphing wing system made it possible to maintain control of the aircraft while reducing its drag. The morphing system made it possible to keep constant the mass of the wing, and it did not require excessive power consumption. Thus, the design for a wing deformation system presented in this thesis is a good option to allow the manufacturing of morphing wings for the aircraft to improve its aerodynamic performance. This design allowed us to reduce fuel consumption, increase the maximum flight time or increase the payload of the aircraft.

Date	8 Jun 2020
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Ruxandra Botez (Supervisor) & Tony Wong (Co-supervisor)