MDO Concepts for an European Research Project on Active Aeroelastic Aircraft

Schweiger, Johannes; Deutschland, Eads; Suleman, Afzal; Kuzmina, Svetlana I.; Chedrik, Victor V.; Ab, Saab

doi:10.2514/6.2002-5403

Cited by 22 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The spar is used to change the wing bending and torsional stiffness as it rotates between vertical and horizontal positions. In Europe, the Active Aeroelastic Aircraft Structures (3AS) research project (9)(10)(11) which involved a consortium of 15 European partners in the aerospace industry and was partially funded by the European Community, focused on developing active aeroelastic design concepts through exploiting structural flexibility in a beneficial manner. The final aim was to improve the aircraft aerodynamic efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roll control of a MALE UAV using the adaptive torsion wing

Ajaj¹,

Friswell

Dettmer

et al. 2013

Aeronaut. j. (1968)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper assesses the feasibility of the Adaptive Torsion Wing (ATW) concept to replace conventional ailerons and enhance the manoeuvrability of a MALE UAV. The ATW concept is a thin-walled closed section two-spar wingbox whose torsional stiffness can be adjusted through the chord-wise position of the front and rear spar webs. The reduction in torsional stiffness allows external aerodynamic loads to induce aeroelastic twist that can be used as a function of the flight conditions to obtain a desired roll control authority. Modelling of the concept was performed using a conceptual design tool developed in MATLABTM. The variation of structural figures of merit are evaluated and discussed. Finally, an MDO study was performed to have in-depth assessments of the potential benefits of the ATW in replacing ailerons and providing sufficient roll control.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roll control of a MALE UAV using the adaptive torsion wing

Ajaj¹,

Friswell

Dettmer

et al. 2013

Aeronaut. j. (1968)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Europe, the Active Aeroelastic Aircraft Structures (3AS) research project (9)(10)(11) which involved a consortium of 15 European partners in the aerospace industry and was partially funded by the European Community, focused on developing active aeroelastic design concepts through exploiting structural flexibility in a beneficial manner. The final aim was to improve the aircraft aerodynamic efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the effectiveness of active aeroelastic structures for morphing aircraft

Ajaj

Friswell²,

Flores³

2013

Aeronaut. j. (1968)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This note assesses the benefits of active aeroelastic structures (AAS) in enhancing flight performance and control authority. A representative AAS concept, whose torsional stiffness and shear centre position can be altered depending on the instantaneous flight condition, is employed in the wing of a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV. A multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) suite is used in this study. It turns out that AAS can be very effective when used for enhancing control authority of the vehicle but have limited benefits in terms of flight performance (lift to drag). NomeNClATuRe A enclosed area (m 2 ) D drag (N) ds infinitesimal segment along the perimeter of the closed section (m) G shear modulus (N/m 2 ) J torsion constant (m 4 ) L lift (N) Lr rolling moment (Nm)

show abstract

“…Moreover, conventional controls can lead to a significant increase of the airframe installation and maintenance costs of the airframe significantly [1]. For instance, retaining aileron authority at large dynamic pressures and avoiding reversal lead to a significant weight penalty for the Myasishchev M-50 and Tsybin R-020 Soviet aircrafts, since the wing structure had to be substantially reinforced [2][3][4]. Aircraft designers aim to exploit adaptive structures and the resulting wing flexibility in order to augment the performance of conventional control surfaces or to completely replace them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Europe, the Active Aeroelastic Aircraft Structures (3AS) research project [2][3][4], involved a consortium of 15 European partners belonging to the aerospace industry and was partially funded by the European Community. It focused on developing active aeroelastic design concepts via exploiting structural flexibility in a beneficial manner.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Roll Control of a UAV Using an Adaptive Torsion Structure

Allegri

Luftfahrt²,

Lyonel-Feininger-Str

2011

52nd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a novel Active Aeroelastic Structure (AAS) concept and performs a multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) study by employing this aforementioned concept in a UAV wing to provide roll control, i.e. for replacing conventional ailerons. The Adaptive Torsion Structure (ATS) concept allows varying the torsional stiffness of a two-spar wing-box by changing the relative chord-wise positions of the front and rear spar webs. Each side of the wing is divided into five equal partitions from root to tip, and the ATS concept is employed along each partition. At the ends of each partition, connecting ribs join individual ATS units. Those ribs allow the spar webs of each partition to translate independently of the spar webs of the adjacent partitions and maintain continuous load path across the wing-box. An MDO suite consisting of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimizer coupled with a high-end low-fidelity aero-structural model was developed and employed to maximize the rolling moment generated by the wing under pre-defined structural and control constraints. The study is conducted at three different points across the climb segment of the UAV, namely: start of climb, mid climb, end of climb/initial cruise.

show abstract

MDO Concepts for an European Research Project on Active Aeroelastic Aircraft

Cited by 22 publications

References 10 publications

Roll control of a MALE UAV using the adaptive torsion wing

Roll control of a MALE UAV using the adaptive torsion wing

On the effectiveness of active aeroelastic structures for morphing aircraft

Roll Control of a UAV Using an Adaptive Torsion Structure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About