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Aerospace
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Morphing Aircraft
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Morphing Aircraft

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Aeronautics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2023) | Viewed by 4838

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Bruce W. Jo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN 38505, USA
Interests: camber morphing wing; design; aerodynamics; flight control; morphing mechanisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Morphing technologies offer significant potential to improve aircraft performance through substantial adjustment of wing shapes. While fixed wings in conventional aircraft are optimized in a single flight mode, actively shape-changing morphing wings could be designed and implemented, aerodynamically optimized in multiple flight modes, even considering external load and possibly even the aerostructure aspect. Topics of interests for technical articles in this Special Issue of Aerospace on “Morphing Aircraft” include but are not limited to: 1) aerodynamic performance and characteristic analysis, 2) aeroelasticity analysis, 3) flight control for morphing aircraft, 4) development of design methodology and aerodynamic optimization, 5) development of design methodology and aerostructure optimization, 6) development of design methodology and design optimization, 7) flight dynamics and control design for morphing aircraft, 8) manufacturing approaches for morphing aircraft, 9) material adoption and property analysis for morphing wings, 10) structure and mechanics adoption and analysis for morphing aircraft, 11) actuation and control mechanism development using smart materials, 12) actuation and control mechanism development using conventional devices, 13) modeling, analysis, and validation of morphing aircraft, 14) material and structure for morphing wing skin, and 15) wind-tunnel testing and flight test of morphing aircraft. In addition, review articles covering state-of-the-art morphing technologies are also welcomed.

Dr. Bruce W. Jo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 10310 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Short-Term Dynamics of Morphing Aircraft Caused by Shape Change Based on the Open-Loop Response and the Reachable Set Theory
by Fuming Xia, Bo Jing and Wenfeng Xu
Aerospace 2023, 10(5), 448; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10050448 - 12 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1105
Abstract
This work investigates the short-term dynamics caused by shape changes of morphing aircraft. We select a symmetric variable sweep morphing aircraft as the object of study and establish a six-degree-of-freedom multi-loop cascade model, and the coupling between derivative terms is eliminated by matrix [...] Read more.
This work investigates the short-term dynamics caused by shape changes of morphing aircraft. We select a symmetric variable sweep morphing aircraft as the object of study and establish a six-degree-of-freedom multi-loop cascade model, and the coupling between derivative terms is eliminated by matrix transformation. Considering that the change in aerodynamic shape significantly affects the aerodynamic forces of the aircraft in a short period of time, and the variation in mass distribution generates additional aerodynamic forces and moments, we analyze the effects of these factors on the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft based on the open-loop response starting from the steady-state flight conditions. In addition, we analyze the improvement in maneuvering performance brought by morphing as an additional control input. We apply reachable set theory to multi-loop equations of motion and use the size of the reachable set to measure the maneuverability of aircraft. The results confirm that morphing can effectively improve the maneuverability of the aircraft. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphing Aircraft)
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17 pages, 1144 KiB  
Article
Functional Hazard Assessment of a Modular Re-Configurable Morphing Wing Using Taguchi and Finite Element Methodologies
by Faisal Mahmood, Seyed M. Hashemi and Hekmat Alighanbari
Aerospace 2023, 10(3), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10030300 - 17 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1457
Abstract
Growing concerns over the CO2 footprint due the exponential demand of the aviation industry, along with the requirements for high aerodynamic performance, cost saving, and manoeuvrability during different phases of a flight, pave the path towards adaptable wing design. Morphing wing design [...] Read more.
Growing concerns over the CO2 footprint due the exponential demand of the aviation industry, along with the requirements for high aerodynamic performance, cost saving, and manoeuvrability during different phases of a flight, pave the path towards adaptable wing design. Morphing wing design encompasses most, if not all, of the flight condition variations, and can respond interactively. However, functional failure of the morphing wing might bring devastating impacts on the passengers, crew, and/or aircraft. In the present work, the dynamic characteristics of a re-configurable modular morphing wing developed in-house by a research group at the Toronto Metropolitan University, are investigated from the perspective of a functional hazard assessment (FHA). This modular morphing wing, developed based on the idea of a parallel robot, consists of a number of structural elements connected to each other and to the wing ribs through eye-bolt joints. Timoshenko’s bending beam theory, in conjunction with the finite element method (FEM), is exploited to model the structural members. Possible hazards, assumed here to be the structural failure of the beam components, have been identified and their failure conditions are assessed. Numerical simulations have been presented to show the impact of various combinations of the identified hazards on the vibration signature of the morphing wing in unmorphed and morphed configurations. Identification of changes in the wing’s vibration signature is a vital component in the fail-safe structural and aeroelastic design of an aircraft. The present study is geared towards the structural response of the system in the absence of any aerodynamic loads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphing Aircraft)
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24 pages, 2808 KiB  
Article
A Nonlinear Programming-Based Morphing Strategy for a Variable-Sweep Morphing Aircraft Aiming at Optimizing the Cruising Efficiency
by Wenfeng Xu, Yinghui Li, Binbin Pei and Zhilong Yu
Aerospace 2023, 10(1), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10010049 - 04 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1373
Abstract
This work develops a morphing decision strategy to optimize the cruising efficiency for a variable-sweep morphing aircraft, and a simple and practical guidance and control system is given as well. They can work in tandem to accomplish a cruise mission effectively. To make [...] Read more.
This work develops a morphing decision strategy to optimize the cruising efficiency for a variable-sweep morphing aircraft, and a simple and practical guidance and control system is given as well. They can work in tandem to accomplish a cruise mission effectively. To make the morphing decision accurately, we take into account the equilibrium equations of forces; the variations in airspeed, altitude, and mass and the optimal configurations for different cruise conditions are solved based on the nonlinear programming method with the objective of minimum engine thrust. Considering that a large amount of computational resources are required to solve the nonlinear programming problems, we establish an offline database of the optimal configurations and design a database-based online morphing decision process. In addition, the proposed morphing decision strategy includes an anti-disturbance mechanism, which ensures that the optimal configuration can be given accurately without chattering under fluctuating airspeed measurements. Comparative results from the simulations finally validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphing Aircraft)
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