Fundamental Study on Adaptive Wing Structure for Control of Wing Load Distribution

Abstract

When damage occurrs on a wing during flight, the stress at the damage site becomes large and the risk of catastrophic failure increases. In order to deal with this problem, Objective Stress Reduction (OSR) is considered by controlling the wing load distribution using an adaptive wing. The purpose of OSR is to reduce all or part of the stress acting on the wing. OSR also helps to adjust the extent of reduction depending on the condition in order to avoid increasing drag as much as possible. Static aeroelastic analysis is conducted for an adaptive wing model that has plain flaps at its leading- and trailing-edges using MSC/NASTRAN. From the results of a parametric study, it is revealed that the bending moment and drag are in a trade-off, and that OSR can adjust the extent of stress reduction depending on the various flight conditions by controlling the set of flap deflection angles.