Design, analysis and testing of a smart morphing airfoil actuated by SMA wires

Abstract Nowadays, weight reduction and efficiency improvement in different parts of airplanes are the most challenging issues of engineering which are being overcome by new approaches like the employment of modern sciences namely smart materials. The research on enhancement of lift coefficient of the aircraft’s wing has made it necessary to revise the use of discontinuous flaps. Design, analysis, and the test of a smart morphing airfoil are being studied in this research which is independent of traditional colossal and bulky actuators such as hydraulic jacks and various linkages by using Shape Memory Alloy wires in order to change the camber of airfoil by continuously movement of trailing edge. To this end, flexibility enhancement is evaluated by exploiting an innovative design of a novel composite beam. Flexibility creation in a composite airfoil prototype with an implemented similar design on the beam at the previous step and using shape memory alloy wires on this structure as actuator facilitates the achievement of an applicable smart morphing airfoil. In the end, by modeling and testing investigated structures, this research attempts to answer the question ‘Is it possible to anticipate real displacements of the airfoil by simulating smart airfoil structure by finite element analysis?’. The answer is affirmative with 1.31 mm root mean square error between the tail displacement of the simulated model of the airfoil and experimental results.