Aeroelastic Considerations on Shape Control of an Adaptive Wing

In this work, the aeroelastic effects on the shape control of an adaptive camber wing are studied through numerical simulation. The adaptive camber concept consists of a compliant beam, actuated by a series of piezoelectric actuators, embedded within the rib to deform the wing in an effort to produce a desired lift. Piezoelectric laminated plate theory is used to model the actuation force and the resulting camber line shape of the wing. The aerodynamic forces are calculated using two-dimensional airfoil theory and a feedback shape control algorithm is applied to obtain the desired camber. The results of the simulations demonstrate that the deformations due to aerodynamic forces are large enough to significantly alter the total lift produced by the wing as compared with the lift produced solely through actuation. Using an adaptive control algorithm, aeroelastic shape control of the adaptive camber wing is successfully achieved. Moreover, it is shown that, due to aerodynamic forces, the power requirements of shape control might be reduced.