Dynamic shape control of piezocomposite-actuated morphing wings with vibration suppression

Aerodynamic properties and aeroelastic responses of morphing wings can be improved via active shape control using piezoelectric actuators. In this article, a type of piezocomposite material called macro-fiber composite is used for actuation to achieve shape control of the morphing wing. This study focuses on the vibration suppression of the wing during dynamic morphing motion in open-loop architecture. The aeroelastic model is established using finite element method and Theodorsen unsteady aerodynamic loads. Because the arbitrary selection of any admissible control voltage profiles will cause vibrations of the wing structure and fluctuations in aerodynamic lift, a dynamic shape control approach is presented to optimize the voltage profiles for the actuators. A proof-of-concept simulation is presented for a scaled high-aspect-ratio wing. The results show that continuous, smooth morphing motion with gentle aeroelastic responses can be realized by applying the optimum voltage profiles. The dynamic shape control performance of the morphing wing can be improved compared with step and ramp voltage profiles.