Development of Variable Camber Continuous Trailing Edge Flap for Performance Adaptive Aeroelastic Wing

This paper summarizes the recent development of an adaptive aeroelastic wing shaping control technology called variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (VCCTEF). As wing flexibility increases, aeroelastic interactions with aerodynamic forces and moments become an increasingly important consider...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). Conference Proceedings
Main Authors Nguyen, Nhan, Kaul, Upender, Lebofsky, Sonia, Ting, Eric, Chaparro, Daniel, Urnes, James
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Hampton NASA/Langley Research Center 22.09.2015
Subjects
Active control
Adaptive control
Aerodynamic forces
Aerodynamics
Aeroelastic stability
Aeroelastic wings
Aircraft
Aircraft control
Aircraft design
Aircraft industry
Aircraft performance
Boeing aircraft
Camber
Collaboration
Control stability
Drag reduction
Dynamic stability
Flight control
Flutter analysis
High lift
R&D
Research & development
Trailing edges
Wind tunnel testing
Wind tunnels
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This paper summarizes the recent development of an adaptive aeroelastic wing shaping control technology called variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (VCCTEF). As wing flexibility increases, aeroelastic interactions with aerodynamic forces and moments become an increasingly important consideration in aircraft design and aerodynamic performance. Furthermore, aeroelastic interactions with flight dynamics can result in issues with vehicle stability and control. The initial VCCTEF concept was developed in 2010 by NASA under a NASA Innovation Fund study entitled "Elastically Shaped Future Air Vehicle Concept," which showed that highly flexible wing aerodynamic surfaces can be elastically shaped in-flight by active control of wing twist and bending deflection in order to optimize the spanwise lift distribution for drag reduction. A collaboration between NASA and Boeing Research & Technology was subsequently funded by NASA from 2012 to 2014 to further develop the VCCTEF concept. This paper summarizes some of the key research areas conducted by NASA during the collaboration with Boeing Research and Technology. These research areas include VCCTEF design concepts, aerodynamic analysis of VCCTEF camber shapes, aerodynamic optimization of lift distribution for drag minimization, wind tunnel test results for cruise and high-lift configurations, flutter analysis and suppression control of flexible wing aircraft, and multi-objective flight control for adaptive aeroelastic wing shaping control.