Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The proposed research has the aim to improve the aerodynamic performances of morphing aircraft systems in flight that would conduct to minimum fuel reduction of 5%, and would result in green gas-house reduction, that is of high worldwide interest from ecological, economical and social points of view. The aerodynamic performances are expressed in terms of lift increase, drag reduction, lift to drag ratio increase, flow transition delay from laminar to turbulent region, and would result in desired fuel reduction. This research will use the equipments existing at the Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity LARCASE. These equipments are two Unmanned Aerial Systems UAS-S4 and UAS-S45 designed by Hydra Technologies in Mexico, two research flight simulators for the Cessna Citation X business aircraft, and for the CRJ-700 commercial aircraft, and the subsonic Price-Païdoussis blow down wind tunnel. Both research flight simulators were developed by CAE Inc. in collaboration with aircraft manufacturers, and are equipped with highest level D flight dynamics data certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Based on these data, the LARCASE team developed their in-house flight simulators (CAE Inc. and Hydra Technologies have not delivered these models due to confidentiality reasons). The objectives of this research are to improve the aerodynamic performances of the morphing surface systems of aircraft, as follows: 1. UAS-S4 and UAS-S45 Morphing Wing Systems Development � Aero-Structural-Controls interactions studies will be performed for the design and analysis of various morphing wing systems. These systems will be manufactured, and experimentally tested using bench, and Price-Païdoussis wind tunnel tests. � These morphing wing systems will be integrated on both UAS in-house flight simulator models in order to obtain the aerodynamic performance of the morphing UAS with respect to the aerodynamic performance of the baseline UAS. It will be possible to test in flight these systems in collaboration with Hydra Technologies in Mexico on their military controlled airport. 2. Cessna Citation X and CRJ-700 Morphing Horizontal Tail and Winglet Systems Development � Aero-Controls studies will be performed for the design and analysis of horizontal tail and winglet morphing systems. � The methodology used to design the in-house flight simulator model for the Cessna Citation X will be adapted to design the CRJ-700 in-house aircraft simulator model. Then, the morphing surface systems will be integrated on the flight simulator models of the Cessna Citation X and CRJ-700 in order to compare their aerodynamic performance on the whole flight envelope in comparison with those of the baseline horizontal tail and winglet systems. In fact, some of the design and testing concepts developed for UAS morphing wing systems could be used in the design of both aircraft morphing horizontal tail and winglet systems.