The goal of the present paper is to provide experimental validation data for the aeroelastic analysis of composite aeroelastically tailored wings with a closed-cell cross-sectional structure. Several rectangular wings with differ- ent skin thicknesses and composite layups are designed in order to minimise root bending moment under manoeuvre loading using an aeroelastic anal- ysis framework that closely couples a geometrically nonlinear beam model to a vortex lattice aerodynamic model. The globally convergent method of moving asymptotes is used to derive an optimised layup for the tailored wings. In addition a quasi-isotropic wing is analysed to serve as a ref- erence. Both the tailored wings and the quasi-isotropic wing have been manufactured and tested structurally and in the wind tunnel. In the wind tunnel, aerodynamic forces and moments and wing deformation have been measured to provide experimental validation data. @en

In a wind tunnel experiment a morphing wing with span extension and camber morphing was investigated. The considered aircraft is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a span of 4 m. During the investigations a half wing model was analysed with pressure and structural measurement. The half wing model has three different morphing mechanisms. The focus is on the morphing leading edge concept, which will be shortly described with the main objectives. First of all the morphing leading edge will be described. Afterwards the results of the wind tunnel measurement for pressure distribution, balance and deformation measurement will be presented and discussed.@en

Driven by a need to improve the efficiency of aircraft and reduce the fuel consumption, composite materials are applied extensively in the design of aircraft. A dynamic aeroelastic framework for the conceptual design of a generic composite wing structure is presented. The wing is discretised in several spanwise sections, where each section has a number of laminates throughout the cross-section, each having their own stiffness and thickness. The model uses a geometrically nonlinear beam model linearized around the nonlinear static aeroelastic equilibrium position coupled to a continuous-time state-space unsteady aerodynamic model to obtain the dynamic aeroelastic response, making the model suitable for dynamic aeroelastic analysis of generic aircraft wings under the assumption of small disturbances with respect to the static aeroelastic equilibrium position. Two optimisations are run for a generic aircraft wing under manoeuvre load conditions and aeroelastic, structural, and aerodynamic constraints: one, a quasi-isotropic wing to serve as a reference solution and two, a fully tailored wing clearly showing the benefit of aeroelastic tailoring and the use of the present framework for conceptual wing design.@en

Driven by the need to improve the performance and energy-efficiency of aircraft, current research in the field of morphing wings is growing in significance. The most recently developed concepts typically adjust only one characteristic of the wing. Within this paper a new concept for morphing wings is developed and tested, enabling large changes of the chord length and camber simultaneously. By changing two characteristics of the wing instead of one, the range of flight missions can be extended more effectively. To achieve these large shape changes, highly adaptable leading and trailing sections are mounted onto a rigid wingbox. A thin polymer film is encompassing these three sections. By adjusting the length of this film, the outline of the wing can be changed significantly. A prototype has been designed and manufactured for wind tunnel tests. The leading and trailing sections are made of polyurethane foam, which can be compressed to 10 percent of its original volume. Different polyurethane foams are tested for optimal stiffness to withstand the aerodynamic loads acting on the wing, while being soft enough to accommodate the large deformations. The film encompassing the sections is retracted into the wingbox to achieve the desired shapes of the airfoil. On the one hand, this film needs to be very thin to fit into the wingbox, while on the other hand it needs to be stiff enough to withstand the pressure exerted by the foam. The manufactured prototype enables changes of the chord length by 30 percent and the camber by 10 percent of the chord length. These deformations were achieved without any significant kinking or buckling. Three different asymmetric airfoil shapes and two symmetric shapes with different chord lengths were tested in a series of wind tunnel tests. All five airfoil shapes deformed very little under wind loads. The lift and drag results were compared to generate values and matched very closely. The prototype fulfils all predefined requirements and performs very well over a wide range of airfoil shapes and wind speeds. @en