Aeroelastic behaviour of a flexible morphing wing design for unmanned aerial vehicle

Static aeroelastic analysis of a flexible morphing wing design for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) subjected to different flight mission profiles is investigated. The considered morphing wing design, accounting for wing flexural and torsional stiffness as well as rigid body dynamics for varied flight scenarios, was developed using a consistent lumped mass approach. Specifically, a two-dimensional strip model is used to calculate the quasi-steady aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the morphed wing. The resulting aeroelastic equations are then integrated numerically using a fourth order Runge–Kutta scheme to establish the time history of the wing for the considered various flight scenarios. Discrete gust input in the time domain is introduced to simulate the wing response to this perturbation. The presented numerical results provide an effective physical insight into the behavior of the morphed wing under different geometrical configurations and are useful for the design of the actuation system, flight controller, and gust alleviation.