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NASA Tests Aircraft With Shape Shifting Wings
Zothecula writes In January, we first heard about FlexFoil; a variable geometry airfoil system that seamlessly integrates into the trailing edge of the wing. During the year the system has made the leap from the test bench to the sky, with NASA conducting tests of the FlexFoil on a modified Gulfstream III business jet.
What do you think the first "A" in NASA stands for? This is far more appropriate than the money they are wasting on the SLS - private industry is doing that quite nicely (except for the congressional pork aspect).
It looks like it is flexible wing without hinges. I thought that they started testing that a while ago on the F-111.
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I know, I know...never read the article. I'll save you from the horror of having to read the whole thing:
"This allows the FlexFoil to act like a flap in its various positions while still providing an unbroken air surface. This makes for a more streamlined wing and reduces noise during takeoffs and landings."
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
According to TFA, they're replacements for flaps or slats that are a panel, continuous with the wing surface, that flexes, rather than pivoting or sliding.
This eliminates the gap, which starts vortices (causing noise and other issues).
So wing shape changing via pivoting panels has been stock for a while, while (comparably sized) profile changes done by flexing wing sections with skins continuous with the rest of the wing are what is new.
(Note that adjusting a wing by flexing it - slightly, over its full surface - has been around for a VERY long time. The Wright Brothers used it for yaw control, though they augmented (not replaced) it with a vertical rudder, starting with the glider that immediately preceded the "first powered flight" craft.)
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It looks like it is flexible wing without hinges. I thought that they started testing that a while ago on the F-111.
Oh, you mean wing warping? Now where have I see this before?
(Note that adjusting a wing by flexing it - slightly, over its full surface - has been around for a VERY long time. The Wright Brothers used it for yaw control, though they augmented (not replaced) it with a vertical rudder, starting with the glider that immediately preceded the "first powered flight" craft.)
All of which makes the article's breathless touting of this "innovation" pretty funny.
Two of the most basic moves in engineering are:
1) Take two functions that used to be separate and integrate them into a single component. This increases efficiency.
2) Take two functions that are performed by a single component and split them apart. This increases robustness.
Which move is a good idea at any time depends heavily on technology. Wing-warping (lift and control both done by the same component) was a poor fit for wood-and-fabric technology, so ailerons (lift and control done by separate components) was a good move. Metal frames and skins were not much different from wood and fabric in this regard, but now we are making aircraft mostly out of plastic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner) it may be time to reconsider the problem (which I guess has been done for some military aircraft already).
But it's not like this is a super-innovative work of genius. It's a pretty standard move that any good engineer is likely to consider when faced with a problem of efficiency (although exactly why integrated flaps are supposed to be such a huge improvement is not at all clear from TFA).
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
You can't feather a jet.
I STRONGLY disagree. This Is VERY innovative technology.
Flexture / compliant structural engineering is NOT trivial.
We're talking about a complex interaction of kinematics, material science, fatigue, structures, non-linear dynamic loads, and in this case even thermal loads because temperatures drop significantly at altitude and you're not going to want a brittle material failure. Not to mention the controls engineering and software required to control and monitor the structure or the exotic manufacturing processes required to make open celled structures. Are we talking about isotropic materials? Because if we're talking about composite materials, the complexity just became exponentially more complex. Did I even mention the Aerodynamicists role in this project yet?
Frankly, I'm having more difficulty trying to think of engineering displines that are *not* used by this technology.
Here's a "Simple" two dimensional cross section of a compliant wing design. http://www.topology-opt.com/wp...
In a real world 3D example, it's not likely that the 3D design would be a extruded version of the 2D profile.