Static Aeroelastic Characteristics of Morphing Trailing-Edge Wing Using Geometrically Exact Vortex Lattice Method

A morphing trailing-edge (TE) wing is an important morphing mode in aircraft design. In order to explore the static aeroelastic characteristics of a morphing TE wing, an efficient and feasible method for static aeroelastic analysis has been developed in this paper. A geometrically exact vortex lattice method (VLM) is applied to calculate the aerodynamic forces. Firstly, a typical model of a morphing TE wing is chosen and built which has an active morphing trailing edge driven by a piezoelectric patch. Then, the paper carries out the static aeroelastic analysis of the morphing TE wing and corresponding simulations were carried out. Finally, the analysis results are compared with those of a traditional wing with a rigid trailing edge using the traditional linearized VLM. The results indicate that the geometrically exact VLM can better describe the aerodynamic nonlinearity of a morphing TE wing in consideration of geometrical deformation in aeroelastic analysis. Moreover, out of consideration of the angle of attack, the deflection angle of the trailing edge, among others, the wing system does not show divergence but bifurcation. Consequently, the aeroelastic analysis method proposed in this paper is more applicable to the analysis and design of a morphing TE wing.