Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin

Fadi Mishriky; Paul Walsh

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin

Fadi Mishriky, Paul Walsh

Published in American Journal of Aerospace Engineering (Volume 3, Issue 3)

Received: 19 September 2016 Accepted: 27 September 2016 Published: 18 October 2016

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Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed a growing interest among aerospace researchers and designers in aircraft morphing technology. A single aircraft with morphing wings can perform near optimum at different flight regimes by changing the geometry of its wings. With the advancements achieved in this field, a need for a reliable morphing skin is emerging. The demanding task of designing a morphing skin has to compromise between flexibility to ensure low actuation requirements, and high stiffness to carry all the aerodynamic loads. One of the viable designs that fulfills the mechanical requirements is the segmented sliding skin. In such a design, discrete panels overlap to cover the surface of the wing and slide against each other during the morphing motion. From the aerodynamic perspective, the sliding panels introduce backward-facing steps on airfoil surface. In the process of determining the optimum panels’ thickness, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the effect of the step depth and angle on the aerodynamics of an airfoil with a backward-facing step employed on its lower surface. Results showed a significant improvement in the lifting capabilities of the stepped airfoil, and this improvement is directly proportional to the step depth. On the other hand, the separated flow at the step edge induced a low pressure recirculation zone that created a suction force directly proportional to the effective area of the backward-facing step. This resulted in a drag coefficient value that is directly proportional to the step depth. The aerodynamic efficiency of the stepped airfoil was degraded in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, however decreasing the step depth largely mitigated these adverse effects. Studying different step angles showed that the step can be tilted over a wide range of angles with a negligible effect on the aerodynamics of the stepped airfoil.

Published in	American Journal of Aerospace Engineering (Volume 3, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11
Page(s)	24-30
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Aerodynamics, Backward-Facing Step, Stepped Airfoil, Morphing Wing, Morphing Skin, Segmented Sliding Skin, Computational Fluid Dynamics

References

[1]	A. Wickenheiser, and E. Garcia. Aerodynamic modeling of morphing wings using an extended lifting-line analysis. Journal of Aircraft. 2007 Jan;44(1):10-6.
[2]	A. Wickenheiser, E. Garcia, and M. Waszak. Evaluation of bio-inspired morphing concepts with regard to aircraft dynamics and performance. In Smart Structures and Materials 2004 Jul 26 (pp. 202-211).
[3]	A. Y. Sofla, S. A. Meguid, K. T. Tan, and W. K. Yeo. Shape morphing of aircraft wing: status and challenges. Materials & Design. 2010 Mar 31;31(3):1284-92.
[4]	G. Reich, and B. Sanders. Introduction to morphing aircraft research. J Aircraft 2007;44:1059.
[5]	M. T. Kikuta. Mechanical properties of candidate materials for morphing wings, 2003, p 123, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
[6]	C. Thill, J. Etches, I. Bond, K. Potter, and P. Weaver. Morphing skins. The Aeronautical Journal 2008, 112(1129), 117-139.
[7]	D. S. Ramrakhyani, G. A. Lesieutre, M. I. Frecker, and S. Bharti. Aircraft structural morphing using tendon-actuated compliant cellular trusses. Journal of aircraft. 2005 Nov;42(6):1614-20.
[8]	G. Xijuan, Z. Qiang, and F. Xi. Design Segmented Stiff Skin for a Morphing Wing. Journal of Aircraft. 2015 Dec 22:1-9.
[9]	F. Mishriky, and P. Walsh. Effect of the Backward-Facing Step Location on the Aerodynamics of a Morphing Wing. Aerospace 2016, 3, 25.
[10]	R. B. Langtry, and F. R. Menter. Correlation-based transition modeling for unstructured parallelized computational fluid dynamics codes. AIAA journal. 2009 Dec; 47(12):2894-906.
[11]	F. R. Menter, R. Langtry, and S. Völker. Transition modelling for general purpose CFD codes. Flow, turbulence and combustion. 2006 Nov 1;77(1-4):277-303.
[12]	R. B. Langtry, and F. Menter. Transition modeling for general CFD applications in aeronautics. AIAA paper. 2005 Jan 10;522(2005):14.
[13]	I. H. Abbott, and A. E. Von Doenhoff. Theory of wing sections, including a summary of airfoil data. Courier Corporation, 1959.

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APA Style

Fadi Mishriky, Paul Walsh. (2016). Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. American Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 3(3), 24-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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ACS Style

Fadi Mishriky; Paul Walsh. Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. Am. J. Aerosp. Eng. 2016, 3(3), 24-30. doi: 10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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AMA Style

Fadi Mishriky, Paul Walsh. Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. Am J Aerosp Eng. 2016;3(3):24-30. doi: 10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11,
  author = {Fadi Mishriky and Paul Walsh},
  title = {Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin},
  journal = {American Journal of Aerospace Engineering},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {24-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajae.20160303.11},
  abstract = {The past two decades have witnessed a growing interest among aerospace researchers and designers in aircraft morphing technology. A single aircraft with morphing wings can perform near optimum at different flight regimes by changing the geometry of its wings. With the advancements achieved in this field, a need for a reliable morphing skin is emerging. The demanding task of designing a morphing skin has to compromise between flexibility to ensure low actuation requirements, and high stiffness to carry all the aerodynamic loads. One of the viable designs that fulfills the mechanical requirements is the segmented sliding skin. In such a design, discrete panels overlap to cover the surface of the wing and slide against each other during the morphing motion. From the aerodynamic perspective, the sliding panels introduce backward-facing steps on airfoil surface. In the process of determining the optimum panels’ thickness, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the effect of the step depth and angle on the aerodynamics of an airfoil with a backward-facing step employed on its lower surface. Results showed a significant improvement in the lifting capabilities of the stepped airfoil, and this improvement is directly proportional to the step depth. On the other hand, the separated flow at the step edge induced a low pressure recirculation zone that created a suction force directly proportional to the effective area of the backward-facing step. This resulted in a drag coefficient value that is directly proportional to the step depth. The aerodynamic efficiency of the stepped airfoil was degraded in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, however decreasing the step depth largely mitigated these adverse effects. Studying different step angles showed that the step can be tilted over a wide range of angles with a negligible effect on the aerodynamics of the stepped airfoil.},
 year = {2016}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin
AU - Fadi Mishriky
AU - Paul Walsh
Y1 - 2016/10/18
PY - 2016
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11
DO - 10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11
T2 - American Journal of Aerospace Engineering
JF - American Journal of Aerospace Engineering
JO - American Journal of Aerospace Engineering
SP - 24
EP - 30
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2376-4821
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11
AB - The past two decades have witnessed a growing interest among aerospace researchers and designers in aircraft morphing technology. A single aircraft with morphing wings can perform near optimum at different flight regimes by changing the geometry of its wings. With the advancements achieved in this field, a need for a reliable morphing skin is emerging. The demanding task of designing a morphing skin has to compromise between flexibility to ensure low actuation requirements, and high stiffness to carry all the aerodynamic loads. One of the viable designs that fulfills the mechanical requirements is the segmented sliding skin. In such a design, discrete panels overlap to cover the surface of the wing and slide against each other during the morphing motion. From the aerodynamic perspective, the sliding panels introduce backward-facing steps on airfoil surface. In the process of determining the optimum panels’ thickness, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the effect of the step depth and angle on the aerodynamics of an airfoil with a backward-facing step employed on its lower surface. Results showed a significant improvement in the lifting capabilities of the stepped airfoil, and this improvement is directly proportional to the step depth. On the other hand, the separated flow at the step edge induced a low pressure recirculation zone that created a suction force directly proportional to the effective area of the backward-facing step. This resulted in a drag coefficient value that is directly proportional to the step depth. The aerodynamic efficiency of the stepped airfoil was degraded in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, however decreasing the step depth largely mitigated these adverse effects. Studying different step angles showed that the step can be tilted over a wide range of angles with a negligible effect on the aerodynamics of the stepped airfoil.
VL - 3
IS - 3
ER -

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Author Information

Fadi Mishriky

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Paul Walsh

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

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APA Style

Fadi Mishriky, Paul Walsh. (2016). Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. American Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 3(3), 24-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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ACS Style

Fadi Mishriky; Paul Walsh. Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. Am. J. Aerosp. Eng. 2016, 3(3), 24-30. doi: 10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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AMA Style

Fadi Mishriky, Paul Walsh. Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin. Am J Aerosp Eng. 2016;3(3):24-30. doi: 10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11,
  author = {Fadi Mishriky and Paul Walsh},
  title = {Effect of Step Depth and Angle on the Aerodynamics of a Sliding Morphing Skin},
  journal = {American Journal of Aerospace Engineering},
  volume = {3},
  number = {3},
  pages = {24-30},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajae.20160303.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajae.20160303.11},
  abstract = {The past two decades have witnessed a growing interest among aerospace researchers and designers in aircraft morphing technology. A single aircraft with morphing wings can perform near optimum at different flight regimes by changing the geometry of its wings. With the advancements achieved in this field, a need for a reliable morphing skin is emerging. The demanding task of designing a morphing skin has to compromise between flexibility to ensure low actuation requirements, and high stiffness to carry all the aerodynamic loads. One of the viable designs that fulfills the mechanical requirements is the segmented sliding skin. In such a design, discrete panels overlap to cover the surface of the wing and slide against each other during the morphing motion. From the aerodynamic perspective, the sliding panels introduce backward-facing steps on airfoil surface. In the process of determining the optimum panels’ thickness, this paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on the effect of the step depth and angle on the aerodynamics of an airfoil with a backward-facing step employed on its lower surface. Results showed a significant improvement in the lifting capabilities of the stepped airfoil, and this improvement is directly proportional to the step depth. On the other hand, the separated flow at the step edge induced a low pressure recirculation zone that created a suction force directly proportional to the effective area of the backward-facing step. This resulted in a drag coefficient value that is directly proportional to the step depth. The aerodynamic efficiency of the stepped airfoil was degraded in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio, however decreasing the step depth largely mitigated these adverse effects. Studying different step angles showed that the step can be tilted over a wide range of angles with a negligible effect on the aerodynamics of the stepped airfoil.},
 year = {2016}
}

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