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Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (19): 30042.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2024.30042

• Reviews • Previous Articles    

Research status and development trend of morphing wingtip technology

Bin LI1, Zenan ZHANG2, Fei JIA2, Jian SUN1, Yanju LIU2(), Jinsong LENG1   

  1. 1.Center for Composite Materials and Structures,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin 150080,China
    2.Department of Astronautical Science and Mechanics,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin 150001,China
  • Received:2024-01-02 Revised:2024-01-18 Accepted:2024-03-04 Online:2024-03-21 Published:2024-03-19
  • Contact: Yanju LIU E-mail:yj_liu@hit.edu.cn

Abstract:

The wingtip has an important influence on the aerodynamic and control performance of the aircraft. Different flight stages such as take-off, climb, cruise, and descent impose diverse requirements for the geometric parameters of the wingtip. The morphing wingtip technology is a multi-functional, local morphing technology used to improve wing aerodynamic performance and fuel efficiency, reduce gust loads, and enhance control performance. This paper classifies the technical benefits of morphing wingtips from the three aspects of aerodynamic characteristics, structural response, and control characteristics, and discusses the current research status of the morphing wingtip technology from the two perspectives of wingtip deformation form, and material and structure composition. In addition, this article points out that the morphing wingtip technology is developing towards multifunctional integration, combined deformation, and intelligence. Four key technologies that need to be urgently solved for the morphing wingtip technology are presented, including the high-output actuator system, deformation/loading integrative skins, global aerodynamic optimization, and intelligent control technology, and the technical characteristics and research difficulties of each key technology are analyzed. If there is a breakthrough in the key technology of morphing wingtip, the related technology can be transplanted and applied to the global morphing aircraft.

Key words: morphing aircraft, morphing wingtip, aerodynamic characteristics, structural response, control characteristics, smart materials and structure

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