Control of a Swept Wing Tailless Aircraft Through Wing Morphing
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2007 Control of a swept wing tailless aircraft through wing morphing Richard W. Guiler West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Guiler, Richard W., "Control of a swept wing tailless aircraft through wing morphing" (2007). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2779. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/2779 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONTROL OF A SWEPT WING TAILLESS AIRCRAFT THROUGH WING MORPHING by Richard W. Guiler Dissertation submitted to the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering Approved by Wade Huebsch, PhD., Committee Chairperson John Loth, PhD. Gary Morris, PhD. John Kuhlman, PhD. Jens Madsen, PhD. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Morgantown, West Virginia 2007 Keywords: Morphing Aircraft Structures, Tailless Aircraft, Horten, Wing Twist, Blended Wing Body and Aircraft Controls Copyright 2007 Richard W. Guiler i Abstract CONTROL OF A SWEPT WING TAILLESS AIRCRAFT THROUGH WING MORPHING by Richard W. Guiler Inspired by flight in nature, work done by Lippisch, the Hortens, and Northrop offered insight to achieving the efficiency of bird flight with swept-wing tailless aircraft. Tailless designs must incorporate aerodynamic compromises for control, which have inhibited potential advantages. A morphing mechanism, capable of changing the twist of wing and that can also provide pitch, roll and yaw control for a tailless swept wing aircraft is the first step to a series of morphing techniques, which will lead to more fluid, bird-like flight. This research focuses on investigating the design of a morphing wing to improve the flight characteristics of swept wing Horten type tailless aircraft. Free flight demonstrators, wind tunnel flow visualization, wind-tunnel force and moment data along with CFD studies have been used to evaluate the stability, control and efficiency of a morphing swept wing tailless aircraft. A wing morphing mechanism for the control of a swept wing tailless aircraft has been developed. This new control technique was experimentally and numerically compared to an existing elevon equipped tailless aircraft and has shown the potential for significant improvement in efficiency. The feasibility of this mechanism was also validated through flight testing of a flight weight version. In the process of comparing the Horten type elevon equipped aircraft and the morphing model, formal wind tunnel verification of wingtip induced thrust, found in Horten (Bell Shaped Lift distribution) type swept wing tailless aircraft was documented. A more complete physical understanding of the highly complex flow generated in the control region of the morphing tailless aircraft has been developed. CFD models indicate the possibility of the presence of a Leading Edge Vortex (LEV) on the control section morphing wing when the tip is twisted between +3.5 degrees and +7 degrees. The presence of this LEV causes a reduction of drag while lift is increased. Similar LEVs have been documented in use by birds and insects. ii Dedication The author wishes to thank my family for all the support and patience, which made it possible to continue this exciting research. Acknowledgments The author wishes to express my sincere gratitude to my committee for all the help in order to complete this work. I would also like to thank Dr. Karl Nickel and Gunilde Nickel for their support, advice and encouragement. iii Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................. ii Dedication .........................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. iv List of Figures................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xii Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Swept-wing Tailless Aircraft ........................................................................ 3 1. Early Swept-wing Tailless Aircraft ......................................................................... 3 2. Alexander Lippisch................................................................................................... 5 3. John K. Northrop.................................................................................................... 13 4. Reimar and Walter Horten.................................................................................... 16 5. Recent Swept Wing Tailless Aircraft Developments ........................................... 26 6. Karl Nickel............................................................................................................... 31 7. Lockheed Martin..................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 2 Wing Morphing............................................................................................ 34 1. Early Aircraft Morphing Developments............................................................... 34 2. NASA Mission Adaptive Wing (MAW) ................................................................ 34 3. NASA Active Aero-elastic Wing (AAW)............................................................... 35 4. NASA Biologically Inspired Aerodynamic Geometries....................................... 36 5. DARPA / Lockheed MAS....................................................................................... 37 6. University of Florida............................................................................................... 39 7. Current Morphing Component Technology ........................................................ 40 Chapter 3 Research........................................................................................................ 47 1. Overview .................................................................................................................. 47 2. Objectives................................................................................................................. 47 3. Parallel Work .......................................................................................................... 48 4. Geometry / Aerodynamics...................................................................................... 49 5. Morphing mechanism development ...................................................................... 50 6. Wind Tunnel Preparation ...................................................................................... 63 7. Data Acquisition System......................................................................................... 63 iv 8. Force and Moment Balance System ...................................................................... 64 9. Wind Tunnel Test Case .......................................................................................... 67 10. Wind Tunnel Testing ............................................................................................ 72 11. Computational Fluid Dynamic studies................................................................ 84 12. Flight testing of the adaptive washout morphing mechanism ........................ 105 13. Error analysis...................................................................................................... 115 14. Discussion of Results........................................................................................... 121 Conclusions.................................................................................................................... 131 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 133 Appendix A – Force Balance Data .............................................................................. 137 Appendix B – Wind Tunnel Data ................................................................................ 140 Curriculum Vitae.......................................................................................................... 146 v List of Figures Figure 1– Span-wise lift distributions, Bell shaped