Smart Morphing and Sensing for Aeronautical Configurations

This book reports on advanced strategies to design, modeling and testing morphing wings for aeronautical applications. Covering the major outcomes of the multidisciplinary project “Smart Morphing & Sensing” (H2020 N° 723402 SMS), funded by the European Union between 2017 and 2020, it presents a complete set of theories and methods that have been used and developed to integrate novel electroactive actuators and sensors in wings, for the purpose of increasing their aerodynamic efficiency and attenuate vibrations and noise. Topics include: integrated aeroelastic design of morphing wings using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics and structural mechanics, distributed sensing using a new generation of high-fidelity fiber optics sensors, and controller design by appropriate flight control commands. Further, the book reports on advanced experimental techniques to validate novel actuation and sensing systems on the built prototypes via wind tunnel tests at subsonic (take-off and landing) and transonic (cruise) speeds. All in all, this volume provides readers with extensive and timely information on research and developments of bioinspired aircraft wings.