Shape-Shifting Aircraft Studied

Shape-Shifting Aircraft Studied

Shape-Shifting Aircraft Studied

DAYTON, Ohio – It's a bird. It's a plane. Or it might turn out to be a little like both. Researchers are aiming to find ways to enable aircraft to change shape during flight to improve performance or efficiency. The University of Dayton project is funded by a $580,000 defense contract to further the development of "morphing" aircraft.

Modern materials are enabling engineers to take a fresh look at the idea of aircraft that can flex, twist or change shape to make them more maneuverable.

NASA and the Defense Department are funding research programs to explore ideas.

Scientists hope to gain a better understanding of the basic physics of the components and subsystems that will be needed for the next generation of aircraft. The research includes evaluating flexible-skin concepts that have been proposed to enable wings to change shape, improving tools for simulating how morphing structures behave in flight, and looking at using devices within the wing skins to recover or "harvest" energy as the wings move.

The contract was awarded by Anteon, a contractor for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is directing the work.

The concept of morphing aircraft isn't new. The Wright brothers crudely mimicked birds by warping the wings of their flyers to control them in flight.

It proved simpler to keep airplane wings rigid and add hinged panels for control, but designers have used other shape-changing schemes. The F-14 Tomcat and B-1B Lancer both have hinged wings that sweep out for slow flight and back for high speed.

In a separate program, the Air Force Research Lab has been testing a design for a so-called "compliant wing" that flexes to maneuver or control an aircraft.

Researchers tested a compliant wing section in a wind tunnel at Wright-Patterson earlier this year. They plan to mount a wing section on an airplane for two weeks of flight tests in California later this month.

The lab and NASA also tested a flexing wing on a NASA F/A-18 research aircraft.