Manufacturers are beginning to consider the possibilities of moving away from traditional composite material designs but need further evidence that aero-elastically tailored composite materials can: produce weight savings; introduce aerodynamic efficiency and reduce manufacturing time without incurring cost penalties.
This research has developed advanced composite tailoring strategies using novel fibre reinforced architectures, with mechanical coupling properties that can be either maintained or tailored through a novel ply termination scheme to change the laminate thickness. Most importantly however, all designs possess immunity to thermal warping distortions; hence they can be manufactured to the desired shape using a high temperature curing system. The research results have been exploited by a leading Brazilian airframe manufacturer for preliminary design of a new aero-elastically tailored wing
