Overview of the Spanwise Adaptive Wing Project to be presented in TED Talks fashion

Benafan, Othmane

Moholt, Matthew

NASA Technical Reports Server

0
www.nasa.gov
Spanwise Adaptive Wing
Matthew Moholt Dr. Othmane Benafan
NASA AFRC NASA GRC
September 19-20 , 2017
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20170009544 2019-08-31T01:59:20+00:00Z
Enabling Reconfigurable Aircraft 
Through The Spanwise Adaptive Wing (SAW) Concept
1
• Increasing aircraft efficiency by reducing the 
rudder through the incorporation of SAW
• Lateral-directional stability and 
control augmentation
• Supersonic - Increased compression lift and reduced 
wave drag
• Enabler for supersonic flying wing design
• Articulating the outboard portions of the 
wing via Shape Memory actuation
2
SAW Development Path
3
Flight test
Ground test
CAS Objective: to develop all of the sub-systems for full scale 
infusion 
• Technology and tool development and validation
• Scale-up validation
• A plan for the next a larger demonstration in a more relevant 
environment
Reconfigurable Aircraft
4
Morphing 
Aircraft
Folding wing 
aircraft
F-111 Mission Adaptable Wing
Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge
Flexsys Flex Foil™
XB-70 Valkyrie
Historical Perspective
Ground Folding
5
F-18
Truss Braced Wing
777X
A New Way to Actuate
• Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)
– NiTiHf
 Alloys that have a “memory.” These materials have the ability 
to remember and recover their original shapes with load or 
temperature.
 SMAs exhibit a solid-to-solid, reversible phase transformation
 Can be ALL-Electric driven
6
Current State-of-the-Art Rotary Actuators 
8
HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS PNEUMATIC  ACTUATORS
Assessment of Current Technology- With ARMD Thrusts in Mind
Current Technologies (hydraulic, pneumatic, or magnetic motors) do not provide a step-change towards 
“Big Leaps” in efficiency & environmental performance
• Heavy, and bulky – other options include gear boxes – large systems
• With SMA technology: 20% the weight & 15% the size of comparable hydraulic system
Model #150000 Model #HTR150
Rotation (°) 90 90
Footprint (in) 25” x 9” x 12”, 2700 in3 27” x 11.5” x 13”, 4036 in3
Output Torque (in-lbs) 100,000 in-lbs @ 2000psi 100,000 in-lb @ 2000psi
Operating temperature (F) 0 to 200 F -40 to 250 F 
Weight (lbs) 330 lbs 321 lbs
SMA Actuator 
Model # CAS2016
• Size ~450 in3
• Weight ~58.5 lbs
• Temperatures~ tunable based on alloy used
• Torque ~ 100,000 n-lbs
• Angle ~ 90 deg
Non-traditional – Revolutionary – Transformative 
Flight testing out of the box ideas
• Roughly based on an 11%-scale 737
• Baseline configuration has an 11.3ft span, 12ft 
length, and 4.3ft height
• ~200lb gross takeoff weight (40lb payload)
• Powered by two JetCat P200 turbojet engines 
(50 lbs thrust each)
• Flown 13 times (SysID, performance evals)
9
PTERA 
Prototype-Technology Evaluation and 
Research Aircraft
Flight Test Experiment
10
Trade space evaluation
Aero analysis Hinge Loads Actuator Loads Actuator Design
Wing and Joint Design
For the PTERA demonstration SAW produces nearly 40% of total rudder authority
Can this be used to reduce rudder size?
Flight Test
• Two flight campaigns on Edwards Air Force Base dry lakebed
• First flight late October/Early November 2017
11
WORKING TOWARD FULL SCALE
12
NiTiHf Alloy Processed in Large Scale 
• 60lbs of NiTi-20Hf material were melted 
– Melting process scalable from 1 lbs to >100 lbs
– Repeatable properties  (for lab verification, actuator back ups, and future 
flights.
• Extrusion to rod and tubing 
– From 4” to 0.5” in diameter and from 1.2” to 0.5” in diameter reduction
• Tubes drilled and splined 
–Final form of actuator before training and instrumentation. 
13
Ground Test: Large tube testing 
underway 
• 20,000 in-lbf test rig
• Fully instrumented  for SMA large tube testing 
14
• 1” tube
• 10” long
3 Mechanisms for Ground Test
• Use 0.5” and 1” tubes
• Target for 90 degrees of rotation
• 5000 in-lbf torque
• Explore locking features 
15
(1)
(2)
(3)
F-18 Demonstration?
16
Fin
17


Spanwise Adaptive Wing

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NASA Technical Reports Server