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Smart material is a suitable candidate for adaptive airfoil design as it can be customized to generate a specific response to a combination of inputs. Shape memory alloy (SMA) in particular is lightweight, produces high force and large deflection which makes it a suitable candidate for actuator in the adaptive airfoil design. By attaching SMA wires inside the airfoil, they can be activated to alter the shape of the airfoil. Placement of the actuator is crucial in obtaining the desired change of the airfoil camber. This paper proposed a design for the morphing wing aimed at changing the camber of the airfoil during cruise in order to increase the lift-to-drag ratio. Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis predicted the deformed airfoil geometry when the SMA wires were fully actuated. Numerical results are presented along with issues related to the fabrication of the morphing wing and implementation of the SMA actuator.

This paper describes a strategy to simulate a dynamic model of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in flight transition from vertical climb to horizontal flight. Based on unique aerodynamic characteristics from CFD calculation and theoretical method the flight dynamics of ducted fan UAV is able to be modeled and simulated accurately. MATLAB/Simulink V-Realm Builder is a design and modeling software tool for air vehicles that is capable of modeling the performance and flight dynamics during the conceptual and preliminary stage of aircraft design. To develop a control strategy, modeling and simulation of flight dynamics of ducted fan UAV is necessary, because it not only can be applied to optimize dynamic model, but also be used to ensure the dynamic model match with control law.

A Columned Multi-Bubble Fuselage (CMBF) concept is proposed for a Blended Wing Body Ultra Heavy Lift aircraft design. Inter-cabin wall sections were replaced with columns to provide a large and contiguous area. The configuration allows the membrane stresses of the round wing panels to be balanced with the tensile stresses in the columns. CMBF was analyzed and compared with a conventional Multi Bubble Fuselage (MBF) to verify its structural performance regarding weight reduction and stiffness. Initial analysis shows that the CMBF has a significant weight advantage over conventional MBF. The paper introduces the objectives of the project and presents preliminary structural design and analysis results.

The design of a longitudinal stability augmentation system (SAS) for an aircraft with reduced tail size in the preliminary design phase is presented. Reducing tail size will reduce drag and weight and result in better fuel consumption, but it will reduce the level of stability. A control law is designed to give the aircraft the same stability level as that with the initial tail size. The feedback gains of the control law is computed with the equivalent stability derivative criteria of and CmαCmq . The paper also gives an overview of classical root locus and pole placement method and demonstrates that equivalent stability derivative criteria is suitable for preliminary aircraft design applications. Moreover, the control laws are also synthesized using robust control LQG/LTR which can be elaborated more in the detail design phase.