An aircraft wing having a foldable wing tip comprises an inner region 1 and an outer region 3 rotatable relative to the inner region between a flight configuration and a ground configuration. A method of manufacturing a foldable wing comprises the steps of designing the foldable aerodynamic structure by: (i) choosing a desired position of the outer region 3 in the ground configuration; (ii) choosing the path of a cut line 9 separating the inner 1 and outer regions 3; (iii) determining the location and orientation of an Euler axis of rotation 11 about which the outer region would need to rotate, from the flight configuration, to achieve the desired position in the ground configuration; (iv) determining a cut surface 13 separating the inner and outer regions; and (v) iteratively repeating at least some of steps (i) to (iv) until a cut surface 13 is obtained in which the inner and outer regions do not clash when rotating between the flight and ground configurations. The foldable wing tip enables the span of the aircraft to be reduced whilst on the ground to allow operations at airports that might not otherwise be able to accommodate large span aircraft.
An aircraft comprising a foldable aerodynamic structure and a method of manufacturing a foldable aerodynamic structure for an aircraft
2015-10-07
Patent
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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