Smart materials and actuators meet a noticeable requirement for the shape control of aerodynamic surfaces. This interest is borne as well to reduced scale where space is limited for the machining of models allowing one to demonstrate the merits of some advanced concepts as to full scale prototypes, where these innovative mechanisms are supposed to replace advantageously hydraulic or classical electromagnetic solutions. These new devices are even supposed to provide in some cases several benefits for integrity improvement of the structure itself. The extrapolation from one to the other is nevertheless not straight forward and must take into account the distinct specifications of aviation constraints and the cost. If bulk and multilayered electro-active materials and integrated adaptive systems arising from them are convenient for dynamic control, shape memory alloys are only suitable for slow but quite significant geometry changes. After a brief survey of the most outstanding properties, the availability and the limitations of usual materials, actuators and electronic controllers, easily obtainable on the market, the paper deals with some technological applications experimented on models. The subjects investigated concern the flap deflection, the twist of rotor blades and the swelling of a wing profile.
Materials and actuators for the shape control of structures
2001
12 Seiten, 22 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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