Parameterized modeling methodology for efficient aeroservoelastic analysis of a morphing wing

The folding wing, as one of possible concept for designing morphing aircraft, has been gained special attention. During the in-flight morphing operation (that is, variation in folding angle), the natural frequencies and mode shapes could be dramatically changed, which may induce aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instabilities. The paper presents a novel parameterized aeroservoelastic modeling approach for a folding wing with a variation in the folding angle. The most attractive feature of the methodology is that the mathematical aeroservoelastic model of the folding wing with different aerodynamic configurations can be efficiently obtained via the proposed parameterized modeling method. Based on the present parameterized aeroservoelastic model, the control law design and closed-loop aeroservoelastic analysis can be quickly implemented without the need of repeated finite element modeling for each specific folding angle. To demonstrate the accuracy of the present parameterized modeling method in predicting the aeroservoelastic behaviors, the frequency responses at different folding angles are compared with the direct results computed via the commercial software. As the second task of this study, the closed-loop stability analysis of active flutter suppression for the morphing wing is also investigated via the present parameterized aeroservoelastic model. The numerical simulations show that the aeroservoelastic behaviors of the morphing wing can be investigated efficiently via the present parameterized modeling method.