Demonstration of adaptive structure performance on modular micro air vehicle

Demonstration of the performance of adaptive structures on air vehicles in general has been a rather difficult subject. Different reasons such as cost, risk, actuator capability, time and possibly also others have prevented this performance to be demonstrated exhaustively. Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are small aircraft that operate at low Reynolds numbers, which is a condition similar to what birds and insects operate in. Therefore many nature inspired adaptive structures can be studied. In this paper, the MAV of wing span of 40cm and length of 25cm, Zimmerman plan from wing are use as the base design. Based on modular design, adaptive structures such as vector thrust propulsion system, morphing wing thickness, flexible stiffness wing, variable V-tail angle, and variable angle winglet can be applied on virtually the same MAV platform. Those different options have been studied thought the mixture of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD), Finite element, Fluid Solid/Structure Interaction (FSI) method is latter used to study the effect of the aeroelasticity on adaptive structure. Simulated results are validated though static, wind tunnel and flight tests.