Kinematic Solution for a highly adaptive Droop Nose

摘要

In this paper a kinematic solution for a highly adaptive droop nose of a single aisle passenger aircraft is shown and its development process explained. The solution presented was developed and built in the framework of the EU (FP7) project SARISTU. At the end of the project a wind tunnel test and a life-cycle ground test of the enhanced adaptive droop nose (EADN) will be performed. The aim of this project was in part to develop an unslotted droop nose skin without any gaps and steps. The kinematics described herein is considered as an enabler-technology for laminar wing flow. The kinematics ensures an adaptive high lift configuration of the unslotted leading edge, by internally deforming the skin. In the first part of this paper the kinematic design process is highlighted and an in depth exploration of optimization parameters for such a system is made. A main objective was to achieve the targeted deformation shapes with a low complexity actuation system which fits into the extremely limited available space. Special note for the design process had to be made of the large deflection vs space allocation ratio. To simplify the actuation system, simultaneous and uniform deployment of all differently sized kinematic stations is required which added further complexity to the kinematics design. The second part of this paper deals with the complete kinematic system for a wind tunnel test setup. Its functionality is described and the detailed design is shown. Thirdly a comparison is made with a previously developed kinematic system (FP7 project SADE) and scalability effects are explained in some detail. In particular the reasons why despite similar geometries almost a complete redesign was necessary are discussed. The work described in this paper shows the robustness and flexibility of the developed design tools and highlights the technological readiness of kinematic systems for morphing structures.