Contact-aided compliant mechanisms for morphing aircraft skin

Vipul Mehta, Mary Frecker, George Lesieutre

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sandwich structures consisting of contact-aided compliant mechanisms are presented for morphing aircraft skin. A contact mechanism is used to alleviate stresses and to decrease the oul-of-plane deflection. A methodology to design such mechanisms, which takes into account the aerodynamic loads, is presented. The method is applied to a small UAV and results are compared with those of honeycomb structures in terms of structural mass, global strain and maximum stresses. Different material models such as linearly elastic and multi-linear elastic are considered. For linearly elastic materials, contact-induced stress-relief is advantageous and for nonlinear elastic materials, reduction of transverse deflection due to contact is useful. In either ease, the structural mass of the contact-aided structures is less than that of the corresponding non-contact structures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationModeling, Signal Processing, and Control for Smart Structures 2008
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
EventModeling, Signal Processing, and Control for Smart Structures 2008 - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Mar 10 2008Mar 12 2008

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume6926
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Other

OtherModeling, Signal Processing, and Control for Smart Structures 2008
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period3/10/083/12/08

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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