Design Space Bounding of Desktop 3D Printed Wings with Curvilinear Spars

This work explores the design space for a wing built with desktop 3D printers. The choice of manufacturing technology leads to an unconventional design pattern compared to a standard spar-rib built-up wing, and results in a wing design such that the the internal structure is sized primarily to support the load-bearing skin during the manufacturing process and during flight. Experimental bend testing was performed to validate the design pattern. Design space exploration is performed to find the limitations of fabricating wings from polymers. The design pattern coupled with a custom-developed design tool allows a designer to go from wing requirements to a complete wing design almost instantly, and wing printed in a day.