ABSTRACT
Probably the most famous photography in aviation (Figure 7.1) depicts not only the fi rst successful manned powered fl ight on December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers, but it also shows the fi rst successful airplane with an active structure. Th e Wright brothers design must defi nitely be called smart with respect to many aspects and design features. Th ey were among the fi rst
pioneers in aviation who had realized that uncoupled control about all three vehicle axes was required. Th ey had done systematic experimental aerodynamic research to achieve maximum possible aerodynamic performance. And they had learned how to design and manufacture light weight structures in their bicycle shop. Th eir solution for adequate roll control of the airplane, however, was more than one century ahead of the state-ofthe-art in aviation technology. Since the centennial celebrations
7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7-1 7.2 Smart Structures for Flight in Nature ................................................................................. 7-3 7.3 General Remarks on Aircraft Design Aspects ...................................................................7-4 7.4 Traditional Active or Adaptive Aircraft Control Concepts ..............................................7-4 7.5 Range of Active Structures and Materials Applications in Aeronautics .........................7-4 7.6 Aircraft Structures ................................................................................................................. 7-5 Defi nitions for a Structure • Rigidity of Wing Structures • Structures and
7.7 Smart Materials for Active Structures ................................................................................. 7-7 7.8 Role of Aeroelasticity ............................................................................................................ 7-7 Reputation of Aeroelasticity • Aeroelastic Eff ects • Aeroelastic Tailoring and Structural
7.10 Quality of the Deformations .............................................................................................. 7-14 7.11 Achievable Amount of Deformation and Eff ectiveness from Diff erent
Active Aeroelastic Concepts............................................................................................... 7-15 7.12 Need for the Analysis and Analytical Design Optimization
of Active Structures Concepts ........................................................................................... 7-16 7.13 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................ 7-17 Appendix A: Future Directions ........................................................................................................ 7-18 A.7.1 Aerodynamic Drag and Structural Design Issues ............................................................ 7-19 A.7.2 New Structural Research Eff orts and Achievements ....................................................... 7-19 A.7.3 Example for the Interaction of Structural, Aerodynamic, and Aeroelastic
Constraints for Diff erent Wing Tip Design Concepts .................................................... 7-19 References ........................................................................................................................................... 7-20
of this remarkable event, no single airplane exists yet, which makes use of smart structure concepts to control the fl ight of the vehicle.
