Application of Mechanisms to Aircraft Flexible Trailing Edge Design

This paper presents a new design for a swept aircraft flexible trailing edge based on two new mechanism concepts. The first concept is the continuum parallel mechanism, where the top and bottom skin of a trailing edge are treated as two moving branches that are connected to the trailing edge tip to morph an airfoil shape. The second concept is the auxetic structure that resembles a compliant mechanism, based on which a set of morphing ribs were investigated to accommodate airfoil shape morphing. To facilitate the design of a swept flexible trailing edge, finite element models were developed to analyze required shape morphing without skin twisting. Several auxetic structures were evaluated, from which a bow-tie structure was selected for integration with a flexible trailing edge. Finally, a swept flexible trailing edge was built and integrated with a full-size winglet. The test results have demonstrated that the proposed design is effective in providing the required morphing motion and sustaining the required load.