Pressure adaptive honeycomb: a new adaptive structure for aerospace applications

Roelof Vos; Ron Barrett

doi:10.1117/12.847031

31 March 2010 Pressure adaptive honeycomb: a new adaptive structure for aerospace applications

Roelof Vos, Ron Barrett

Proceedings Volume 7647, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2010; 76472B (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847031
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A new type of adaptive structure is presented that relies on pressurized honeycomb cells that extent a significant length with respect to the plane of the hexagons. By varying the pressure inside each of the cells, the stiffness can be altered. A variable stiffness in combination with an externally applied force field results in a fully embedded pressure adaptive actuator that can yield strains well beyond the state-of-the-art in adaptive materials. The stiffness change as a function of the pressure is modeled by assigning an equivalent material stiffness to the honeycomb walls that accounts for both the inherent material stiffness as the pressure-induced stiffness. A finite element analysis of a beam structure that relies on this model is shown to correlate well to experimental results of a three-point bend test. To demonstrate the concept of embedded pressure adaptive honeycomb, an wind tunnel test article with adaptive flap has been constructed and tested in a low speed wind tunnel. It has been proven that by varying the cell pressure the flap changed its geometry and subsequently altered the lift coefficient.

Citation Download Citation

Roelof Vos and Ron Barrett "Pressure adaptive honeycomb: a new adaptive structure for aerospace applications", Proc. SPIE 7647, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2010, 76472B (31 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847031

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