Conceptual Design and Numerical Studies of Active Flow Control Aerofoil Based on Shape-Memory Alloy and Macro Fibre Composites

ABSTRACT Active flow control for aerofoils has been proven to be an effective way to improve the aerodynamic performance of aircraft. A conceptual hybrid design with surfaces embedded with Shape-Memory Alloy (SMA) and trailing Macro Fibre Composites (MFC) is proposed to implement active flow control for aerofoils. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model has been built to explore the feasibility and potential performance of the proposed conceptual hybrid design. Accordingly, numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the unsteady flow characteristics by dynamic morphing rather than using classical static simulations and complicated coupling. The results show that camber growth by SMA action could cause an evident rise of Cl and Cd in the take-off/landing phases when the Angle-of-Attack (AoA) is less than 10°. The transient tail vibration behaviour in the cruise period when using MFC actuators is studied over wide ranges of frequency, AoA and vibration amplitude. The buffet frequency is locked in by the vibration frequency, and a decrease of 1.66–2.32% in Cd can be achieved by using a proper vibration frequency and amplitude.