Morphing Skin Systems
The research project aims for developing and designing a shape adaptable morphing skin that combines contradicting mechanical requirements within a lightweight and anisotropic system, providing mechanical and aerodynamic properties needed for aerospace applications.
Project Team
- Michael Kölbl, Doctoral Student
- Paolo Ermanni, Principal Investigator
Contact
Project Duration:
2018 to present
Funding sources
- CMASLab internal funding
- SNSF grant no. 200021-192082; Variable Stiffness Composite Metamaterials
Project Description
In the last decade, morphing for aerospace applications has risen a broad interest in the research community due to the prospect of increased aircraft efficiency and reduced maintenance. In order to allow morphing for sandwich type structures, e.g. used for morphing wing covers, both substructures and face sheets must be capable of shape changes. However, whilst for core structures significant improvements have been achieved, the skin of the morphing system still holds many unsolved challenges.
On the one hand being light, thin and highly anisotropic is crucial for a morphing skin, on the other hand a morphing skin should be shear and out-of-plane stiff, as well as provide a smooth aerodynamic surface. Consequently, a shape adaptive skin system is developed and designed in the course of this research project, aiming for an optimal solution by embracing the contradicting requirements for such systems.