The Smart Morphing & Sensing (SMS) project is a multi-disciplinary upstream project that employs intelligent electro-active actuators that will modify the lifting structure of an aircraft and to obtain the optimum shape with respect to the aerodynamic performance (high lift & low drag). This will be accomplished using a new generation of fiber optics based sensors allowing distributed pressure measurements and in-situ real-time optimisation of the aerodynamic characteristics. This will allow to attenuation of flow separation and nuisance instabilities such as aileron flutter and also to reduce trailing-edge noise and other vibration sources in flight, coming from interactions between wing and fuselage and engine or from critical meteorological phenomena as gusts, having major impact on safety. The SMS project associates the following methods that will be coupled in a multi-disciplinary environment :
- Advanced integrated aeroelastic design using High-Fidelity CFDSM (Computational Fluid Dynamics-Structural Mechanics)
- Advanced distributed sensing using a new generation of high-fidelity fiber optics sensors
- Advanced experimental techniques to provide data together with the high-fidelity simulations for the iterative feedback of the controller design to be used for the optimisation of the morphing flap of an A320 type wing. These experimental techniques will also be used as a basis for the validation of both the novel actuation and sensing systems via wind tunnel tests at subsonic (take-off and landing) and transonic (cruise) speeds.
- Controller Design by appropriate Flight Control Commands (FCC), to actuate the electro-active materials properties in order to enable a real-time in-situ optimisation of the final prototypes in reduced scale and large scale.
- The SMS project is unique thanks to its strong multidisciplinary character and degree of innovation.
