Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Michael I. Friswell
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK
m.i.friswell@bristol.ac.uk

Daniel J. Inman
Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
dinman@vt.edu

ABSTRACT
Morphing aircraft are flight vehicles that change their shape to effect both a change in the mission of the aircraft and
to perform flight control without the use of conventional control surfaces or seams. Aircraft constructed with
morphing technology promise the distinct advantages of being able to fly multiple types of missions, to perform
radically new manoeuvres not possible with conventional control surfaces, to be more fuel efficient, and to provide
a reduced radar signature. The key to morphing aircraft is the full integration of the shape control into the wing
structure; a truly smart structure. The design of these vehicles must take full account of the aerodynamic loads and
must carefully consider the power requirements for shape control to ensure an overall performance benefit. This
paper will overview possible morphing concepts and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Several concepts
will be discussed in detail based on the work performed at Bristol and Virginia Tech. Bristol is concentrating on
methods using aeroelastic tailoring, bistable composites and truss structures. Virginia Tech is concentrating on
methods such as variable wing extension and sweep and their implications for vehicle control.

BIOGRAPHY
Michael Friswell is the Sir George White Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol. His
research interests are concerned with the dynamic analysis of structures and systems, both from a vibration and a
control viewpoint. Recently his interests have expanded to include the design of morphing aircraft using composite
structures, and is team leader of a 1.94M euro Marie-Curie Excellence Grant on this topic. He also holds a Royal
Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award.
Daniel Inman is the George R. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Center for
Intelligent Material Systems and Structures at Virginia Tech. His research interests are concerned with smart
structures and vibration analysis. He won the ASME Adaptive Structures Award in 2000, the ASME/AIAA SDM
Best Paper Award in 2001 and the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Life Time Achievement Award in 2003.

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

13.1

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Introduction
The design of conventional fixed wing aircraft is
constrained by the conflicting requirements of
multiple objectives. Mechanisms such as
deployable flaps provide the current standard of
adaptive aerofoil geometry, although this solution
places limitations on manoeuvrability and
efficiency, and produces a design that is nonoptimal in many flight regimes. The development of
new smart materials together with the always present
need for better UAV performance is increasingly
prompting designers towards the concept of
morphing aircraft. These aircraft possess the ability
to adapt and optimise their shape to achieve
dissimilar, multi-objective mission roles efficiently
and effectively. One motivation for such uninhabited
aircraft are birds that morph between cruise and
attack missions by changing their wing configuration
accordingly. Birds also use camber and twist for
flight control. The Wright Brothers used wing
warping as a seamless flight control in their first
flying machine. Morphing wings for flight control
bring new challenges to the design of control laws
for flight. Because configuration changes move the
aerodynamic centre, control of the aircraft during
planform morphing requires attention. Hence both
morphing mechanisms and control systems are
overviewed.
One primary advantage of a morphing platform
would be the increased cost effectiveness of aircraft
through eliminating the need for multiple, expensive,
mission specific aircraft. However, from current
trends in this research area, it is clearly evident that
the practical realization of a morphing structure is a
particularly demanding goal with substantial effort
still required. This is primarily due to the need of any
proposed morphing airframe to possess conflicting
abilities to be both structurally compliant to allow
configuration changes but also be sufficiently rigid to
limit aeroelastic divergence.
There are typically four applications of morphing:
improve aircraft performance to expand its
flight envelope;
replace conventional control surfaces for flight
control to improve performance and stealth;
reduce drag to improve range; and
reduce vibration or control flutter.
These different applications are all regarded as
morphing, however each is very different in terms of
the magnitude of the shape changes required and

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

time constants necessary for these changes.

Fortunately large changes for improved performance
are only required at low frequency, and very fast
changes for vibration control only need to be small
amplitude. This does mean that there is never going
to be a single solution for a morphing aircraft, and
the technology employed will be vastly different
depending on the application required. However all
applications require that morphing achieves the
objective of improved performance and/or
functionality. Often this improvement will be at the
expense of increased weight and complexity, and the
performance improvement must account for this.
The structural technologies available to achieve a
shape changes in a morphing aircraft fall into two
major categories, namely planform changes using
rigid mechanisms, and compliance (for example
wing twist or compliant mechanisms). Vibration
control systems are usually based on directly
applying a force to the structure, and are not
considered further in this paper. For shape control,
actuators are required to effect the shape change, and
sensors are required to measure the actual deflection,
although actuators and sensors are not considered
further here.
Large scale morphing motions for configuration
morphing (that is significant planform changes)
include:
wing extension
wing folding
wing sweep
Significant aerodynamic performance gains are only
really achievable through large overall changes in the
aircraft geometry via wing sweep, area and/or span.
The application of morphing to flight control usually
involves small geometric wing changes such as the
use of deployable slats and flaps as well as wing
warping techniques to enhance the control authority
of the aircraft. At present, in both of these categories,
such medium to large scale changes are obtained with
complex and sophisticated mechanical devices
significantly increasing the installation and
maintenance costs as well as the structural weight of
the airframe. It is clear therefore, that substantial
gains in these areas could be made if alternative
methods to enact these changes were found. Basic
morphing motions for seamless flight control include:
wing twist
wing chamber change
asymmetric wing extension

13.2

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Each of these in discussed in the following with both

analytical and experimental examples given. Seigler
(1) gave further details of previous morphing
programmes.

Planform Changes
Large planform area changes may be obtained in two
ways. The first is a folding wing arrangement
suggested by Lockheed Martin and illustrated in
Figure 1.

Figure 2. A radio controlled model airplane flown to

illustrate the practicalities of wing extension.

Figure 1. The Lockheed Martin folding wing

concept.
An alternative to wing folding is wing extension.
Raytheon Corporation investigated wing extension
for use in their Cruise missile and were able to
greatly increase the range. Numerical simulations and
experiments at Virginia Tech on wing extensions
verified this with an RC model. The numerical
simulations used analytical dynamics with shifting
mass for dynamic modelling, and Vortex Lattice
methods combined with Digital DATOCM for the
aerodynamic modelling, to simulate a cruise missile
with wing extension (1). The results showed a 28%
increase in range over a conventional wing. An RC
plane was fitted with an extended wing system and
flown to illustrate the potential for an increase in
range and to maintain stability while extending and
retracting the wings. The aircraft is illustrated in
Figure 2.

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

In addition to using wing extension for planform

change, the extension may also be used
asymmetrically for roll control. Again the Cruise
missile system was used as a basis to simulate the
dynamics, aerodynamics and control, to discover the
possibilities for roll control. The control surfaces on a
conventional cruise missile are all in the tail section
and a comparison was made between bank-to-turn
with wing extension versus bank-to-turn using the
tail control surfaces. The exercise was further
complicated because the missile is powered by
ramjets limiting the slideslipe angle. The wing
extension turns out to have much more control
authority for bank-to-turn compared to the tail once
the angle of attack exceeds 3. The roll moment is
produced by the span differential.
Motivated by the success with these simulations, the
concept of using anti symmetric wing extension to
perform a roll manoeuvre was implemented on an RC
plane. In this case, the plane in Figure 2 was
modified by adding a second motor and gear set so
that each wing could be extended separately. The
asymmetric extension is pictured in Figure 3

13.3

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Figure 3. RC flying model with anti symmetric wing

extension.
Figure 5. The wind tunnel model in loiter
configuration.

Wind Tunnel Model for Planform Changes

In order to investigate sweep, twist and camber
changes, a wind tunnel model was designed to allow
both aerodynamic and control studies to be
performed. An obvious difficulty in designing
morphing aircraft is that of modelling the
aerodynamics. Full CFD takes too much
computational resource and vortex lattice and panel
methods cannot model all of the relevant phenomena.
Hence, wind tunnel testing becomes necessary.
Motivated by DARPAs Morphing Aircraft program
a wind tunnel model was constructed that would
twist, extend, sweep and change body chamber. The
created device is shown in Figures 4 and 5.

The wind tunnel model was sized to fit in the 6ft

Virginia Tech Stability Tunnel and to satisfy the
DARPA requirements of a 35% independent span
change in each wing, a 40 independent sweep, a
12% chord change, a +20 twist and a 32% change in
planform area. This is accomplished by a series of
pneumatic and electric actuators, and controlled
remotely through a PC 104 board. Details can be
found in Ref. (2).
An initial result verified by the wind tunnel model is
the effect of morphing on lift and drag ratios. Plots of
CL versus CD illustrate how low drag can be
maintained over a large range of lift. This data is
illustrated in Figure 6.

CL

Figure 4. The wind tunnel morphing wing

experimental plane in attack mode.
CD
Figure 6. CL versus CD as the plane morphs as
measured in a wind tunnel.

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

13.4

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

Control Issues for Planform Changes

The main issues in controlling a morphing aircraft
centre around stability. With radical changes in
planform come dramatic changes in aerodynamic
centre. The issue then becomes one of controlling the
system to be stable while morphing (1). The second
issue, is how to combine flight control with morphing
control simultaneously. Currently, the limited
experience with flying morphing vehicles has been
based on separating the two in order to maintain
stability. With the exception of using anti symmetric
wing extension, separate control effectors have been
used to change the shape, to those used to maintain
stability. The more exciting performance possibilities
result from combing flight control and morphing
control simultaneously.

As an example, consider a rectangular wing with

302mm chord, 1.2m semi-span, a NACA 4412
profile and idealised elliptic aerodynamic loads. The
angle of attack is 8 and the airspeed in 40m/s. For
simplicity the wing is unstiffened and is split into
five sections spanwise and different parameters for
the composite structure are used for each region.
Initially the top and bottom covers are an unbalance
laminate with (+45) plies, with a thickness varying
from 1.5mm at the root to 1mm at the tip. The front
and rear spars consist of a symmetric laminate with
(+45/-45) plies and thickness 1mm. Figure 7 shows
the deformation of the wing in this case. Figure 8
highlights that a laminate with (+45) plies does
produce the largest twist.

Flexible Structures using Aeroelastic

Tailoring
For the purpose of minimising structural weight and
complexity, composite materials provide a promising
solution. In general, composite materials present high
specific strength and stiffness ratios. This section
concentrates on stiffness tailoring and the next
section on bi- or multi-stable structures. Primary
flight composite structures, such as wings or
fuselages, are mainly designed using stiffened panels.
Structures made of composite materials can be
stiffness tailored, and this is a significant advantage
over their metallic counterparts. Due to practical
manufacture
considerations,
laminated
fibre
composite panels have been restricted to symmetric
or mid-plane symmetric laminates with 0, 90, 45 and
-45 fibre degree plies. However in the future this
constraint may well be lifted (3).

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

0
-0.2

-0.4
Twist angle (deg)

The aim of aeroelastic tailoring is to provide intrinsic

morphing by the use of elastic coupling (4). This
morphing concept uses the extension/shear coupling
within the composite to modify the wing twist under
aerodynamic loads. The technique splits the
optimisation problem into two levels (5). At the
global level, the composite optimisation is performed
where the skin and stiffeners are modelled using
lamination parameters to account for their anisotropy.
The panel is analysed using finite element software,
and subjected to a combined loading under strength,
instability and manufacture constraints. At the local
level, the real skin and stiffener lay-ups are obtained,
also considering manufacturing requirements. This
approach introduces an accurate analysis at the global
level, with a realistic computation time.

Figure 7. Deflection of the elastic wing.

-0.6

25 deg

-0.8

35 deg

-1

45 deg

-1.2

30 deg
60 deg

-1.4
-1.6
-1.8
-2
Wing stations

Figure 8. Twist of the elastic wing for different

cover plies directions (-ve is tip down).

Multi-stable Composite Structures

In this section attention is focused on multi-stable
composites. These comprise unsymmetric laminates
which exhibit out-of-plane displacements at room
temperature even if cured flat. These displacements
are caused by the residual stress fields induced

13.5

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

during the cool down process of the laminate

between the highest curing temperature (~160C) and
room temperature (~20C). The thermal stresses are
mainly generated by the mismatch of coefficients of
thermal expansion of the constituent layers; the
unsymmetric stack sequence allows the stresses to
generate bending and twisting moments within the
laminate, resulting in the previously mentioned
displacements. If the internal forces reach more than
a single stable of equilibrium, there is a great
advantage to the designer because a single structure
can achieve two different geometric configurations. It
is then possible to snap from one geometric
configuration to another using actuators since both
configurations are stable. Another benefit is that the
actuator is only required to provide energy during the
snap-through process and not to maintain a
configuration.
The aim of the research at Bristol is to develop
design guidelines using analytical tools and finite
element analysis for tailoring the residual stress field
and highlight possible applications to morphing
aircraft. The initial work has validated the non-linear
finite element models of simple plate structures (6).
Figure 9 shows the stack sequence of a transversely
reinforced plate and Figures 10 and 11 compare the
experimental and predicted shapes for one of the
stable solutions.

Figure 9. Stack sequence of the transversely

reinforced plate.

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

Figure 10. Cylindrical stable shape for the

transversely reinforced plate.

Figure 11. Finite element prediction of the

cylindrical stable shape.
One concept being investigated is a variable sweep
wing, which is a well known technology with
significant aerodynamic advantages. The traditional
technique consists of rigid pivoting wings. This
design produces a concentration of the structural
loads around the pivot and thus requires high strength
materials and expensive manufacturing techniques.
The use of an unsymmetrical laminated composite is
being investigated as an alternative approach to
realize a variable sweep wing (6). In particular a
UAV application is considered. The aim is to realize
a two spar wing with an unsymmetric laminate region
close to the root. If the applied bending moment in a
composite spar is greater than a critical value, the
structure behaves like a hinge, as shown in Figure 12.
In this way the stress due to the pivoting is spread
over a much wider area and it is possible to tailor the
critical moment for different applications. Methods to
use this phenomena in variable sweep wings are
currently being investigated.

13.6

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

constrained to that of the selected member. Figure 13

shows the typical deformation of a truss structure,
formed between 50% and 90% chord within a NACA
0012 aerofoil.

Figure 12. The spar in a hinge-like configuration.

Truss Type Structures

The initial concept for a truss structure is the
creation of an active, pin jointed, truss structure by
the substitution of bar members with linear
actuators. Such a system aims to provide an ideal
solution to the problem of structural morphing by
the removal of structural resistance to deformation.
Of course the implementation of ideal pin joints is
difficult, and would probably require flexible
hinges which would lead to bending within the
beams. Ultimately this could lead to general
compliant mechanisms, where the detailed
topology and geometry of the structure is modelled
and optimised (7). However topology optimisation
is a very difficult problem, and the pin jointed truss
is used as a first trial along the compliant
mechanism route.

Figure 13. Typical deformation for the truss

structure.
All the preceding analysis has assumed the presence
of a prefect skin material; that is a material able to
transfer aerodynamic forces to the structure whilst
accommodating large shape changes. Such a skin is
required for many morphing designs and is the
subject of intense research. A segmented skin, similar
to fish scales, allows membrane deformation of the
skin whilst maintaining lateral stiffness and the
transfer of aerodynamic loads (10). Or a spring-steel
honeycomb mesh within a layer of silicon a flexible
skin could be created (11).

The Kagome truss pattern has many useful properties

for morphing structures. In the case of the threedimensional manifestation two forms are possible, a
Kagome plane with solid face sheet and two Kagome
face sheets connected by a double tetragonal pattern
core. Investigation of the application of Kagome
structures for actuation (8) concluded that the single
Kagome plate with solid face sheet may be deformed
via truss actuation to form any long wavelength
deformation however practical limits of actuation
energy limit deformations to small Gaussian
curvatures. In the case of the twin Kagome face
structure it is suggested that no restriction is placed
upon the Gaussian curvature of the desired form. By
removing mid-plane symmetry from the structure it is
possible to create a statically and kinematically
determinate structure.

Conclusions

An aerofoil was created using a repeating network of

the Kagome lattice structure, with upper and lower
nodes displaced. Linear actuators replaced selected
truss sections to allow active camber control (9). In
order to replicate the effects of the actuation point
forces are located at selected nodes with direction

There are many challenges in the design of morphing

UAVs (12): the integrity of compliant structures
needs to be ensured, the system should be designed
so the required actuation force is realisable, the skin
has to be designed to give a smooth aerodynamic
surface yet support the aerodynamic loads, the design
process should be extended to encompass multiple

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

This paper has highlighted a number of approaches to

change the shape of a wing. Although considerable
effort has already been expended to investigate a
variety of morphing concepts, much more work is
required to produce robust and viable morphing
UAVs. Current designs are well optimised at one
design point or flight regime, and the benefit of
morphing occurs when the UAV has to operate away
from this design point for significant periods.
Inevitably the standard design approach has to
compromise the performance, however morphing still
needs to demonstrate an overall performance benefit
that outweighs the increased complexity and weight,
for example through reduced life cycle costs or
significant performance enhancement.

13.7

Morphing Concepts for UAVs

flight regimes, engines need to be designed for

efficient low and high speed operation, and control
systems will have to cope with highly coupled
control effectors. While many questions remain
unanswered regarding the utility of morphing UAVs,
enough evidence of improved performance and new
abilities have been presented to warrant further
consideration of the prospects of morphing UAVs
both for multiple flight regimes and for flight control.

Acknowledgements
Michael Friswell gratefully acknowledges the
support of the Royal Society through a Royal
Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award and the
European Commission through the Marie-Curie
Excellence Grant, MEXT-CT-2003-002690. He
would like to thank the researchers at Bristol
University: Enrique Herencia, Patrick Bourdin,
Filippo Mattioni, and David Baker. Daniel Inman
would like to thank the researchers at Virginia Tech:
David Neal and Dr T. Michael Seigler and Professors
Bill Mason and Harry Robertshaw for there constant
effort on this project.

Conference, Palm Springs, California, 19-22

April 2004. Paper AIAA-2004-1835
5.

Herencia, J.E., Weaver, P.M. & Friswell, M.I.

Local Optimisation of Long Anisotropic
Laminated Fibre Composite Panels with T
Shape Stiffeners.
47th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials
Conference, Newport, Rhode Island, 1-4 May
2006.

6.

Mattioni, F., Weaver, P.M. & Friswell, M.I. The

Application of Multi-stable Composites to
Morphing Structures.
International Conference on Adaptive
Structures and Technologies (ICAST), Paris,
France, 9-12 October 2005.

7.

Saggere, L. & Kota, S. Static Shape Control of

Smart Structures using Compliant Mechanisms.
AIAA Journal, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 572578,
2003.

8.

Hutchinson, R.G., Wicks, N., Evans, A.G.,

Fleck, N.A. & Hutchinson, J.W. Kagome Plate
Structures for Actuation.
International Journal of Solids and Structures,
Vol. 40, pp. 6969-6980 (2003).

9.

Baker, D., Friswell, M.I. & Lieven, N.A.J.

Active Truss Structures for Wing Morphing.
ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Smart
Structures and Materials, Lisbon, Portugal, 1821 July 2005.

References
1.

2.

Seigler, T.M. Dynamics and Control of

Morphing Aircraft,
PhD Thesis, Virginia Tech, USA, August 2005.
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd08162005-134143/
Neal, D.A., Good, M.G., Johnston, C.O.,
Robertshaw, H.H., Mason, W.H. & Inman, D.J.
Design and Wind Tunnel Analysis of a Fully
Adaptive Aircraft Configuration.
45th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics & Materials
Conference, Palm Springs, California, 19-22
April, 2004, paper AIAA-2004-1727.

3.

Gurdal, Z. Design Tailoring of Laminated

Composite Structures.
46th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials
Conference, Austin, Texas, 18-21 April 2005,
paper AIAA-2005-2164.

4.

Rehfield, L., Cheung, R. & Sikola, B. Strategies

for Tailoring Wings with Bend-Twist Coupling:
Part Two.
45th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials

21st Bristol UAV Systems Conference April 2006

10. Rediniotis, O.K., Wilson, L.N., Lagoudas, D.C.

& Khan, M.M. Development of a Shape
Memory Alloy Actuated Biomimetic Hydrofoil.
Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and
Structures, Vol. 13, pp. 35-49, 2002.
11. Ramrkahyani, D.S., Lesieutre, G.A., Frecker,
M. & Bharti, S. Aircraft Structural Morphing
using Tendon Actuated Compliant Cellular
Trusses.
45th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics & Materials
Conference, 2004, paper AIAA-2004-1728.
12. Jha, A.K. & Kudva, J.N., Morphing Aircraft
Concepts, Classifications and Challenges.
SPIE Conference on Smart Materials and
Structures: Industrial and Commercial
Applications of Smart Structures Technologies,
2004, Vol. 5388, pp. 213-224.

13.8