A review of morphing concepts with a strong focus on morphing skins is presented. Morphing technology on aircraft has found increased interest over the last decade because it is likely to enhance performance and efficiency over a wider range of flight conditions. For example, a radical change in configuration, i.e. wing geometry in flight may improve overall flight performance when cruise and dash are important considerations. Although many morphing aircraft concepts have been elaborated only a few deal with the problems relating to a smooth and continuous cover that simultaneously deforms and carries loads. It is found that anisotropic and variable stiffness structures offer potential for shape change and small area increase on aircraft wings. Concepts herein focus on those structures where primary loads are transmitted in the spanwise direction and a morphing function is achieved via chordwise flexibility. To meet desirable shape changes, stiffnesses can either be tailored or actively controlled to guarantee flexibility in the chordwise (or spanwise) direction with tailored actuation forces. Hence, corrugated structures, segmented structures, reinforced elastomers or flexible matrix composite tubes embedded in a low modulus membrane are all possible structures for morphing skins. For large wing area changes a particularly attractive solution could adopt deployable structures as no internal stresses are generated when their surface area is increased.

Composite corrugated structures are known for their anisotropic properties. They exhibit relatively high stiffness parallel (longitudinal) to the corrugation direction and are relatively compliant in the direction perpendicular (transverse) to the corrugation. Thus, they offer a potential solution for morphing skin panels (MSPs) in the trailing edge region of a wing as a morphing control surface. In this paper, an overview of the work carried out by the present authors over the last few years on corrugated structures for morphing skin applications is first given. The second part of the paper presents recent work on the application of corrugated sandwich structures. Panels made from multiple unit cells of corrugated sandwich structures are used as MSPs in the trailing edge region of a scaled morphing aerofoil section. The aerofoil section features an internal actuation mechanism that allows chordwise length and camber change of the trailing edge region (aft 35% chord). Wind tunnel testing was carried out to demonstrate the MSP concept but also to explore its limitations. Suggestions for improvements arising from this study were deduced, one of which includes an investigation of a segmented skin. The overall results of this study show that the MSP concept exploiting corrugated sandwich structures offers a potential solution for local morphing wing skins for low speed and small air vehicles.

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