The Effects of an SMA-based Slat Cove Filler on the Aerodynamic and Structural Characteristics of a Wing Prototype

Current and new FAA regulations that are to be phased in have begun to pressure the aerospace industry to develop new noise reduction technologies to reduce aeroacoustic emissions that proponents say detriment the health and well-being of community members. With recent technological advancements improving noise emission from aircraft engines, emissions from airframe noise sources now project a larger footprint on the total emitted noise. This research proposes to investigate the previously developed shape memory alloy based slat cove filler concept and conduct aerodynamic and structural experiments with the purpose of characterizing the response under relevant flow conditions. The Texas A&M University 3’ 4’ low speed wind tunnel will be used to determine the aerodynamic influences of the shape memory alloys based slat cove filler on wing performance. A previously developed wing prototype treated with a slat cove filler will be used to compare aerodynamic effects at multiple slat settings. Structural experiments was conducted using Digital Image Correlation measurements, and displacement measurements from a custom-designed laser displacement sensor to determine the structural response of the shape memory alloy slat cove filler during a typical retraction cycle under wind tunnel test conditions. Results from the structural experiments will be used to validate a finite element analysis model that will be used to further research development into computational modeling tools