Manufacture and Testing of a Large-displacement Droop-Nose Morphing Wing Leading Edge

The manufacture and ground testing of a 3D full-scale 1100 mm span morphing wing leading edge device or droop-nose is presented in this paper. The device allows the smooth, gapless and large (90 deg.) variation in leading edge camber angle to enable the generation of very high lift coefficients for the design of a future regional aircraft. The droop-nose structure is composed of a composite elastomer-fiberglass skin supported by two internal kinematic assemblies and driven by harmonic drive rotational actuators. Preliminary results of shape show in general good agreement with the expected response. Quantification of the shape errors is underway along with solutions to improve the correlation. Strain measurements from strain gauges and digital image correlation show reasonable values of strain that are within the failure limits. Further tests including spar bending tests are ongoing and will be compared quantitatively with finite element simulations in future work