Application of Active Camber Morphing Concept to a Regional Aircraft

The present work addresses the aerodynamic design of a Reference Aircraft (RA) and the assessment of the potential benefits that an active camber morphing can bring in terms of aircraft performances. The subject of the work is part of the FP7-NOVEMOR project (Novel Air Vehicle Configurations: From Fluttering Wings to Morphing Flight) which is one of the many projects from the European Framework Programme. The Reference Aircraft is representative of a typical regional jet capable to carry 113 PAX in a single economic class and provide operational flexibility to fly different missions at the transonic regime. The implementation of active camber concept is based on the use of classical control surfaces as well on conformable morphing control surfaces. Aiming at the optimal design of such as morphing devices, a dedicated procedure called PHORMA is introduced, for the definition of the optimal shape taking into account both aerodynamic and structural constraints. This papers briefly summarizes the tools developed and the first results obtained in terms of potential benefits such as fuel saving.