04.2 - Aerostructures Design, Structural Dynamics, Aeroelasticity
CURVATURE-CONTROLLED MORPHING OF FOLDING WINGTIPS USING HONEYCOMB PLATES
R. Yang¹, S. Li¹, S. Sun ¹; ¹School of Mechanical Engineering Dalian University of Technology, China
With the development of morphing aircraft structures, increasing demands have been placed on achieving precise and smooth deformation while simultaneously maintaining out-of-plane load-bearing capability and curvature accuracy. Many existing morphing concepts rely on localized compliance or complex actuation systems, which often lead to surface shape deviations, residual stress accumulation, and limited controllability of the deformed geometry. To address these challenges, this study proposes a structure-oriented morphing paradigm based on the architected honeycomb plates and investigates its application to the folding wing tip.rnThe proposed approach exploits the programmable bending behavior of honeycomb structures. By carefully tailoring the geometry of the honeycomb cells, the global deformation mode of a honeycomb plate under pure bending can be effectively controlled, enabling the generation of saddle-shaped, cylindrical, or ellipsoidal surfaces with prescribed Gaussian curvature distributions. This intrinsic curvature control allows a honeycomb-based composite wing to satisfy complex morphing requirements in a deterministic manner. On this basis, a folding wingtip configuration is developed by coupling a rigid eccentric-rod actuator with a curvature-programmed honeycomb substrate, in which the actuator provides the kinematic input while the honeycomb configuration governs the resulting three-dimensional surface.rnNumerical analysis demonstrates that rectangular honeycomb configurations capable of suppressing transverse coupling deformation exhibit superior deformation stability and surface smoothness, enabling large-angle folding without shape locking. These results highlight the critical role of structural architecture in the design of morphing aircraft and provide a practicable engineering pathway for curvature-controlled aerospace structures.rn
DOI: 10.71945/icas2026_0853