Aerodynamic validation for compressor blades’ structural morphing concepts

Abstract

For increasing an aircraft’s engine efficiency and reducing emissions, the use of adaptive blades capable of guaranteeing an optimal performance at different flight phases is researched. An aerodynamic design point blade shape and some exemplary possible morphed shapes for different operational conditions are introduced and analyzed from a structural as well as from an aerodynamic point of view. For this purpose, the structural design process developed to calculate the blade geometries that can be reached through structurally integrated actuation is introduced and explained with the help of three morphing blade example geometries. Furthermore, the aerodynamic methods used for the evaluation of the structurally achieved morphed geometries is also studied with the help of the introduced examples.