Airbus: Albatross is inspiring next generation of aircraft wings

AlbatrossOne-01-
AlbatrossOne-01-
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Airbus engineers have developed a scale-model airplane with the first in-flight, flapping wing-tips that could revolutionize aircraft wing-design.

The aerospace giant has drawn on nature to develop its โ€˜semi-aeroelastic hingeโ€™ concept to reduce drag and overall wing weight while combating the effects of turbulence and wind gusts.

Known as AlbatrossOne, the remote-controlled aircraft has already taken its first flights to prove the concept and the team will now conduct further testing before the demonstrator, based on the manufacturerโ€™s A321 plane, is scaled-up further.

โ€œWhile hinged wing-tips are not new โ€“ military jets employ them to allow greater storage capacity on aircraft carriers โ€“ the Airbus demonstrator is the first aircraft to trial in-flight, freely-flapping wing-tips to relieve the effects of wind gusts and turbulence,โ€ explained Airbus engineer Tom Wilson, based in Filton, north Bristol, UK.

โ€œWe drew inspiration from nature โ€“ the albatross marine bird locks its wings at the shoulder for long-distance soaring but unlocks them when wind-gusts occur or manoeuvering is required.

โ€œThe AlbatrossOne model will explore the benefits of unlockable, freely-flapping wing-tips โ€“ accounting for an up to a third of the length of the wing โ€“ to react autonomously during in-flight turbulence and lessen the load on the wing at its base, so reducing the need for heavily reinforced wing boxes.โ€

Jean-Brice Dumont, Airbusโ€™ Executive Vice-President of Engineering, said the project showed โ€œhow nature can inspire usโ€. He said: โ€œWhen there is a wind gust or turbulence, the wing of a conventional aircraft transmits huge loads to the fuselage, so the base of the wing must be heavily strengthened, adding weight to the aircraft.

โ€œAllowing the wing-tips to react and flex to gusts reduces the loads and allows us to make lighter and longer wings โ€“ the longer the wing, the less drag it creates up to an optimum, so there are potentially more fuel efficiencies to exploit.โ€

The first test flights of the AlbatrossOne demonstrator, developed by Airbus engineers in Filton, were concluded in February after a 20-month development program. Speaking in Toulouse, Dumont said AlbatrossOne was the โ€œfirst Filton aircraft since Concordeโ€.

It has been constructed from carbon fibre and glass fibre-reinforced polymers, as well as components from additive-layer manufacturing.

Initial testing of AlbatrossOne has examined the demonstratorโ€™s stability with the wing-tips locked and completely unlocked, says fellow Filton engineer James Kirk.

โ€œThe next step is to conduct further tests to combine the two modes, allowing the wing-tips to unlock during flight and to examine the transition,โ€ he added.

The team presented their research at the International Forum on Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics conference in the United States this week.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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