Paneled Morphing Skins for A Full Shape Adaptive System

一个完整的形状适应系统，如变形翅膀，应该包含一个由变形皮肤覆盖的变形结构。在我最近的DG研究中，开发了一种设计变形结构的方法。在这个提议的DG研究中，目标是开发一种变形皮肤，必须通过变形它和变形结构一起满足运动要求，但要承受表面负载。这个项目的目的是带头研究一种新的面板变形皮肤，它是由分段面板制成的，灵感来自鱼鳞。本研究计划在三个支柱下提出，以调查三种类型的新面板皮肤，并开发相关的设计和分析方法。第一个支柱是设计、建模和分析一个滑动面板蒙皮，该蒙皮被设计成一组小面板，通过一个伸缩联锁系统连接在一起，使它们能够相对移动。此外，智能材料，如形状记忆聚合物（SMP），被用来连接这些面板。将变形结构作为驱动系统，将变形皮肤作为驱动系统，开发一种新的建模方法。关键是提供一个合适的约束模型，能够真实地表示相邻面板之间的连接。随着面板数量的增加，计算量也随之增加，因此需要一种有效的数值方法来求解面板运动。第二个支柱是设计、建模和分析一个多稳定的面板变形皮肤。通过特殊处理，金属/复合材料将呈现双稳定结构，这种结构已用于形状变形，但集中在单个斑块上。我们的研究是开发一个多贴片系统来形成具有多稳定结构的变形皮肤。与第一个柱子设计不同的是，这个柱子的所有补丁都紧密相连。虽然每个贴片都有两个确定的稳定主轴，但它们在连接后的行为会有所不同。关键是如何对相邻斑块之间的边界条件进行建模，并预测整体皮肤形状。第三个支柱是设计、建模和分析连续面板变形蒙皮。目前，连续体机器人的研究主要是利用细长的杆来形成蛇形机器人。我们的研究是使用可变形的大薄板和柔性板来满足形状变形的要求。虽然这种柱子设计在实际使用中可能是三种设计中最好的，但它有一些局限性。关键是建模整个皮肤系统，它是静态不确定的，并与刚性运动相结合。在本课程结束时，所有三种设计将在优缺点方面进行总结，这些优点和缺点可用于指导不同应用的面板变形皮肤设计。拟议的研究计划将有助于在这一新兴领域培养一批研究生，并加强与加拿大航空航天制造业的合作。

A full shape adaptive system, such as morphing wings, should contain a morphing structure covered by a morphing skin. In my last DG research, a methodology for designing a morphing structure has been developed. In this proposed DG research, the goal is to develop a morphing skin that must fulfill motion requirement by morphing it along with a morphing structure yet withstand a surface load. The objective of this program is to spearhead a research into a new panel morphing skin that is made of segmented panels, inspired by fish scales. This research program is proposed under three pillars to investigate three types of new panel skins and develop associated design and analysis methodologies. The first pillar is to design, model and analyze a sliding panel skin that is devised as a set of small panels through loose connections joined by a telescopic interlock system allowing them to move relative to each other. Further, smart materials, such as shape memory polymer (SMP), are used to join these panels. A new method will be developed to model this skin system considering a morphing structure as a driving system and a morphing skin as a driven system. The key is to provide a proper constraint model that can truly represent the connections among adjacent panels. An effective numerical method will be developed to solve the panel motions because the computational complexity increases as the number of panels increase. The second pillar is to design, model and analyze a multi-stable panel morphing skin. Through special treatment metallic/composite materials would exhibit bi-stable configurations, which have been used for shape morphing but focusing on a single patch. Our research is to develop a multiple-patch system to form a morphing skin with multi-stable configurations. Different from the first pillar design, this pillar design has all the patches closely connected. Though each patch has two definite stable principal axes, they will behave differently after connection. The key is how to model the boundary conditions among adjacent patches and predict the overall skin shape. The third pillar is to design, model and analyze a continuum panel morphing skin. Currently continuum robots have been researched by utilizing long and slender rods to form for example a snake robot. Our research is to use large, thin and flexible panels that can be deformed to fulfill shape morphing requirement. Though this pillar design may be the best among the three for practical use, it has some limitations. The key is to model the entire skin system that is statically indeterminate and coupled with rigid motion. At the end of this program, all three designs will be summarized in terms of pros and cons that can be used to guide panel morphing skin designs for different applications. The proposed research program will help train a number of graduate students in this emerging area and strengthen collaborations with the Canadian aerospace manufacturing industry.