COMPOSITES
SHAPESHIFTING STRUCTURES
Could aircraft capable of changing their shape during flight hold the key to sustainable aviation?
T
he most pressing challenges facing the future of sustainable aviation centre largely around weight reduction and increased efficiency.
One innovative project from Politecnico di Milano is aiming to meet these challenges head on by harnessing the phenomenon of structural instability to develop radically new adaptive composite structures for next-generation aircraft. Led by Professor Chiara Bisagni of
the university’s Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, the NABUCCO research project will develop new design, analysis and optimisation methods to create composite structures such as adaptive wings that could revolutionise the aerospace industry as we know it. “Te current quest for highly efficient
and green aircraft demands new concepts, including morphing applications,” says Bisagni. “Practical solutions require a
compromise between two counteracting requirements typical of aircraft structures: the design of a structure that can withstand the requested loads without excessive deformation (stiffness requirement), together with the possibility to change its shape without excessive effort (compliance requirement). Tis is precisely the opportunity offered by modifying and adapting the aircraft wing shape during the flight mission by the direct use of the
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