I was wondering if any of you thought this application could be used on aircraft, specifically to change the shape of the airfoil during different periods of flight for most economical operation. I know it's probably too complex to apply to airliners at this point in time, but it does raise some interesting design features that might be used in the future. Though, I do not know what type of substance is used on the car, and the rigidity of the skeletal structure of the vehicle, but it would be interesting to see what designers could come up with.
0NEWAIR0 From United States of America, joined May 2007, 836 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 2004 times:
I'm pretty sure Boeing and Airbus are already working on it. Except their technology has to do with the shape of the wings/winglets and not the body of the plane.
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
BMI727 From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 14354 posts, RR: 26 Reply 2, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 1984 times:
As far as practical use on aircraft, probably not. But this construction appears to be very similar to aircraft construction up until the 1930s and Zepplin construction.
Why do Aerospace Engineering students have to turn things in on time?
B6JFKH81 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2767 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 1898 times:
If you think about it, we kind of saw this very early on in aviation...back when airframes were made of wood and skin was made of canvas.
My concern with looking into making a modern version of this, like in the video, is the huge amount of mechanical things that will be needed to support such a design. That would be A LOT of moving parts, actuators, computer systems, etc. that are currently not on aircraft and could really turn into a maintenance or even operational nightmare real quick.
"If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it"
NickMDW From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 7 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 1728 times:
Quoting 0NEWAIR0 (Reply 1): I'm pretty sure Boeing and Airbus are already working on it. Except their technology has to do with the shape of the wings/winglets and not the body of the plane.
B6JFKH81 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2767 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 1704 times:
"induce lower wing bending loads than fixed winglets"
This is one problem that Airbus has been going through. IIRC, the tests on a winglet for the A320 were stopped because of the extra weight that had to be added to beef up the wing due to this problem, and the shift in the bending moment of the wing as well.
Kind of freaky if you think about it though. You have a window seat and watch as the plane takes off and as you get closer to cruise altitude and speed you watch the wing get an erection LOL!
"If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it"
Tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 80 Reply 7, posted (4 years 2 months 4 weeks 16 hours ago) and read 1586 times:
Quoting UAL747 (Thread starter): I was wondering if any of you thought this application could be used on aircraft, specifically to change the shape of the airfoil during different periods of flight for most economical operation.
In the short term, no, because the Gina concept uses a non-structural skin. All the load is carried by the skeleton and the skin is just providing aerodynamic fairing. Aircraft moved away from this type of construction towards monocoque and semi-monocoque structures back in the 30's (maybe 20's?) because it's considerably lighter.
With current materials technology, there's no way to employ something like Gina without going back to unstressed skin construction, which would have major weight penalties (not counting all the actuators, hinges, etc. to make it go).
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
