Preliminary design process for an adaptive winglet

In the framework of Clean Sky 2 Airgreen 2 GRA ITD project, this paper deals with the design process of a morphing winglet for a regional aircraft. By improving A/C aerodynamic efficiency in off-design flight conditions, the morphing winglet is expected to operate during long (cruise) and short (climb and descent) mission phases to reduce aircraft drag and optimize lift distribution, while providing augmented roll and yaw control capability. The mechanical system is designed to face different flight situations by a proper action on the movable parts represented by two independent and asynchronous control surfaces with variable camber and differential settings. A set of suitable electromechanical actuators are integrated within the limited space inside the winglet loft-line, capable of holding prescribed deflections for long time operations. Such a solution mitigates the risks associated with critical failure cases (jamming, loss of WL control) with beneficial impacts on A/C safety. Numerical details on the system architecture and ability to cope with the typical mission loads profiles are given, along with a description of the conceptual analysis and the expected system performance according to a suitable metric.