Coupled Transport/Hyperelastic Model for High Energy Density Nastic Materials

TL;DRAbstract

A new development in aerospace technology involves the creation of aircraft that can undergo large changes in the shape of their wings and control surfaces. This technology, called morphing aircraft, does away with several performance compromises by allowing the aircraft to adapt to a wide variety of speed and altitude conditions. One of the challenges associated with the development of morphing aircraft is the creation of a skin that can allow for the in-plane stretching necessary for morphing but possess enough out-of-plane flexural rigidity to handle aerodynamic forces.A new class of high energy density active materials based upon biological processes is being developed to address this problem. These materials utilize the controlled transport of charge and fluid into micron-scale inclusions. The inclusions are phase separated from the surrounding matrix by a selectively-permeable membrane. Selective stimulation of the membrane enables bulk deformation in a process referred to in the

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper