Sailplanes performance can be significantly increased by a wing with a morphing forward section. Such wings have specific requirements regarding their shells. They need a high bending stiffness anisotropy to allow reasonable morphing actuation forces while withstanding loads. Moreover, the expected performance benefits can only be attained by deforming the wing to its target shape precisely and with a smooth surface. This thesis aims at improving shell concepts to fulfil these specific requirements best while satisfying requirements of a classic wing like strength and durability. Two shell concepts are investigated. A CellSkin shell that provides flexible bending in one direction thanks to a core made of shear compliant webs that are stiff in the orthogonal direction. A monolithic shell that involves unidirectional carbon fibres and a core made of a polypropylene fabric. The design parameters of these shell concepts are defined and a sample of shell variants are selected for testing. The shell variants are analysed using the finite-element-method. An indentation and a four-point-bending test are modelled. Furthermore, the front section of a multi-tapered wing segment undergoing morphing and bending loads is modelled. A variant of each concept is selected for its ability to fulfil the requirements best. While the CellSkin variant raises concerns for its robustness, the monolithic variant meets all studied requirements.     «

Sailplanes performance can be significantly increased by a wing with a morphing forward section. Such wings have specific requirements regarding their shells. They need a high bending stiffness anisotropy to allow reasonable morphing actuation forces while withstanding loads. Moreover, the expected performance benefits can only be attained by deforming the wing to its target shape precisely and with a smooth surface. This thesis aims at improving shell concepts to fulfil these specific requirements b...     »