Smart-Material Actuated Missile Flight Control Surfaces Feasibility Study

The use of smart materials for rotorcraft control surface actuation at laboratory scale has performed large strides forward and the scale up of these results from laboratory into prototype demonstrations is imminent and could happen in the near future. However, the introduction of the smart materials technology to missile controls is lagging behind. In this report we investigate the feasibility of using smart-materials technology for the missile fin control surfaces actuation from the required energypower point of view. Due to the short-time, small-effort characteristics of the present project, our analysis was performed at fundamental concept level. A reduced maneuver envelope was defined at Mach 1 and zero AOA, defining the target values for the missile fin deflection, hinge moment, and actuation rate. We have also determined how these values translated into requirements for the energy and power of the smart material actuation device, under the conditions of various actuation signals. Further, we investigated if commercial-off-the-shelf COTS smart materials devices exist that could satisfy these requirements. The reported research showed that present COTS smart materials devices are able to meet the powerenergy requirements and that optimal design of the displacement amplification mechanism can be performed.