A Variable Stiffness Concept For Efficient Aircraft Vertical Tail Design

This report results from a contract tasking University of Manchester as follows The contractor will investigate using a variable stiffness vertical tail attachment to control aeroelastic performance over a range of dynamic pressures. The contractor will 1 Develop an adaptive stiffness attachment for vertical tail aircraft 2 Develop an analytical model of the attachment and predict aeroelastic performance 3 Design build and test a vertical tail model with and without a rudder to demonstrate the concept and validate the theoretical predictions and 4 Conduct wind tunnel testing at sub and supersonic Mach Numbers and 5 Consider the extension of the design for full-size aircraft and to quantify the benefits.