Visit the Yaskawa Electric Europe web site

Flapless prototypes take to the skies

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Nov 25, 2005

BAE Systems, in partnership with Manchester University has successfully flown two types of air vehicle demonstrating new concepts of flapless flow control.

BAE Systems, in partnership with Manchester University has successfully flown two types of air vehicle demonstrating new concepts of flapless flow control.

These model scale aircraft use blown air to control roll and pitch, replacing standard elevators and ailerons.

They form the first of a set of planned demonstrators as part of the FLAVIIR (flapless air vehicle integrated industrial research) research programme to look at technologies for future unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).

The project is a five year programme funded jointly by BAE Systems and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and run from Cranfield University with nine other university partners.

The project covers all key aspects and technologies of the next generation UAV, namely aerodynamics, control systems, electromagnetics, manufacturing, materials/structures, numerical simulation and integration.

Being able to fly and control aircraft without conventional control surfaces will bring benefits to both military and civil aircraft.

In military jets the stealth characteristics will be enhanced by a reduction in edges and gaps that can increase radar cross section.

Additionally, the number of moving and electrical parts in both military and civil aircraft will be reduced which has clear implications for cost, reliability, weight, efficiency and maintenance.

The first vehicle, flown near Manchester, achieves roll control by blowing air from the trailing edge of one wing which in turn entrains the upper surface flow and so increases lift, thus producing roll.

The second vehicle, achieves pitch control by deflection of the main propulsive jet.

This deflection is achieved, not by mechanical moving parts, but by using secondary jets.

These jets exhaust from small slots at the upper and lower surface of the main jet and follow a curved surface.

This in turn entrains the main jet resulting in full thrust vectoring.

As the other technologies in the programme are researched further flapless vehicles will be developed and enhanced accordingly.

The next such vehicle to fly will be the integration of the roll and pitch control into a single (electric) aircraft and is due to happen before the end of 2005.

Research will then progress to demonstration using jet engines.

The ultimate aim of the programme is to then deliver a flying demonstrator vehicle which makes use of all the technologies being researched for a maintenance free, low cost UAV without conventional control surfaces and without performance penalty over conventional craft.

This is scheduled for completion in early 2009.

Project manager Philip Woods from BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre explains: "Future UAVs will be necessarily cheaper, more modular and will rely on designs that consider many cross-discipline interactions and trade-offs".

"The FLAVIIR programme ensures that BAE Systems understands both of the emerging technologies and how they can fit together to deliver suitable systems in the future".

The flapless air vehicle project is being managed from Cranfield University and includes nine other university partners: University of Leicester, University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Southampton, University of Wales (Swansea), Warwick University, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of York and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.

The project forms part of BAE Systems strategy to concentrate its funding on a few selected universities to increase company involvement in these university programmes, to facilitate a greater degree of co-operation between university partners and to include systems integration in the research agenda.