Morphing Wing Technologies: Large Commercial Aircraft and Civil Helicopters

Morphing Wings Technologies: Large Commercial Aircraft and Civil Helicopters offers a fresh look at current research on morphing aircraft, including industry design, real manufactured prototypes and certification. This is an invaluable reference for students in the aeronautics and aerospace fields who need an introduction to the morphing discipline, as well as senior professionals seeking exposure to morphing potentialities. Practical applications of morphing devices are presented―from the challenge of conceptual design incorporating both structural and aerodynamic studies, to the most promising and potentially flyable solutions aimed at improving the performance of commercial aircraft and UAVs.

Morphing aircraft are multi-role aircraft that change their external shape substantially to adapt to a changing mission environment during flight. The book consists of eight sections as well as an appendix which contains both updates on main systems evolution (skin, structure, actuator, sensor, and control systems) and a survey on the most significant achievements of integrated systems for large commercial aircraft.

Dr. Antonio Concilio took his degree in Aeronautics Engineering with honour at the University of Napoli “Federico II” (Italia) in 1989; there, he was also awarded his PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 1995. In 2007 he completed the ECATA Master in Aerospace Business Administration, at ISAE-Supaero, Toulouse (France). He supervised more than 10 Doctoral (PhD) theses. Since 1989 he works as a Researcher at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (Italia), where he is currently the Head of the Adaptive Structures Division. Since 2005, he is a lecturer at the PhD School “SCUDO” at the University of Napoli “Federico II” (“Introduction to Smart Structures, Theory and Applications”). He is author of more than 150 scientific papers, presented at conferences or published into specialised journals.

Dr. Ignazio Dimino graduated with honors in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Palermo in 2004. He earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautics from Imperial College of London, UK, under the supervision of prof. Ferri Aliabadi. He was visiting researcher at Center of Acoustics and Vibration of Penn State University, USA, in 2008. In 2014, he received the “Best paper Award” at the 3AF/CEAS Clean Sky conference in Brussels, organized by the 3AF Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France. From 2013 to 2015, he was project manager of the SARISTU project at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA) and he joined the international (Canada-Italy) project CRIAQ MDO-505. From 2016, he is responsible of the Morphing Technology stream of the Clean Sky 2 Green Regional Aircraft IADP. In 2016, he served as program committee member and chairman of the second Greener Aviation conference in Brussels. He is author of over fifty peer reviewed papers on adaptive structures, including morphing wings, active noise and vibration control and smart materials, and co-author of two books. He has supervised more than ten master's degree and two Ph.D. students.

Prof. Leonardo Lecce graduated in 1971 with honours in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Naples Federico II where he spent his academic career. He retired from Full Professor of Aerospace Structures, on September 1st, 2016. Since 2000 to 2006, he had the Aeronautical Engineering Department Chair. He has supervised more than 250 Graduation and 20 Doctoral (PhD) theses. He has been a member of the EU Expert Commission for the evaluation of research proposals many times. He has taken up appointment as a member of the Scientific Committee at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA) many times, too. He is a member of the Board of the Italian branch of the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE), and since 2006, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Structural Health Monitoring. Founder of the ex-Alumni Association of the Aerospace Engineers at the University of Naples Federico II (AIAN), he was its President for many years. In 2013, he was named President of the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA), after having directed the Naples Chapter since 2010. He is currently the CEO of the company Novotech - Advanced Aerospace Technology S.r.L.

Dr. Rosario Pecora took his Master degree in Aeronautical Engineering and Ph.D. in Transport Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II” on 2002 and 2005. He has been Assistant Professor of Aircraft Structures Stability and Lecturer of Advanced Aircraft Structures at the same University since 2011. He has worked for many aircraft manufacturing companies and research centers as technical advisor for loads, aeroelasticity, aircraft structures design and certification (EASA CS-23, CS-25 standards). His research activity is mainly focused on aero-servo-elasticity of unconventional structural systems, structures dynamics and smart structures while covering leading roles in major European and extra-European projects. He is author of several scientific papers and designed inventor of European and US patents on SMA-based architectures for morphing wing trailing edge.

Ferri Aliabadi has authored and co-authored three books, edited 50 state of the art books and 48 conference proceedings. He has published close to 400 papers in international journals and similar number in conference proceedings. He is currently Editor in chief of the International Journal of Multiscale Modelling (2009-), and on the Editorial Board of several other journals - Electronic Journal for Boundary Elements, International Journal of Computer Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, and Advances in Aerodynamics.