German team begins tests of aeroelastic wing technology

Researchers from the Technological University of Munich (TUM) and the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, led the test flights from an airfield in Oberpfaffenhofen. The tests involved two aircraft, both equipped with wings which are wider in span and lighter than conventional wings. The researchers believe that such wings could make aircraft more fuel-efficient, therefore reducing cost and carbon dioxide emissions.

A European project known as FLEXOP (flutter-free flight envelope expansion for economical performance improvement) aims to develop wider and lighter wings which are not affected by the aerodynamic phenomenon known as flutter.

Anybody who has flown in a commercial aircraft will be familiar with this: it’s the up-and-down motion of the tips of the wings relative to the aircraft fuselage in flight, and it is caused by aerodynamic drag and wind gusts, and it reduces the fuel efficiency of aircraft. Lighter weight wings tend to be more affected by flutter, but would reduce fuel usage. One solution to flutter is to develop aeroelastic wings, which are -seemingly paradoxically - capable of more movement in flight than conventional, more rigid, wing constructions.