Dr. Woong-Yeol Joe Gives Seminar Over Design and Control of a Camber Morphing Wing Aircraft

On Friday, February 21, Woong-Yeol Joe, Ph.D. gave a seminar over, “Design and Control of a Camber Morphing Wing Aircraft.” Dr. Joe is an Associate Professor from the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Tennessee State University.

Abstract: Wing morphing technologies in general aim to optimize aircraft’ efficiency by changing and adjusting the shape of wings in compliance to corresponding flight conditions. Among many types of wing morphing, suggested variable camber compliant morphing in airfoil morphing enables aircraft to have seamless, conformal, and energy and noise effective change of wing geometry that significantly reduces drag force or lift-drag ratio. Unlike typical approaches of using smart materials or partial morphing of trailing-edge, mechanism-driven camber morphing wing via linear actuators enables fixed wing aircraft wing to adjust camber rates conformally, dynamically, and firmly along the wing span. For realization of actual flight and control of camber morphing wing aircraft, it is of interest (1) to investigate the nature of structural and aerodynamical behaviors of camber morphing wings while flight, (2) to study difference and similarity between the conventional wing and the camber morphing wings in control aspects, (3) to design and implement the skin structure of camber morphing wings along with characteristics of 3D printed structure. This presentation covers overview of morphing technologies, motivation and benefits of camber morphing, design of control allocation aspect of camber morphing wings, and design and implementation of skin structure for camber morphing wings with perspectives of 3D/4D printing.

Biography: Dr. Woong Yeol Joe is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Tennessee State University (TSU), Nashville TN. Currently, he is doing his first sabbatical year at ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Knoxville TN focused on 3D/4D manufacturing technology. Before he joined it in fall 2014 at TSU, he was working as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University during 2011-2014 and Florida State University as Research Associate during 2010-2011. His main research interests are 1) design and control of morphorous structures (4D printing), 2) design of flight control systems, and 3) dynamics/kinematics and mechanism design of mechanical systems in the applications of aerospace, mechanical, and robotic systems. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University, NY in 2010, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New York University, NY in 2006, and B.S in Electrical Engineering from Hong-iK University in 2003.