Deployment dynamics of a rolled micro air vehicle wing

In this study the structural deployment dynamics of a rollable micro air vehicle wing are investigated. The wing is composed of a single layer of woven, carbon-fiber composite and behaves like a tape-spring, remaining stiff in one direction (lift) while rolling easily in the other for storage. A finite element model is developed and evaluated for its comparison to an experimental model. A vacuum chamber is used to eliminate fluid effects on the structural deployment dynamics, which are recorded using a high-speed video camera. Modal testing and finite element updating are used to estimate unknown composite material properties for the analysis. A laser vibrometer is used to record wing mode shapes, and they are found to agree well with fitted mode shapes and their frequencies from the updated Abaqus finite element model. A wing deployment is simulated in Abaqus and compared with experimental deployments, and the time history displacements matched well. The deployment is found to be sensitive to the wing mount as well as to material properties, particularly damping.