Dynamics of UAV wing with smart metamaterial resonators

The vibration waves of a UAV metamaterial wing are studied with smart resonators and aerodynamic loadings. The smart wing is designed as a box beam with periodically attached smart resonators along the wing span. The smart resonator creates acoustic metamaterial characteristics and can actively attenuate the vibration waves at different frequencies by piezo- voltage generation. The transfer matrix method is used to analyze the elastic and aeroelastic vibration waves of the smart wing. Initially, the influence of smart resonators on the bandgap of flexural waves is studied without an aerodynamic effect. Active electrical action, i.e., piezo- voltage, generated in the smart resonators is found to tune the bandgaps efficiently. The flexural vibration waves in the low-frequency range are attenuated with the low piezo-voltage and vice versa for high frequency. The bandgap behavior, such as position, width, and attenuation performance, increases with an increase in voltage generation. The unit cell length, resonator mass, and stiffness significantly impact the flexural bandgap formations. The results show that the vibration waves at various frequencies can be controlled within the geometrical constraints of the smart resonator. In the next stage, the aerodynamic effect on the flexural and coupled flexural & torsional vibration waves is studied. Results show that one more bandgap is created at a very low frequency for flexural aeroelastic waves compared to the case without an aerodynamic effect. This effect also broadens the resonator bandgap. The coupled flexural and torsional vibration waves are completely attenuated in the bandgap due to the interactions of the smart resonators with the aerodynamic effect. This study uses smart resonators and aerodynamic effects to show the active attenuation of the flexural and coupled vibration waves at desired frequencies in the UAV wing.