Variable Camber Aerodynamic Control Surfaces and Active Wing Shaping Control

A new concept of aircraft aerodynamic control surfaces has been developed in connection with another new concept of active wing shaping control for reducing aircraft drag that will result in less fuel burn. The first concept is referred to as a variable camber continuous trailing edge flap or, alternatively, a variable camber continuous leading edge slat. The variable camber trailing edge flap (or leading edge slat) comprises multiple chord-wise segments (three or more) to form a cambered flap surface, and multiple span-wise segments to form a continuous trailing edge (or leading edge) curve with no gaps that could be prescribed by a mathematical function or the equivalent with boundary conditions enforced at the end points to minimize tip vorticities. Aerodynamic simulations have shown that this type of flap can reduce aerodynamic drag substantially as compared to a conventional flap. A new active wing-shaping control concept is proposed in connection with the presently disclosed variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (or leading edge slat). The active wing-shaping control is designed to change a wing shape in-flight in order to achieve a desired optimal wing shape for optimal drag reduction.