Methodologies for preliminary design of variable wing geometry aircraft

This study presents one of the methodologies that can be adopted to design variable wing geometry and its functionality. With this concept the aircraft is able to perform optimally under a variety of flight conditions. The major aspects discussed include the basic geometry design of a double delta aircraft for initial sizing, the selection and importance of the correct airfoil for the selected geometry and lastly how to find the pivot point for the variable wing mechanism that produces least overlapping issues. In addition, 3D modeling tool in Pro Eng is used to verify the results of selected airfoil. The results indicate a better overall performance for both flight regimes of subsonic and supersonic.