Before and after the application of the conformal surface.
The angular change of the flow along a body influences greatly when and if the supersonic flow will separate from the body. The purpose of this project is to design a conformal surface that minimizes the flow angle changes even as the attached hinged rigid plates transition to different positions. The plates move into positions that, assuming the surface is smooth and with minimized flow angle changes, will lower the perceived loudness of the supersonic aircraft. This overall adaptive structure is complicated by the numerous shapes it must accomplish using hinged rigid plates while not having any component fail. A research project underneath the NASA ULI Morphing Supersonic Aircraft.