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Multifunctional Material and Aerospace Structures Optimization Lab

Research website for the Hartl research team at Texas A&M

Texas A&M University College of Engineering

Supersonic Morphing Aircraft

Schematic of X-59 with potential boom mitigation techniques.

Supersonic transports can be designed for low sonic booms given ideal conditions, but off-condition flight over non-ideal atmospheric profiles can lead to substantially increased boom perceived levels on the ground. This transformative research effort will explore new engineering tools and materials demonstrating that small-scale distributed structural adaptivity can enable robust low boom performance in supersonic aircraft operating in changing flight conditions. Real-time sensing of atmospheric profiles inform the adaptation of coupled multi-actuator configurations capable of maintaining low boom signature no matter the environmental conditions. The Texas A&M leadership is natural for this effort given its many previous interdisciplinary research successes and long history of “smart materials and structures” developments and supersonics/hypersonics exploration.

Related Publications:

Leal, P.B., Schrass, J.A., Giblette, T.N., Hunsaker, D.F., Shen, H., Logan, T.S. and Hartl, D.J., 2021. Effects of Atmospheric Profiles on Sonic Boom Perceived Level from Supersonic Vehicles. AIAA Journal, pp.1-9.

For more research videos from the M2AESTRO, please visit our YouTube page.

Research Topics

  • All Research
  • Topological Design of Multifunctional Structures via Genetic Programming
  • Morphing Antenna for Geographical Targeting
  • Mission-Adaptive Morphing Rotor Blades
  • Embedded SMA Sensory Components for Real-Time Structural Health Monitoring
  • Supersonic Morphing Aircraft
  • Muscular-Skeletal Morphing Structures
  • Immersive and Intuitive Data Environments
  • Avian Inspired Morphing Aircraft
  • Morphing Aerostructures for Noise Reduction
  • Reconfigurable Origami
  • Morphing Space Radiators
  • AAWE-EAA Spring Flight Event 2023
  • “Engineering a Homerun” Poster Design Commentary

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