Two innovative actuating concepts for aerospace morphing applications, based on shape memory alloys (SMAs), are proposed. The first concept investigates a composite plate incorporating embedded SMA wires. A nonlinear auto regressive with exogenous excitation model is proposed for controlling single-cycle/multi-cycle loading conditions of the SMA wires. The second actuating concept studies a novel rib configuration, which incorporates a compliant mechanism for enabling aerofoil's leading edge morphing. Different rib-compliant mechanism concepts are designed and analyzed. The most efficient rib concept is experimentally characterized. The experimental results from both actuating concepts showed good agreement with the respective numerical.

The focus of this paper is the development of a digital escape room for pilots’ training in flight safety procedures. To this end, we will discuss the methodology we used in order to make sure that each stage of the evolution of our digital platform is safe and suitable for educational use. Therefore, we will analyse the first stages towards the construction and evaluation of the scenarios incorporated in our entirely digital escape room that is intended for the T-6A Texan II pilots’ education. Because of the educational character of the digital escape room, the theoretical background of our research is extremely important, since it provides the escape room with the educational aspect. As a result, for the narratives of our simulations and the development of our emergency cases, we used as our baseline the flight manual, the boldface procedures and the operating limitations of T-6A aircraft and we selected the categories of incidents/emergencies to be used as part of our virtual escape room. We, then, constructed the trial-run scenarios that we asked pilots to solve. Finally, we conducted extensive field research with the development and use of appropriate questionnaires and interviews to evaluate the realism of our scenarios. Based on the feedback we received from the field research, we will conclude this paper by discussing the limitations of this study, but also our ideas for future improvements and a timeline on our research progress, as well as on further developing our virtual escape room.

In the pursuit of a lighter composite wing design, fast and effective methodologies for sizing and validating the wing members (e.g., spar, ribs, skins, etc.) are required. In the present paper, the preliminary design methodology of an airliner main composite wing, which has an innovative multispar configuration instead of the conventional two-spar design, is investigated. The investigated aircraft wing is a large-scale composite component, requiring an efficient analysis methodology; for this purpose, the initial wing sizing is mostly based on simplified Finite Element (FE) stress analysis combined to analytically formulated design criteria. The proposed methodology comprises three basic modules, namely, computational stress analysis of the wing structure, comparison of the stress–strain results to specific design allowable and a suitable resizing procedure, until all design requirements are satisfied. The design constraints include strain allowable for the entire wing structure, stability constraints for the upper skin and spar webs, as well as bearing bypass analysis of the riveted/bolted joints of the spar flanges/skins connection. A comparison between a conventional (2-spar) and an innovative 4-spar wing configuration is presented. It arises from the comparison between the conventional and the 4-spar wing arrangement, that under certain conditions the multispar configuration has significant advantages over the conventional design.

An energy-based solution for calculating the buckling loads of partially anisotropic stiffened plates is presented, such as antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminations. A discrete approach, for the mathematical modelling and formulations of the stiffened plates, is followed. The developed formulations extend the Rayleigh–Ritz method and explore the available anisotropic unstiffened plate buckling solutions to the interesting cases of stiffened plates with some degree of material anisotropy. The examined cases consider simply supported unstiffened and stiffened plates under uniform and linearly varying compressive loading. Additionally, a reference finite element (FE) model is developed to compare the calculated buckling loads and validate the modelling approach for its accuracy. The results of the developed method are also compared with the respective experimental results for the cases where they were available in the literature. Finally, an extended discussion regarding the assumptions and restrictions of the applied Rayleigh–Ritz method is made, so that the limitations of the developed method are identified and documented.

Predicting buckling in large-scale composite structures is hindered by the need for highly detailed Finite Element (FE) models, which are computationally expensive and impractical for early-stage design iterations. This study introduces a macromodelling buckling framework that reduces those models to plate-level size without sacrificing accuracy. An equivalent bending stiffness matrix is derived from strain–energy equivalence, rigorously retaining orthotropic in-plane terms, bending–extensional coupling, and—crucially—the eccentricity of compressive loads about an unsymmetrically stiffened mid-plane, effects overlooked by conventional Parallel-Axis smearing. These stiffness terms contribute to closed-form analytical solutions for homogeneous orthotropic plates, providing millisecond-level evaluations ideal for gradient-based design optimisation. The method is benchmarked against detailed FE simulations of panels with three to ten stringers under longitudinal and transverse compression, showing less than 5% deviation in critical load prediction. Its utility is demonstrated in the sizing optimisation of the upper cover of a scaled Airbus A330 composite wing-box, where the proposed model explores the design space in minutes on a standard workstation, orders of magnitude faster than full FE analyses. By combining analytical plate theory, enhanced smearing, and rapid optimisation capability, the framework provides an accurate, ultra-fast tool for buckling analysis and the preliminary design of large-scale stiffened composite structures.