This proposal aims at qualification by extensive testing of market relevant carbon fibre struts manufactured with the tailored fibre placement (TFP) technology up to TRL 8 for space applications. A strut is a very common structural element in launchers and satellites. The main novelty of the proposed solution is that even the fittings are carbon (state-of-the-art is metal). The requirements and market relevance will be determined together with two lead customers, Airbus Defence and Space (DS) and OHB System. The lead customers are interested to buy and fly the product once qualified. Large mass savings (75%) compared to state-of-the-art solutions have been demonstrated in the successful phase 1 study, which concluded with manufacturing of a prototype. Cost and manufacturing time reduction, increased thermal stability and a reduced environmental footprint have been identified, too. A business plan has been developed in the phase 1 study showing the economic viability of the project even in conservative sales and cost scenarios, while showing large potential in more optimistic scenarios. All scenarios imply creation of new job positions. The impact of the product on the market is considered to be a game-changer with the potential to re-define the state-of-the-art. The target market is the worldwide market with particular focus on the European and US market segment. The impact for the partner consortium is a significant increase in turnover, profit, personnel and the development of new business areas. Growth is particularly strong for the project coordinator with the potential to double the company turnover and staff size within just 5 years. Such growth in the space market is aligned with the business strategy of all project partners.

The proposal addresses the themes outlined in Topic “JTI-CS2-2016-CFP03-REG-01-02 Green Turboprop configuration - Natural Laminar Flow adaptive wing concept aerodynamic experimental validation (WTT2)”. The objectives of the GRETEL project is the design, manufacturing, testing and WTT support of an innovative large scale (1:3) flexible Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) wing model that is equipped with innovative morphing capabilities on the Leading Edge (LE), Trailing (TE) and Winglet devices and will act as a precursor for the morphing technology implementation on the next generation regional aircrafts. Wing morphing is considered one of the major technological developments towards NLF wings, turbulent skin friction drag reduction and load control, aiming to increase the aerodynamic efficiency in cruise and in off-design conditions (climb, descent). The large scale NLF wing model will be fully functional and representative of the actual wing structure, ensuring that the morphing wing model deformation and its static, and dynamic / vibration response will be representative of those of the actual wing at specified flow conditions. Special emphasis will be placed on the flexible skins sizing in order to structurally optimize them such that the deflected surfaces match as close as possible the aerodynamic surface shapes of the full scale wing. The wing model, with all the morphing devices integrated, will be subjected to Ground Static and Vibration Testing as well as to functional Testing to validate its performance. Subsequently, the large scale wing NLF model will be fully instrumented and delivered to the WT facility to verify the concept of the morphing laminar wing in a representative operational environment up to TRL 6. The innovations achieved within GRETEL will result in important socio-economic, technical and ecological impacts, arising mainly from the expected increase in the wing aerodynamic efficiency.