NEWS

Aircraft capable of adapting their shape during different flight conditions, addressing two of the most important challenges for the future of sustainable aviation: weight reduction and increased efficiency. These are the main goal of the NABUCCO research project lead by Professor Chiara Bisagni of the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology at Politecnico di Milano.
NABUCCO develops radically new concepts of adaptive composite structures, ie those capable of changing their shape, by exploiting the phenomenon of structural instability, to be applied to next-generation aircraft. In aeronautics, structural buckling is generally avoided as it can instantly generate large deformations and even cause a catastrophic collapse.
Conversely, this research project no longer sees structural instability as a phenomenon to be avoided, but as a design opportunity to be explored for its revolutionary potential. The idea is to use the disadvantages of instability in a positive way to conceive, design and build composite structures – and in particular adaptive wings.