Fascination With Technology From the Venus Flytrap to the Foldable Airplane Wing

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In our "Fascination with Technology" section, we present impressive research and development projects to engineers every week. Today: Freely movable wing tips made of fiber-reinforced composites inspired by the Venus flytrap.

Long wings with foldable tips can reduce aircraft fuel consumption and make aviation more sustainable. An interdisciplinary research team has now developed a new solution inspired by the Venus flytrap: freely movable wing tips made of fiber-reinforced composites, manufactured using innovative 3D weaving technology.

Longer aircraft wings can increase the efficiency and sustainability of commercial airplanes by reducing drag and thus lowering fuel consumption. The problem: aircraft with long wings face spatial limitations at airports, such as on taxiways or at gates. "That's why we simply fold the wingtips upward," says Dr. Patrick Meyer, former research associate at the Institute of Mechanics and Adaptronics at TU Braunschweig (Germany) until July and now a development engineer at Lufthansa Technik since August.

By using pressure-controlled actuators with adjustable mechanical properties, wingtips could become multifunctional control surfaces.

Dr. Patrick Meyer

The idea of foldable wingtips is not new: Boeing, for example, uses foldable wingtips on the ground for its latest model, the 777X. Airbus is also working on movable wingtips. However, according to Meyer, the concept of foldable wingtips holds even more potential: "By using pressure-controlled actuators with adjustable mechanical properties, wingtips could become multifunctional control surfaces." The inspiration for this came from nature.

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Carnivorous Plant As A Model

In principle, the Venus flytrap functions like a hydraulic system: when an insect enters the trap, the plant closes its leaves within fractions of a second by precisely altering the pressure in its cell walls. These so-called nastic movements form the basis of "PACS" (Pressure-Actuated Cellular Structures) —a relatively new technology that, according to Meyer, is primarily based on research conducted at TU Braunschweig (Germany) and the German Aerospace Center. Meyer explains: "PACS is essentially the technical replication of the Venus flytrap's mechanics and brings exactly the properties that robust yet easily movable wingtips require." To implement the PACS concept for his idea of controllable wingtips, Meyer teamed up with textile researcher Dr. Michael Vorhof from the Institute of Textile Machinery and Textile High-Performance Materials Technology at TU Dresden. "Plants are made of fibers—if you want to copy them, you have to replicate their complex, fiber-based structure," explains Vorhof.

3D Weaving As A Pioneer for Sustainable Aviation

To translate the complex structure and mechanics of the Venus flytrap into a woven and flexible wingtip that can bend through pressure changes, Vorhof used a weaving machine from the machinery manufacturer Lindauer Dornier, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. "The robust design, composite-suitable configuration, and high precision of the Dornier weaving machine played a crucial role in implementing the complex fiber structure required for PACS," says Vorhof. The woven semi-finished products consist of glass fiber and polyamide threads and are melted into a fiber-reinforced plastic component in a thermoforming press. "This is significantly cheaper than using an autoclave," adds Vorhof. Aeroelastic analyses on a Cessna Citation model show that the nature-inspired woven lightweight wingtip can bear the loads experienced during flight and can move up and down within seconds.

Development Recognized With Peter Dornier Foundation Award

For their joint research work as part of two dissertations, the doctoral duo from aerospace and textile engineering was awarded the Peter Dornier Foundation Prize 2025, each receiving $5,500 USD. During the award ceremony at the Lindauer Dornier Weaving Technology Center, curators Dr. Bernd Sträter and Dr. Adnan Wahhoud emphasized the significance of the work: "These are two outstanding dissertations that utilize well-known process parameters of Dornier's modern 3D weaving technology to develop practical applications related to current advancements in aircraft construction for more sustainable aviation."

Peter D. Dornier, son of the founder and responsible for the foundation prize on the advisory board of the Peter Dornier Foundation, emphasized in his speech to the approximately 120 guests: "My father would have greatly appreciated the interdisciplinary research work, as it builds on two of his core areas of interest: aircraft construction and textile technology." With his groundbreaking ideas, the founder of Lindauer Dornier shaped both fields—for example, through the development of the positively controlled rapier weaving machine and its delivery to French glass and carbon weavers, who used it early on to manufacture fiber-reinforced aircraft components.

Future of Foldable Wings

The two young researchers expressed their gratitude during the award ceremony in Lindau, Germany: "It is a great honor for us to receive the Peter Dornier Foundation Prize, as it connects textile innovations with aviation and recognizes interdisciplinary research like ours," said Meyer, who conducted research flights in a Dornier Do 128 as part of his studies. To further develop the concept, the institutes of the award winners are planning follow-up projects as well as the construction of the first prototypes. "If everything goes well, our technology could be used in the generation after next of aircraft," the two award winners cautiously estimated.

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