this is like an upside down maglev top.

Thre is a video of "galloping gertie" a bridge that comes apart in high winds. Similarly I imagine airplane wings might be more effective if not wind distorted. There is a slight chance that with oodles of unexplained electricity the wings could be lighter as well.

underneath the wing/bridge their is a mesh of EM producing computer controlled levitators, the kind that dynamically balance a load, very similar to a maglev top.

just make a clever weave, or an array of maglev tops underneath the wing/bridge. almost zero distortion force on the bridge/wing while even a wildly flapping EM mesh microadjusts its fields. sort of like a maglev sheet directly under a wing, with maybe one mm of clearance.

Technologically of course the electricity to power this is not obvious, unless you have one of those flying nuclear reactor planes.
-- beanangel, Sep 24 2017

As far as I can tell, the proposal is to stabilise aircraft wings against bending, by means of magnetic fields. One problem with this is that the source of the magnetic fields will have to be fixed to a rigid, non-bending structure. However, this could be ground-based, as long as the aircraft doesn't do anything radical like leaving the ground.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 25 2017


I find that just going ahead and using the entire atom, instead of just the byproducts of moving its electrons, is more efficient. In doing so, I get neat strong force benefits, and can combine them in interesting ways, to make things like steel, wood, and aluminum sheeting. Also I get the benefit of avoiding creating random EMF noise that could interfere with the plane's instrumentation, transponder signal, and all- important Wifi hotspot feed.
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 25 2017


I'm not sure how this will work for a wing. I think artificial muscles would be a better solution for active stiffness in wings.

For a bridge experiencing high wind, I'm concerned that it will still oscillate (whether maglev or artificial muscles). Oscillation is a difficult problem to solve: throwing active correction at it often makes it worse. See pilot-induced oscillation; the same phenomenon can still occur easily when you use an artificial control system rather than a human pilot. However, with proper tuning, I think it could work.
-- notexactly, Feb 07 2018


You might, maybe, perhaps, just possibly be able to damp out wing flutter using piezoelectric devices (is there anything they can't do?). But then you're dependent on the electrical system to maintain the otherwise flaccid wing in a flyable condition. Given that the in-flight entertainment system doesn't always work, I'm not sure I'd want to depend that heavily on electronics.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 07 2018



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