Self-actuating aircraft wings for in-flight deicing with minimal power requirements are proposed. Lightweight piezoelectric actuators are utilized to excite the wing structure to its natural frequencies to induce shear stresses on the surface of the wing. The shears are generated in such a way that they are sufficient to break the weak bond between the ice layer and the wing surface. A laminated composite cantilever plate is used for the modeling and analysis. Analytical model is developed to predict the natural frequencies and shear stresses on the surface of the plate and finite element modal analysis is carried out to verify the results. In addition, finite element model involving the ice deposited on the underlying structure is built. The dynamic responses of the structure to harmonic excitation to its first five natural frequencies are investigated. It is observed that significant amount of ice de-bonding from the substrate occurs in the third mode, or the second symmetric mode. Moreover, the energy requirements of the piezoelectric actuators to actuate an adaptive composite structure with given weight are evaluated.
