Adaptive and Robust Aeroelastic Control of Nonlinear Lifting Surfaces with Single/Multiple Control Surfaces: A Review

Active aeroelastic control is an emerging technology aimed at providing solutions to structural systems that under the action of aerodynamic loads are prone to instability and catastrophic failures, and to oscillations that can yield structural failure by fatigue. The purpose of the aeroelastic control among others is to alleviate and even suppress the vibrations appearing in the flight vehicle subcritical flight regimes, to expand its flight envelope by increasing the flutter speed, and to enhance the postflutter behavior usually characterized by the presence of limit cycle oscillations. Recently adaptive and robust control strategies have demonstrated their superiority to classical feedback strategies. This review paper discusses the latest development on the topic by the authors. First, the available control techniques with focus on adaptive control schemes are reviewed, then the attention is focused on the advanced single-input and multi-input multi-output adaptive feedback control strategies developed for lifting surfaces operating at subsonic and supersonic flight speeds. A number of concepts involving various adaptive control methodologies, as well as results obtained with such controls are presented. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and numerical results obtained with the various control strategies.