Modeling and Model Simplification of Aeroelastic Vehicles: An Overview

The rigid-body degrees of freedom and elastic degrees of freedom of aeroelastic vehicles are typically treated separately in dynamic analysis. Such a decoupling, however, is not always justified and modeling assumptions that imply decoupling must be used with caution. The frequency separation between the rigid-body and elastic degrees of freedom for advanced aircraft may no longer be sufficient to permit the typical treatment of the vehicle dynamics. Integrated, elastic vehicle models must be developed initially and simplified in a manner appropriate to and consistent with the intended application. This paper summarizes key results from past research aimed at developing and implementing integrated aeroelastic vehicle models for flight controls analysis and design. Three major areas will be addressed; 1) the accurate representation of the dynamics of aeroelastic vehicles, 2) properties of several model simplification methods and 3) the importance of understanding the physics of the system being modeled and of having a model which exposes the underlying physical causes for critical dynamic characteristics.

[1]  P. W. Likins,et al.  Floating reference frames for flexible spacecraft , 1977 .

[2]  David K. Schmidt,et al.  Multivariable frequency-weighted order reduction , 1989 .

[3]  David K. Schmidt,et al.  A Simulation Study of the Flight Dynamics of Elastic Aircraft , 1987 .

[4]  B. Anderson,et al.  Model reduction for control system design , 1984 .

[5]  R. D. Milne,et al.  Some remarks on the dynamics of deformable bodies. , 1968 .

[6]  Duane T. McRuer,et al.  Aircraft Dynamics and Automatic Control , 1973 .

[7]  K. L. Roger,et al.  Airplane Math Modeling Methods for Active Control Design , 1977 .

[8]  John J Cerra.  Modelling of Rigid-Body and Elastic Aircraft Dynamics for Flight Control Development. , 1986 .

[9]  W. Brogan.  Modern Control Theory , 1971 .

[10]  D. K. Schmidt.  Pilot modeling and closed-loop analysis of flexible aircraft in the pitch tracking task , 1983 .

[11]  David K. Schmidt,et al.  On the control of elastic vehicles - Model simplification and stability robustness , 1989 .

[12]  John D'Azzo,et al.  Linear Control System Analysis and Design: Conventional and Modern , 1977 .

[13]  Petar V. Kokotovic,et al.  Singular perturbations and order reduction in control theory - An overview , 1975, Autom..

[14]  K. Glover.  All optimal Hankel-norm approximations of linear multivariable systems and their L, ∞ -error bounds† , 1984 .

[15]  Thomas A. Zeiler,et al.  Dynamic analysis of an unrestrained, rotating structure through nonlinear simulation , 1988 .

[16]  R. Calico,et al.  Modelling of rigid-body and elastic aircraft dynamics for flight control development , 1986 .

[17]  Thomas A. Zeiler,et al.  Nonlinear simulation of a flexible aircraft in maneuvering flight , 1987 .

[18]  David K. Schmidt,et al.  Flight dynamics of aeroelastic vehicles , 1988 .

[19]  David K. Schmidt,et al.  Modeling, model simplification and stability robustness with aeroelastic vehicles , 1988 .

[20]  Audra E. Kosh,et al.  Linear Algebra and its Applications , 1992 .

[21]  R. L. Swaim,et al.  An analytical pilot rating method for highly elastic aircraft , 1982 .