Aircraft flutter control system design

This chapter is primarily based on eigenstructure assignment and classical control techniques used in the AFW program, with additional extension to improve upon the results presented therein. In this chapter, problem of stabilising aeroelastic modes has been examined. The study of the flutter mechanism, from a feedback control point of view, reveals that associated with each pair of interacting elastic modes (poles) participating in flutter, there exists a zero called the critical zero. This zero determines the achievable improvement in the damping of the unstable flutter mode. The role of EAC to optimally deploy multiple control effectors for this control problem is also highlighted.