Design and Development of a Smart Composite T-Tail for Transport Aircraft

The experience gained in developing a smart T-Tail concept for low speed transport aircraft is presented. Multi-layered PZT stack actuators are employed to demonstrate the active vibration control of three aeroelastically critical modes. The limitations of stack actuation in terms of its output parameters, namely induced force and deflection are overcome by adopting a mechanical amplification system. Flexural hinges are employed to protect the stacks from shear failures. Two stack actuating mechanisms are optimally placed in the horizontal stabilizer and two are integrated onto the vertical stabilizer. A Linear Quadratic Gaussian control scheme is implemented in dSPACE 1104Ⓡ to conduct the hardware in loop experiments. Independent modal control and multi-modes control concepts are experimentally demonstrated under an aircraft power simulated environment.