A comparison of full non-linear and reduced order aerodynamic models in control law design using a two-dimensional aerofoil model

The prediction of the flutter boundary of an aircraft is a necessary but time consuming process, particularly as for the most realistic results a time accurate simulation of the interaction between the non-linear aerodynamic and structural forces is required. Extension of the flight envelope by the design of active control laws to suppress flutter further increases the demands on computational time, to presently unrealistic levels. Use of a reduced order model (ROM) derived from, and in place of, the full non-linear aerodynamics greatly reduces the time required for calculation of aerodynamic forces. However, this is necessarily accompanied by some loss in accuracy, and hence the method must be verified by comparison with results obtained by the full aerodynamic model before it may be used with confidence. Such a comparison is presented here, using a two-dimensional aerofoil and control surface combination as a test case. Active control of the deflectable surface is used to attempt to increase the flutter speed across the complete Mach range, feedback control being achieved by gains acting on heave and pitch proportional and differential signals, interpreted as a hinge moment demand. Full non-linear and reduced order aerodynamic models are then used to obtain optimum control law gain for flutter suppression. The results demonstrate that the ROM accurately predicts the open loop flutter boundary, gives a good approximation to the increase in flutter speed that may be produced by gain optimization, and produces a similar response given the identical gain values in each system for a significantly reduced cost. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.