A future advanced supersonic transport aircraft (AST) has fundamental characteristics and problems inherent to supersonic cruise aircraft with corresponding unique control and handling characteristics.
In order to optimise the aerodynamic performance across the full flight envelope a fully integrated flight and propulsion control system will be required. However, this will need to be designed from the outset within clearly defined flight control and performance guidelines.
Relevant existing and AST specific handling qualities criteria will need to be developed if a successful commercial transport aircraft is to be produced.
This paper begins by presenting an overview of existing supersonic transport (SST) aircraft operations and current second generation SST research activities and design considerations. This is followed by an analysis of the principal aerodynamic, dynamic and control characteristics of SST and AST aircraft and their effect on the aircraft’s handling qualities. Finally, some possible solutions to the control and handling issues are investigated, assessed and presented.
The European Supersonic Commercial Transport’s control surface configuration is based largely on Concorde’s and has been scaled to provide comparable un-augmented stability and manoeuvre performance. Hence, optimising the surface size could provide significant performance benefits in terms of reduced drag, noise, structural and actuator power requirements. Adequate control power will be required to meet current civil aviation regulations whose primary aim is to ensure the aircraft can be flown safely during both normal and emergency operation. Additional design criteria, combined with the optimum longitudinal control laws, are required to ensure desirable handling qualities with minimum pilot workload. Two critical low-speed flight conditions, normal and emergency, together with associated aircraft configurations for control surface sizing have been identified. The rudder must provide sufficient control power to achieve positive heading changes subsequent to a double asymmetric engine failure during normal operation. The fin should be sized to satisfy Dutch roll stability criteria with the un-augmented aircraft in its emergency configuration. The dual functionality of the elevons require that they are sized using both pitch and roll performance and handling quality criteria. The bank angle capture requirement provides the most critical elevon design case, the satisfaction of which also ensures adequate pitch control power. Validation using ‘pilot-in-the-loop’ simulation will be required whilst more explicit control surface size optimisation would require the definition of limiting airspeeds and operating conditions applicable to the European Supersonic Commercial Transport. Additional studies of control power requirements during transonic and supersonic cruise may also be required.
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