Integrated Trim and Structural Design Process for Active Aeroelastic Wing Technology

Abstract

A new method for concurrent trim and structural optimization of Active Aeroelastic Wing technology is presented. The new process treats trim optimization and structural optimization as an integrated problem in the same mathematical formulation, in which control surface gear ratios are included as design variables in a standard structural optimization algorithm. This new approach is in contrast to most of the existing AAW design processes in which structural optimization and trim optimization have separate objectives and are performed in an iterative, sequential manner. The new integrated AAW design process is demonstrated on a lightweight fighter type aircraft and compared to a sequential AAW design process. For this demonstration, the integrated process converges to a lower weight, and offers an advantage over the sequential process in that optimization is performed in one continuous run, whereas the sequential approach requires pausing and restarting the structural optimization to allow for trim optimization.

Application of Robust Control Design Techniques to the Aeroservoelastic Design Optimization of a Very Flexible UAV Wing

“…The same framework was later used to perform simultaneous structural and control optimization in the presence of parameter uncertainty. 8 Zink et al 9 addressed the design of structural parameters and gear ratios of a lightweight fighter performing symmetric and antisymmetric rolling maneuvers. The optimization formulation was based on static aeroelastic equations.…”

Aeroservoelastic Design Optimization of a Flexible Wing

“…Since simultaneous optimization yields better results than those obtained through performing sequential optimization [26,15,27], the real potential of including aeroservoelastic synthesis in the aircraft design process can only be realized with a simultaneous optimization approach. In a traditional design process, the aircraft configuration is designed first, and the control system is designed second.…”

“…Zink et al addressed the design of structural parameters and gear ratios of a lightweight fighter performing symmetric and antisymmetric (rolling) maneuvers [15]. The optimization formulation was based on static aeroelastic equations.…”

“…Some of the work that addressed the active aeroelastic wing design adopted quasi-steady flight models, where structural deflections are assumed to have reached their steady-state conditions [17,15,18]. Mathematical formulations of flexible aircraft flight dynamics are mainly based on one of two approaches: the mean-axes method, or the quasi-coordinate method.…”

Model-Predictive Gust Load Alleviation Controller for a Highly Flexible Aircraft

“…The use of active control has been extensively investigated, for example the alleviation of the dynamic load [1,2,3,4,5,6] and the suppression of aeroelastic effects [7,8]. The application of active-control techniques to large-aspect-ratio aircraft has recently become more prevalent [9].…”