Modeling and Simulation of a Fault-Tolerant Electromechanical Actuation System for Helicopter Swashplates in Modelica

Abstract

Replacing hydraulic primary flight control actuators by electromechanical actuators imposes the problem of reduced reliability. This problem may be overcome by using redundant actuators what in turn increases the system complexity. The appropriate redundancy level and component mapping must be assessed. In specific failure cases the system must be reconfigured in order to maintain the specified performance level to meet aircraft safety regulations. The assessment of the system's reaction upon such kind of scenarios is however a complicated task and must be supported by modeling and simulation. Therefore, modeling and simulation of such a faulttolerant electromechanical system in Modelica is described in this paper. Sample simulation results are presented and discussed.