Optimal recovery from microburst wind shearThe flight path of a twin-jet transport aircraft is optimized in a microburst encounter during approach to landing. The objective is to execute an escape maneuver that maintains safe ground clearance and an adequate stall margin during the climb-out portion of the trajectory. A cost function penalizing rate of climb deviations from a nominal value and rate of elevator deflection produces qualitatively good results in a variety of microburst encounters. The optimal maneuver is a gradual pitch-up that ceases near the core of the microburst, followed by a slight reduction in pitch attitude in the tailwind area of the microburst. A minimum airspeed constraint in the optimization prevents excessive airspeed loss in very severe microbursts. The aircraft equations of motion include short-period dynamics, so that the optimization solves directly for the control surface deflections required to achieve the optimal flight paths.
Document ID
19920072703
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Mulgund, Sandeep S. (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Stengel, Robert F. (Princeton University NJ, United States)