Integrated Approach to the Dynamics and Control of Maneuvering Flexible Aircraft

This work uses a fundamental approach to the problem of simulating the flight of flexible aircraft. To this end, it integrates into a single formulation the pertinent disciplines, namely, analytical dynamics, structural dynamics, aerodynamics, and controls. It considers both the rigid body motions of the aircraft, three translations (forward motion, sideslip and plunge) and three rotations (roll, pitch and yaw), and the elastic deformations of every point of the aircraft, as well as the aerodynamic, propulsion, gravity and control forces. The equations of motion are expressed in a form ideally suited for computer processing. A perturbation approach yields a flight dynamics problem for the motions of a quasi-rigid aircraft and an 'extended aeroelasticity' problem for the elastic deformations and perturbations in the rigid body motions, with the solution of the first problem entering as an input into the second problem. The control forces for the flight dynamics problem are obtained by an 'inverse' process and the feedback controls for the extended aeroservoelasticity problem are determined by the LQG theory. A numerical example presents time simulations of rigid body perturbations and elastic deformations about 1) a steady level flight and 2) a level steady turn maneuver.