Design and experimental validation of a flutter suppression controller for the active flexible wing

The synthesis and experimental validation of an active flutter suppression controller for the Active Flexible Wing wind tunnel model is presented. The design is accomplished with traditional root locus and Nyquist methods using interactive computer graphics tools and extensive simulation based analysis. The design approach uses a fundamental understanding of the flutter mechanism to formulate a simple controller structure to meet stringent design specifications. Experimentally, the flutter suppression controller succeeded in simultaneous suppression of two flutter modes, significantly increasing the flutter dynamic pressure despite modeling errors in predicted flutter dynamic pressure and flutter frequency. The flutter suppression controller was also successfully operated in combination with another controller to perform flutter suppression during rapid rolling maneuvers.