Design and Experimental Validation of Multi-Objective Gust Load Alleviation Optimal Control for a High Aspect Ratio Flexible Transport Wing

This paper presents the design and experimental validation of a multi-objective optimal control approach for gust load alleviation on a high-aspect-ratio flexible transport wing. The controller extends a standard LQG framework by directly penalizing wing-root strain in the performance index and is evaluated using a dynamically scaled CRM13 half-span model tested in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. State and gust estimation are performed using an extended-state Kalman filter, with additional evaluation of preview-based estimation using an upstream gust sniffer. Wind-tunnel results demonstrate significant attenuation of gust-induced structural response, with wing-root strain and wingtip displacement reductions exceeding 50% and 40%, respectively, across multiple gust frequencies. The onboard-only estimation approach provides the most consistent performance, validating the practicality and effectiveness of multi-objective optimal control for gust load alleviation on highly flexible wings.