Aero-Propulsive Modeling for a Subscale Tiltrotor eVTOL Aircraft from Wind-Tunnel and Flight-Test Data

This presentation describes empirical aero-propulsive modeling research efforts conducted using a subscale tiltrotor electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The vehicle, referred to as the Research Aircraft for eVTOL Enabling techNologies (RAVEN) Subscale Wind-Tunnel and Flight Test (SWFT) model, serves as a flight dynamics and controls research testbed to foster advances in eVTOL aircraft technology. Complex vehicle attributes ubiquitous in modern eVTOL designs, including many control effectors and significant aero-propulsive coupling, present a challenge for vehicle modeling using traditional methods. Accordingly, RAVEN-SWFT has been used to formulate and demonstrate advanced system identification methods that enable efficient and accurate aero-propulsive model development for eVTOL aircraft. The aero-propulsive modeling approaches applied for RAVEN-SWFT through static wind-tunnel testing, three-degree-of-freedom free-motion wind-tunnel testing, and flight testing constitute the primary topics of the lecture. The presented model identification techniques can be readily extended to many different eVTOL vehicle configurations to facilitate rapid, accurate flight dynamics simulation development.