Modelling and Handling Quality Assessment of the Flying-V Aircraft

Abstract

Considerable growth in the number of passengers and cargo transported by air is predicted. Besides that, aircraft noise and climate impact become increasingly important factors in aircraft design. These existing challenges in aviation boost interest in the design of innovative aircraft configurations. One of these configurations is a V-shaped flying wing named the Flying-V. This work aims at developing a flight dynamic simulation model of the Flying-V based on aerodynamic data obtained from the Vortex Lattice Method and wind tunnel experiments. The simulation model is used to assess the stability and handling qualities for certification and qualification purposes. Prior work has shown an assessment of the stability and handling qualities based on a linear aerodynamic model. However, to capture the longitudinal undesired behaviour of the Flying-V it is necessary to use a nonlinear aerodynamic model. Therefore, this paper illustrates how a flight dynamic simulation model, based on combined aerodynamic data from the Vortex Lattice Method and wind tunnel experiments, is used for certification and qualification purposes. The stability and handling qualities are assessed by analysing the aircraft dynamic modes and analysing nonlinear system handling qualities based on linearisation for both the cruise and approach condition.

Twin-Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient for altitude control of a flying-wing aircraft with an uncertain aerodynamic model

“…As van Overeem and van Kampen [28] adopted a similar methodology for simulating aerodynamic-model uncertainty to the present research, with also a maximum standard deviation of 0.25, the results presented in this paper indicate that the TD3 controller presented here is robust to at least the same level of aerodynamic-model uncertainty as the INDI controller presented by [28]. However, differences between the research of van Overeem and van Kampen and the present research in the flight control task and the flight conditions simulated limits the possibilities for a direct comparison.…”

“…Hereby the means of the stability-and-control derivatives of the Flying V were assumed to be at the values obtained from the vortex-lattice method applied to a numerical model of the Flying V. As reported by van Overeem and van Kampen [28] the maximum error in the aerodynamic model of the Flying V used for the present research is estimated to be 25%. To simulate an uncertainty with a maximum of 25% the uncertainty factors were drawn from a normal distribution with a standard deviation of 0.125, such that 95% of the uncertainty-factor samples would fall in the aerodynamic-error range [−25%, 25%].…”

Handling Quality Improvements for the Flying-V Aircraft using Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion

“…Currently, the main Flying-V design challenge is centred on the improvement of the stability and handling qualities of this novel aircraft design for certification and qualification purposes. Previous research is conducted on the stability and handling qualities of the full-size aircraft by designing a six-degrees-of-freedom flight dynamic simulation model [8]. This flight dynamic simulation model makes use of an aerodynamic model that combines aerodynamic coefficients obtained from the Vortex Lattice Method with wind tunnel experiments.…”

“…Due to an elevon deflection limit of 25 • , this elevon trim deflection reduces the manoeuvrability of the Flying-V. Besides that, the phugoid mode and Dutch roll mode are unstable [8]. To improve the stability and handling qualities of the Flying-V, there is a necessity to design a flight control system.…”

“…This flight control system is required to cope with the inherent nonlinear behaviour of the aerodynamic model used for the flight dynamic simulation. Furthermore, due to the assumptions made during the design of the flight dynamic simulation model and the uncertainties present in the aerodynamic model, the flight control system has to cope with these model uncertainties to diminish performance degradation [8].…”