Novel linear parameter–varying modeling and flutter suppression control of a smart airfoil

Abstract

In this article, two novel linear parameter–varying modeling and control techniques are proposed for active flutter suppression of a smart airfoil model. The smart airfoil model is instrumented with a moving mass that can be used to actively control the airfoil pitching and plunging motions. The first linear parameter–varying modeling approach makes use of the moving mass position as a scheduling parameter, and the hard constraint at the boundaries is imposed by proper selection of the parameter-varying function. The second modeling technique utilizes nonlinear springs and dampers, which are added to both ends of the airfoil groove to confine the motion of the moving mass. A state-feedback-based linear parameter–varying gain-scheduling controller with the guaranteed [Formula: see text] performance is proposed by utilizing the dynamics of the moving mass. In this study, both the position of the moving mass and the free-stream airspeed are considered as the scheduling parameters. The numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed linear parameter–varying control architectures by significantly improving the performance, while increasing the flutter speed and reducing the control effort.