Preliminary control and stability analysis of a long-range eVTOL aircraft

Abstract

This study proposes a strategy to incorporate control and stability aspects into the preliminary design of a tandem-wing, long-range eVTOL aircraft concept. Four operational phases are considered: cruise, transition, hover, and ground operation. For cruise, a method to design for open-loop stability and size aerodynamic control surfaces is presented. Furthermore, a controller is designed to improve handling qualities. For hover controllability by differential thrust is considered, and for ground operation, the positioning of the landing gear is performed according to clearance and tip-over requirements. A novel analytical model is derived for the tandem wing aircraft in order to estimate during the preliminary design phase the stability derivatives of the aerodynamic forces and moments. The transition manoeuvre between vertical and horizontal flight is only treated with qualitative considerations, due to the highly nonlinear dynamics involved during this flight phase.

Sensitivity Analysis for Design Parameters of Electric Tilt-Rotor Aircraft

“…Thu et al [9] proposed an accurate analytical method to improve the performance prediction of eVTOL UAV under stable level flight conditions. Beyne and Schoser et al [10,11] conducted a preliminary study on the performance analysis method of long-range eVTOL aircraft with tandem wing configuration. In addition, in terms of range estimation, Dundar and Xu et al proposed a range duration estimation method for UAV aircraft, while Traub et al estimated the range and endurance of electric aircraft by establishing a relationship [12][13][14].…”

Stability Evaluation of a Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with Morphing Wingtip

“…With that purpose, a controller was designed with the aim of handling quality improvement. The analytical model was applied to estimate stability derivatives (Schoser et al,2022).…”