Minimum Time Turns Constrained to the Vertical Plane.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to find the throttle controls and trajectories which yield the minimum turning times for a high performance aircraft with thrust reversal capability. The aircraft remains in the vertical plane allowing only pull-up and split-s maneuvers. A second-order parameter optimization method coupled with the suboptimal control approach is used to solve the minimum time-to-turn problem. The results of the study found that trajectories restricted to the vertical plane gave different results, and in at least one case better results, than those not so constrained. The results also indicate that depending on the maneuver performed, thrust reversal is beneficial in reducing the minimum time-to-turn regardless of whether the aircraft's initial velocity is above or below corner speed. Finally, the results demonstrate that thrust reversal can be utilized for minimum time turns with resulting increases in specific energy. (AUTHOR)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1981
Accession Number
ADA111096

Entities

People

  • Christopher S. Finnerty

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aeronautical Engineering
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Differential Equations
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flight
  • Maneuvers
  • Optimization
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Security
  • Thrust
  • Thrust Control
  • Thrust Reversal
  • Trajectories

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Operations Research