Offset Piezoceramic Stack Actuators and Acceleration Feedback Control for Tail Buffet Alleviation of a High Performance Twin Tail Aircraft: Robustness Issues

Abstract

In high performance twin-tail aircraft tail buffet occurs when unsteady pressures associated with separated flow excite the modes of the vertical fin structural assemblies At high angles of attack flow separates and is convected by the geometry of the wing-fuselage interface toward the vertical tails. This phenomenon. along with the aeroelastic coupling of the tail structural assembly results in vibrations that can shorten the fatigue life of the empennage assembly and limit the flight envelope due to the large amplitude of the fin vibrations The objective of this paper is to present a control system for buffet alleviation by the use of Offset Piezoceramic Stack Actuators (OPSA) in combination with acceleration feedback control. The emphasis of this paper is placed on the reliability and maintainability of the actuator and the robustness of the controller. The choice of actuator and controller is justified Methods for the design and the placement of the OPSAs for tail buffet alleviation are elaborated. A method to design the acceleration feedback controller for tail buffet alleviation is presented. Finally experimental validations of the effectiveness and the robustness of the controller tire performed on a full- scale vertical tail sub-assembly and on a l/l6th scale wind tunnel model.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADP011138

Entities

People

  • M. B. De Noyer
  • S. Hanagud

Organizations

  • Georgia Tech

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Cantilever Beams
  • Closed Loop Systems
  • Control Surfaces
  • Control Systems
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Free Stream
  • Frequency
  • Geometry
  • Measurement
  • Military Aircraft
  • Open Loop Systems
  • Power Spectra
  • Resonant Frequency
  • Test Facilities
  • Wind Tunnel Tests
  • Wind Tunnels

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerodynamics/Aeronautics.
  • Robotics and Automation.
  • Software Engineering