Boundary Control of a Nonhomogeneous Flexible Wing with Bounded Input Disturbances

This note deals with the boundary control problem of a nonhomogeneous flexible wing evolving under unsteady aerodynamic loads. The wing is actuated at its tip by flaps and is modeled by a distributed parameter system consisting of two coupled partial differential equations. Based on the proposed boundary control law, the well-posedness of the underlying Cauchy problem is first investigated by resorting to the semigroup theory. Then, a Lyapunov-based approach is employed to assess the stability of the closed-loop system in the presence of bounded input disturbances.Comment: Published in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control as a Technical Not

Adaptive Neural Network Fixed-Time Control Design for Bilateral Teleoperation With Time Delay.

In this article, subject to time-varying delay and uncertainties in dynamics, we propose a novel adaptive fixed-time control strategy for a class of nonlinear bilateral teleoperation systems. First, an adaptive control scheme is applied to estimate the upper bound of delay, which can resolve the predicament that delay has significant impacts on the stability of bilateral teleoperation systems. Then, radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs) are utilized for estimating uncertainties in bilateral teleoperation systems, including dynamics, operator, and environmental models. Novel adaptation laws are introduced to address systems' uncertainties in the fixed-time convergence settings. Next, a novel adaptive fixed-time neural network control scheme is proposed. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, the bilateral teleoperation systems are proved to be stable in fixed time. Finally, simulations and experiments are presented to verify the validity of the control algorithm

Optimization based control design techniques for distributed parameter systems

The study presents optimization based control design techniques for the systems that are governed by partial differential equations. A control technique is developed for systems that are actuated at the boundary. The principles of dynamic inversion and constrained optimization theory are used to formulate a feedback controller. This control technique is demonstrated for heat equations and thermal convection loops. This technique is extended to address a practical issue of parameter uncertainty in a class of systems. An estimator is defined for unknown parameters in the system. The Lyapunov stability theory is used to derive an update law of these parameters. The estimator is used to design an adaptive controller for the system. A second control technique is presented for a class of second order systems that are actuated in-domain. The technique of proper orthogonal decomposition is used first to develop an approximate model. This model is then used to design optimal feedback controller. Approximate dynamic programming based neural network architecture is used to synthesize a sub-optimal controller. This control technique is demonstrated to stabilize the heave dynamics of a flexible aircraft wings. The third technique is focused on the optimal control of stationary thermally convected fluid flows from the numerical point of view. To overcome the computational requirement, optimization is carried out using reduced order model. The technique of proper orthogonal decomposition is used to develop reduced order model. An example of chemical vapor deposition reactor is considered to examine this control technique --Abstract, page iii

Optimal manoeuvres and aeroservoelastic co-design of very flexible wings

The single shooting method is applied to the optimal control of very flexible aeroelastic wings and the combined structural and control design (co-design) of geometrically nonlinear beam models in vacuum. As large deflections occur, the dynamical properties of these systems can undergo substantial changes. Efficient actuation strategies require characterising, and possibly exploiting, these phenomena. With this purpose, geometrically-nonlinear models are built using composite beams and an unsteady vortex-lattice aerodynamics description. Optimal control is employed to identify actuations time-histories. Numerical solutions are obtained via single-shooting and sequential quadratic programming upon parametrisation of the control input. The approach is also extended to assess the feasibility of an integrated design strategy for active geometrically-nonlinear structures. Numerical studies are first presented for a very flexible actuated pendulum with large rigid-body motion. The impact of local (B-splines) and global (discrete sines) basis functions is investigated for increasing levels of actuation authority, underlining the importance of the time-frequency resolution of the parametrisation on the convergence properties and outcome quality of the process. Locking between control and structural vibrations around specific design points is found, thus highlighting the limitations of a sequential design approach. Simultaneous designing of control law and structure is seen, instead, to explore more efficiently larger portions of the design space. The lateral manoeuvring of very flexible partially-supported wings is then considered. A flight-dynamics model based on elastified stability derivatives is shown to capture the relevant dynamics either under slow actuation or for stiff wings, and it is hence used as a reference. Embedding the full aeroelastic description into the optimisation framework expands the space of achievable manoeuvres, allowing for quick wing response with low structural vibrations or large lateral forces with minimal lift losses.Open Acces

Fourth NASA Workshop on Computational Control of Flexible Aerospace Systems, part 1

The proceedings of the workshop are presented. Some areas of discussion are as follows: modeling, systems identification, and control of flexible aircraft, spacecraft, and robotic systems

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 425 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1985

Parametric reduced-order aeroelastic modelling for analysis, dynamic system interpolation and control of flexible aircraft

This work presents an integral framework to derive aeroelastic models for very flexible aircraft that can be used in design routines, operational envelope analysis and control applications. Aircraft are modelled using a nonlinear geometrically-exact beam model coupled with an Unsteady Vortex-Lattice Method aerodynamic solver, capable of capturing important nonlinear couplings and effects that significantly impact the flight characteristics of very flexible aircraft. Then, complete linearised expressions of the aircraft system about trim reference conditions at possibly large deformations are presented. The nature of the aerodynamic models results in a high-dimensional system that requires of model reduction methods for efficient analysis and manipulation. Krylov-subspace model reduction methods are implemented to reduce the dimensionality of the multi-input multi-output linearised aerodynamic model and achieve a very significant reduction in the size of the size of the system. The reduced aerodynamic model is then coupled with a modal expression of the linearised beam model, resulting in a compact aeroelastic state-space that can be efficiently used on desktop hardware for linear analysis or as part of internal control models. These have been used to explore the design space of a very flexible wing with complex aeroelastic properties to determine the flutter boundaries, for which experimental data has become available that validates the methods presented herein. Additionally, they have been integrated in a model predictive control framework, where the reduced linear aerodynamic model is part of the control model, and the simulation plant is the nonlinear flight dynamic/aeroelastic model connected as a hardware-in-the-loop platform. Finally, in order to accelerate the design space exploration of very flexible structures, state-space interpolation methods are sought to obtain, with a few linearised models sampled across the domain, interpolated state-spaces anywhere in the parameter-space in a fast and accurate manner. The performance of the interpolation schemes is heavily dependent on the location of the sampling points on the design space, therefore, a novel adaptive Bayesian sampling scheme is presented to choose these points in an optimal approach that minimises the interpolation error function.Open Acces

NAS (Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program) technical summaries, March 1989 - February 1990

Given here are selected scientific results from the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program's third year of operation. During this year, the scientific community was given access to a Cray-2 and a Cray Y-MP supercomputer. Topics covered include flow field analysis of fighter wing configurations, large-scale ocean modeling, the Space Shuttle flow field, advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for rotary-wing airloads and performance prediction, turbulence modeling of separated flows, airloads and acoustics of rotorcraft, vortex-induced nonlinearities on submarines, and standing oblique detonation waves

NASA Workshop on Distributed Parameter Modeling and Control of Flexible Aerospace Systems

Although significant advances have been made in modeling and controlling flexible systems, there remains a need for improvements in model accuracy and in control performance. The finite element models of flexible systems are unduly complex and are almost intractable to optimum parameter estimation for refinement using experimental data. Distributed parameter or continuum modeling offers some advantages and some challenges in both modeling and control. Continuum models often result in a significantly reduced number of model parameters, thereby enabling optimum parameter estimation. The dynamic equations of motion of continuum models provide the advantage of allowing the embedding of the control system dynamics, thus forming a complete set of system dynamics. There is also increased insight provided by the continuum model approach

On the two-dimensional atmospheric turbulence response of an airplane

Two dimensional gust response analysis of aircraft to atmospheric turbulenc