Nonlinear Aeroelastic Analysis of Highly Deformable Joined-Wing Configurations

The present work focuses on the analysis of the aeroelastic response of Joined-Wings configurations through nonlinear tools. A comparison between the stability predictions of linear and nonlinear in-house tools when high deformations are encountered is pursued. It is also attempted a better understanding of which are the important features to be retained in the models employed, in order to have on one side good accuracy and at the same time an acceptable computational cost

Robust estimations of the Region of Attraction using invariant sets

The Region of Attraction of an equilibrium point is the set of initial conditions whose trajectories converge to it asymptotically. This article, building on a recent work on positively invariant sets, deals with inner estimates of the ROA of polynomial nonlinear dynamics. The problem is solved numerically by means of Sum Of Squares relaxations, which allow set containment conditions to be enforced. Numerical issues related to the ensuing optimization are discussed and strategies to tackle them are proposed. These range from the adoption of different iterative methods to the reduction of the polynomial variables involved in the optimization. The main contribution of the work is an algorithm to perform the ROA calculation for systems subject to modeling uncertainties, and its applicability is showcased with two case studies of increasing complexity. Results, for both nominal and uncertain systems, are compared with a standard algorithm from the literature based on Lyapunov function level sets. They confirm the advantages in adopting the invariant sets approach, and show that as the size of the system and the number of uncertainty increase, the proposed heuristics ameliorate the commented numerical issues.This work has received funding from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 636307, project FLEXOP. The authors would like to thank Prof. Pete Seiler for helpful discussions about ROA and SOS

Region of attraction analysis with Integral Quadratic Constraints

A general framework is presented to estimate the Region of Attraction of attracting equilibrium points. The system is described by a feedback connection of a nonlinear (polynomial) system and a bounded operator. The input/output behavior of the operator is characterized using an Integral Quadratic Constraint. This allows to analyze generic problems including, for example, hard-nonlinearities and different classes of uncertainties, adding to the state of practice in the field which is typically limited to polynomial vector fields. The IQC description is also nonrestrictive, with the main result given for both hard and soft factorizations. Optimization algorithms based on Sum of Squares techniques are then proposed, with the aim to enlarge the inner estimates of the ROA. Numerical examples are provided to show the applicability of the approaches. These include a saturated plant where bounds on the states are exploited to refine the sector description, and a case study with parametric uncertainties for which the conservativeness of the results is reduced by using soft IQCs.This work has received funding from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework programme under grant agreement No 636307, project FLEXOP. P. Seiler also acknowledges funding from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Computer Science and Contro

An Online Learning Analysis of Minimax Adaptive Control

We present an online learning analysis of minimax adaptive control for the case where the uncertainty includes a finite set of linear dynamical systems. Precisely, for each system inside the uncertainty set, we define the model-based regret by comparing the state and input trajectories from the minimax adaptive controller against that of an optimal controller in hindsight that knows the true dynamics. We then define the total regret as the worst case model-based regret with respect to all models in the considered uncertainty set. We study how the total regret accumulates over time and its effect on the adaptation mechanism employed by the controller. Moreover, we investigate the effect of the disturbance on the growth of the regret over time and draw connections between robustness of the controller and the associated regret rate