There remains a need to develop improved VTOL techniques that are cost-effective and with minimum compromise on cruising flight performance for fixed-wing aircraft. This work proposes an elegant VTOL control method kn...There remains a need to develop improved VTOL techniques that are cost-effective and with minimum compromise on cruising flight performance for fixed-wing aircraft. This work proposes an elegant VTOL control method known as PTVC-M (pitch-axis thrust vector control with moment arms) for tailsitters. The hallmark of the approach is the complete elimination of control surfaces such as elevators and rudder. Computer simulations with a 1580 mm wing span airplane reveal that the proposed technique results in authoritative control and unique maneuverability such as inverted vertical hover and stall-spin with positive climb rate. Zero-surface requirement of the PTVC-M virtually eliminates performance tradeoffs between VTOL and high-speed flight. In this proof-of-concept study, the VTOL-capable aircraft achieves a VH of 360 km·h<sup>-1</sup> at near sea-level. The proposed technique will benefit a broad range of applications including high-performance spinsonde that can directly measure 10-m surface wind, tropical cyclone research, and possibly serving as the cornerstone for the next-generation sport aerobatics.展开更多
A CFD-based Numerical Virtual Flight(NVF)simulator is presented,which integrates an unsteady flow solver on moving hybrid grids,a Rigid-Body Dynamics(RBD)solver and a module of the Flight Control System(FCS).A techni...A CFD-based Numerical Virtual Flight(NVF)simulator is presented,which integrates an unsteady flow solver on moving hybrid grids,a Rigid-Body Dynamics(RBD)solver and a module of the Flight Control System(FCS).A technique of dynamic hybrid grids is developed to control the active control surfaces with body morphing,with a technique of parallel unstructured dynamic overlapping grids generating proper moving grids over the deflecting control surfaces(e.g.the afterbody rudders of a missile).For the flow/kinematic coupled problems,the 6 Degree-Of-Freedom(DOF)equations are solved by an explicit or implicit method coupled with the URANS CFD solver.The module of the control law is explicitly coupled into the NVF simulator and then improved by the simulation of the pitching maneuver process of a maneuverable missile model.A nonlinear dynamic inversion method is then implemented to design the control law for the pitching process of the maneuverable missile model.Simulations and analysis of the pitching maneuver process are carried out by the NVF simulator to improve the flight control law.Higher control response performance is obtained by adjusting the gain factors and adding an integrator into the control loop.展开更多
文摘There remains a need to develop improved VTOL techniques that are cost-effective and with minimum compromise on cruising flight performance for fixed-wing aircraft. This work proposes an elegant VTOL control method known as PTVC-M (pitch-axis thrust vector control with moment arms) for tailsitters. The hallmark of the approach is the complete elimination of control surfaces such as elevators and rudder. Computer simulations with a 1580 mm wing span airplane reveal that the proposed technique results in authoritative control and unique maneuverability such as inverted vertical hover and stall-spin with positive climb rate. Zero-surface requirement of the PTVC-M virtually eliminates performance tradeoffs between VTOL and high-speed flight. In this proof-of-concept study, the VTOL-capable aircraft achieves a VH of 360 km·h<sup>-1</sup> at near sea-level. The proposed technique will benefit a broad range of applications including high-performance spinsonde that can directly measure 10-m surface wind, tropical cyclone research, and possibly serving as the cornerstone for the next-generation sport aerobatics.
基金supported partially by National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2016YFB0200701)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11532016 and 11672324)
文摘A CFD-based Numerical Virtual Flight(NVF)simulator is presented,which integrates an unsteady flow solver on moving hybrid grids,a Rigid-Body Dynamics(RBD)solver and a module of the Flight Control System(FCS).A technique of dynamic hybrid grids is developed to control the active control surfaces with body morphing,with a technique of parallel unstructured dynamic overlapping grids generating proper moving grids over the deflecting control surfaces(e.g.the afterbody rudders of a missile).For the flow/kinematic coupled problems,the 6 Degree-Of-Freedom(DOF)equations are solved by an explicit or implicit method coupled with the URANS CFD solver.The module of the control law is explicitly coupled into the NVF simulator and then improved by the simulation of the pitching maneuver process of a maneuverable missile model.A nonlinear dynamic inversion method is then implemented to design the control law for the pitching process of the maneuverable missile model.Simulations and analysis of the pitching maneuver process are carried out by the NVF simulator to improve the flight control law.Higher control response performance is obtained by adjusting the gain factors and adding an integrator into the control loop.
