Co-design of aircraft vertical tail and control laws with distributed electric propulsion and flight envelop constraints
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Co‑design of aircraft vertical tail and control laws with distributed electric propulsion and flight envelop constraints Eric Nguyen Van1,2 · Daniel Alazard1 · Carsten Döll2 · Philippe Pastor1 Received: 27 June 2020 / Revised: 7 October 2020 / Accepted: 19 October 2020 © Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. 2020
Abstract A sequential co-design framework has been developed in a previous study (Nguyen-Van et al., IFAC-PapersOnLine 52(12):514–519, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.11.295, 2019)) to design an aircraft using active differential thrust. Differential thrust is used instead of a rudder to generate the yawing moment. The objective is to dimension in parallel the vertical tail surface area, the electric motor bandwidth and control laws while maintaining imposed handling qualities. This paper focuses on the development of a single step co-design taking into account handling qualities, flight envelop requirements and motor saturation. Additional and compatible optimisation constraints are found based on a sensitivity analysis. It reveals the importance of electric motor bandwidth with respect to aircraft natural stability. The direct co-design leads to an optimised trade-off between vertical tail and electric motor bandwidth. Keywords Distributed electric propulsion · Differential thrust · Vertical tail reduction · Aircraft handling qualities · Co-design · H∞ Control design
1 Introduction Distributed electric propulsion (DEP) opens new aircraft design possibilities made possible by a judicious propulsion air-frame integration [1]. Advantages associated with this technology are favorable aero-propulsive interactions leading to an increase of the low speed performances or lower drag [2, 3], better propulsive efficiency [4], relaxation of design requirements [5], increase of lateral control authority [6] and lower environmental impact [7]. Among these disciplines, this work focuses on the possibilities offered by increased lateral control authority using differential thrust. Additionally, the characteristic rapid response time of electric motors allows a more active use of the propulsion systems to control the lateral dynamics. The increased lateral The authors would like to thank Airbus through the CEDAR chair and ONERA for supporting this work. * Eric Nguyen Van eric.nguyen‑[email protected] 1
ISAE SUPAERO, 10 avenue edouard belin, BP 54032, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
ONERA, 2 avenue edouard belin, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
2
control, rapid actuators and higher redundancy represent a change of paradigm for the design of the vertical tail and rudder. In previous studies, it was found that a large directional flight envelop could be achieved using differential thrust, a reduced vertical tail without rudder, in normal and degraded flight conditions [8, 9]. This study was further advanced to dynamic consideration with the idea of assessing a lateral control without rudder, relying only on the differential use of the propulsion systems. A co-design approach based on
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