Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

To Stability & Control

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 52

Introduction to Stability & Control

AE 1350

Introduction to Stability and Control


What do we mean by aircraft stability and control? Static and Dynamic Stability Longitudinal, lateral and roll stability Necessary Conditions for Longitudinal stability Stability Margin Relaxed Stability Margin

A System Is Stable If It Can Recover From Small Disturbances

A cone resting on its base is stable

Unstable

Neutrally stable Assumes new position after a disturbance

The Axis System

Image from http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/virtual/demo/aeronautics/tutorial/motion.html

Aircraft are Subjected to Disturbances: Gusts/Turbulence

Freestream

Unexpected Gust Will it recover automatically (without pilot intervention) and resume its original direction of flight? If yes in the pitch axis, then the aircraft is longitudinally stable

Types of Stability
Static Stability: The spring like tendency to return to the equilibrium position Dynamic Stability: The property of returning to the equilibrium position over time Can an aircraft be statically unstable but dynamically stable? No Can an aircraft be statically stable but dynamically unstable? Yes

Longitudinal Static Stability

Credit: NASA, can be found at http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Theories_of_Flight/Stability/TH26G1.htm

Longitudinal Static Stability


Gust pitches the nose up

The initial tendency of the vehicle is to bring the nose up

The aircraft is statically unstable


Time Time

Aircraft is in steady level flight

The initial tendency of the vehicle is to bring the nose down The aircraft is statically stable

Aircraft May Be Statically and Dynamically Stable


6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 0 10 20 Time 30 40 Alpha

Gust pitches nose up

Initial tendency and long-term tendency both are to recover from a gust or disturbance

Aircraft May Be Statically Stable and Dynamically Unstable


Longitudinal Stability
40 Alpha, Degrees 20 0 -20 0 10 20 Time, seconds 30 40

Condition for Static Stability


L + dL dM

Aircraft c.g. (center of Gravity) A gust generates a small moment about c.g. dM, and lift dL For static stability, if dL is positive (upward gust), dM must be negative, causing the nose to drop Otherwise the wing will pitch up further increasing lift dM/dL must be negative for static stability

Condition for Static Stability


Pitching Moment dM/dL < 0 dL dM Lift Trimmed when M=0

Nondimensionalization
Lift and pitching moment M are usually non-dimensionalized L is divided by [1/2 V2 S] to yield CL M is divided by [1/2 V 2 S c] to yield CM Here, c is a reference length, e.g. average chord

Static Margin
From previous, dM/dL must be negative for static stability In nondimensional form, dCM/dCL must be negative for static stability The quantity -dCM/dCL is called the static stability margin
Notice the negative sign!

The more positive it is, the more longitudinally stable the aircraft Usually determines the maximum aft c.g. location

How can a Designer Ensure Longitudinal Static stability?


Lift

Aircraft c.g. Rule #1 : Place the c.g. as far forward as possible - This will cause the nose to drop, if lift increases due to a gust, reducing , and lift; the opposite will occur if there is downward gust

How can a Designer Ensure Longitudinal Static stability?


Tail Lift

Aircraft c.g. Rule #2 : Place the horizontal tail as far aft as possible - This will cause the nose to drop, if there is a vertical gust, reducing , and lift; the opposite will occur if there is downward gust A canard is a tail upstream of the c.g., reduced static stability (move wing aft or c.g. forward to compensate)

Pitching Moment Equation


Summing up moments:
M = M ac , wing lwing Lwing ltail Ltail

Nondimensionalized:
C M = CM ac , wing + (h hac , wing )C L wing VH C L tail h = nondimensional location of c.g. hac,wing = nondimensional location of wing ltail Stail VH = Sc

Nomenclature
ltail

hc
hac , wing c
ltail S tail VH = Sc

CM = CM ac , wing + (h hac , wing )C L wing VH C L tail

Derivative of Pitching Moment


Take partial derivative with respect to
CM = a (h hac , wing ) atailVH 1 CM = <0 C L = lift curve slope of wing a= C Ltail atail = = lift curve slope of tail tail

= wing downwash angle at tail

Derivative of Pitching Moment


Take partial derivative with respect to
CM CM = a (h hac , wing ) atailVH 1 = <0

Moving wing backward helps

Increasing tail volume helps

Neutral Point
C.g. location that is neutrally stable, hn
CM CM = = a (hn hac , wing ) atailVH 1 =0

Static margin is, essentially, how far the c.g. is from this neutral point
hn = hac , wing + VH atail a 1

Static Stability is Good, but


The aircraft may become sluggish, hard to maneuver; The tail will resist pilot attempts to change the aircraft angle of attack (lift) A large tail adds to aircraft weight, and cost Tail generates drag!

The Wrights
Conventional Wisdom: Airplane should hold course, and the pilot should deflect the rudder to turn, the Boat Model Wrights invented wing warping, first lateral control Early Wright airplanes were unstable, difficult to fly, and maneuverable

Relaxed Static Stability


For improved maneuverability, some aircraft sacrifice the static stability margin: relaxed static stability Some fighter aircraft are statically unstable
Their nose will continue to pitch up, the lift will continue to go up after an upward gust is encountered; Result: A/C will stall, flip over

These aircraft must be actively controlled by the pilot, or an onboard computer Redundant computer systems are present in case a computer fails

Artificial Stability Augmentation

zzz +

Stability Augmentation System

Air Transports, Boeing 747-400

Can Reduce Stability (and therefore drag) in Cruise by Pumping Fuel to Tail

Elevators/Stab Trim: B747


Elevators Stabilizer Trim

Stability and Control Augmentation


zzz Stability & Control Augmentation System (SCAS)

Stability and Control Augmentation can be used to make the aircraft behave very differently

Super-augmented Aircraft
F-16

X-29

Saab Gripen (JAS-39B)

Digital Fly-by-wire: Reduced Drag at High-G

When the Actuators Saturate

Directional Stability
Freestream comes from pilots right side, due to cross wind It causes nose to rotate to left viewed from the top The force on the tail causes the aircraft to rotate back to original direction

A cross wind may cause the nose to rotate about the vertical axis, changing the flight direction The vertical tail behaves like a wing at an angle of attack, producing a side force, rotates the aircraft to its original direction All of this occurs without pilot action or intervention

Enough Vertical Fin for Lightly Damped Directional Oscillations Dutch Roll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLe8ajpGNTs

Rudders: B747

Rudders

Lateral Stability
It is the ability of the aircraft to recover from a roll disturbance without pilot intervention

Dihedral is good for lateral stability

If the wing is tilted upwards from root to tip, it has a dihedral

What happens when the aircraft undergoes a roll?


Lift Lift

accelerate

Weight

Weight

A portion of the lift is pointed sideways The vehicle moves laterally This is called sideslip

During sideslip, a relative wind flows from right to left: Lateral Static Stability
A similar downwash occurs on the left wing, reducing lift Lift This wind has a component normal to the wing on the right, viewing from the front flow This is an up-wash As a result, the aircraft rights itself, and recovers from the roll! The up-wash increases lift on the right wing

Anhedral
If the wing dips down from root to tip, it has an anhedral

Anhedral is bad for lateral stability

Dihedral Effect
Dihedral effect can come from
From wing dihedral, high wing, or wing sweep From vertical tail

Anhedral can be used to get desired level of F-104 dihedral effect


AV-8B

High/Low Speed Ailerons: B747


Low Speed Aileron Roll Spoilers High Speed Aileron

and then it gets complicated

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm7_PPE-8nk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-cM3wPpCPw

Agile Maneuvering Test Aircraft: GTEdge


33% scale Edge 540T

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/e050624b3_60fps.mpg

60 ft/sec Autoflight

Automatic Transition to NearZero Airspeed


First transition to nearvertical attitude and nearzero airspeed, July 2005
Video begins at about 880 sec

60 aileron (% of max) pitch angle (deg) 80 60 40 20 0 800 100 80 throttle (%) 60 40 20 850 900 time (sec) 950 0 800 850 900 time (sec) 950 rudder (% of max) 850 900 time (sec) 950 speed (ft/sec)

100 50 0 -50

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/e050723c3_vertical.mpg and e050723c2_30fps20fps.mpg


trajectory measured command end 1500

40

20

0 800 100 elevator (% of max) 50 0 -50 -100 800

100 50 0 -50 -100 800

height (ft)

850 900 time (sec)

950

-100 800

850 900 time (sec)

950
1000

500

0 1000 500 0 500 0 -500 North (ft) 1000

850 900 time (sec)

950

West (ft)

Auto To and From Hover

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/e050912f2_transitionToAndFromHover.mpg

Actuator Positions
1
m0 (rudder)

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 0

m1 (elevator) m2 (ailerons)

control deflection / units

0.8 0.6 0.4 throttle thr/ units 0.2 0 -0.2

Throttle

10

20

30

40 time / s

50

60

70

-0.4 80 -0.6 -0.8 -1 0 10 20 30 40 time / s 50 60 70 80

Rapid Transition to Hover

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/e060509a1_rapidTransition.mpg

Twin-Engine Electric Airplane: TwinStar


Inexpensive almost-readyto-fly COTS airplane
Multi-engine Simulate damage
GPS Antenna Comm Antenna

About $100 for Airplane


(without engines/batteries/avionics)

Span = 4.7 ft Wing Area = 4.6 ft2 Weight = 3 lb


http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/ta1_090415c1_tightTurns.wmv

Pitot FCS20

Propulsion Only Control Testing


80 left right 70

500 Path Waypoints 400

60

throttle(%)

50

40

30

300 North (ft)

20

10
220 215 210 205 altitude(ft)

10

20

30 40 time(sec)

50

60

70

200

measured command

100

0
200 195 190 185 180

-100 -900

-800

-700

-600

-500 -400 East (ft)

-300

-200

-100

10

20

30 40 time(sec)

50

60

70

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/ta1_090415c1_propulsionOnly.wmv

Propulsion Only Control Testing

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/ta1_090415c1_propulsionOnly.wmv

Simulated 50% Right Wing Failure

Simulated 50% Right Wing Failure

http://uav.ae.gatech.edu/videos/ta1_091002c1_50percentDrop.wmv

Simulated 50% Right Wing Failure

0.2

rudder aileron elevator

-0.2 control (-1 to 1)

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1 2000 2010 2020 time (sec) 2030 2040 2050

You might also like