Novel Aeroservoelastic Stability Analysis and Augmentation Framework: Application to Next-Generation Flexible Aerial Platforms

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Next-generation autonomous and commercial aerial vehicles will operate in challenging flight regimes, utilize lightweight and flexible airframes and possess new topological forms that will lead to superior performance and lower environmental footprint. However, the high flexibility of the airframe will give rise to aerodynamics-stabilizing control laws-structural interactions abbreviated as Aero-Servo-Elasticity. Aeroservoelastic instabilities, which also encompass the aeroelastic ones, are known to plague flexible airframes. Without proper understanding and mitigation strategies, these instabilities will prevent the deployment of aerial vehicles with otherwise superior performance and lower environmental footprint. The development of a novel aeroservoelastic stability analysis and augmentation framework that will be used in the design and the optimization of next-generation flexible aerial platforms is the principal goal of the proposed research program. Target applications of the proposed novel framework in the next five years are Tailless Bio-inspired Micro-Air-Vehicles (TBMAVs) and Unconventional Flexible Aircraft (UFA). Both platforms share challenging aeroservoelastic problems that are rooted in the high flexibility of their airframe. These are manifested as static and dynamic instabilities that may lead to degradation of handling and control qualities, airframe vibration or complete loss of the aerial platform. It is emphasized that the proposed novel framework is encompassing and applicable to other next-generation flexible aerial platforms such as rotary-wing and urban air taxis, which will be addressed by the research program in the long term as it evolves. TBMAVs and UFA offer several performance and environmental advantages when compared to other aerial platforms and they are being considered for autonomous surveillance and future-commercial aircraft respectively. The proposed framework will introduce novel reduced-order-modelling techniques, which is an essential step that precedes aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic analyses, and develop models that will be used to investigate aeroservoelastic instabilities and suggested mitigation strategies. The research program will utilize the developed framework to be the first to rigorously investigate the aeroservoelastic stability of TBMAVs and assess novel passive and active strategies to mitigate known aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instabilities intrinsic to UFA. Through training of HQP, engagement with aerospace companies and dissemination of research outcomes in open journal publications, the research program will address the urgent needs of the vital aerospace sector in Canada.