TY - GEN
T1 - An integrated simulation tool for e-VTOL aeromechanics and flight control analysis
AU - Theron, Jean Pierre
AU - Horn, Joseph F.
AU - Wachspress, Daniel A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was sponsored in part by the NASA Ames Research Center through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. The authors wish to acknowledge and thank our NASA TPOC for this effort, Dr. Nhan Nguyen, for his assistance, guidance and support.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2020 by the Vertical Flight Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - In this work an integrated simulation tool for e-VTOL aeromechanics and flight control analysis is presented. This tool is capable of performing aeromechanical simulations of e-VTOL and other distributed electric propulsion aircraft at a fidelity level suitable for flight control design and performance analysis. The tool consists of a stand-alone low-fidelity flight dynamics code that couples with the CHARM aeromechanics code, creating a mid-fidelity flight simulator that can account for complex rotor wake interactions at a relatively low computational cost. The tool features auto-trimming capabilities and a numerical linearization to support flight linear analysis of the flight dynamics. The tool also features the capability to automatically design a dynamic inversion flight controller based on linear models, while also supporting the implementation of custom flight controllers. All these features are demonstrated via a series of simulations of various flight maneuvers for both a Generic e-VTOL aircraft and NASA’s X-57 aircraft. Differences in the dynamic behavior of the eVTOL configuration predicted by the low-fidelity and mid-fidelity simulations are discussed.
AB - In this work an integrated simulation tool for e-VTOL aeromechanics and flight control analysis is presented. This tool is capable of performing aeromechanical simulations of e-VTOL and other distributed electric propulsion aircraft at a fidelity level suitable for flight control design and performance analysis. The tool consists of a stand-alone low-fidelity flight dynamics code that couples with the CHARM aeromechanics code, creating a mid-fidelity flight simulator that can account for complex rotor wake interactions at a relatively low computational cost. The tool features auto-trimming capabilities and a numerical linearization to support flight linear analysis of the flight dynamics. The tool also features the capability to automatically design a dynamic inversion flight controller based on linear models, while also supporting the implementation of custom flight controllers. All these features are demonstrated via a series of simulations of various flight maneuvers for both a Generic e-VTOL aircraft and NASA’s X-57 aircraft. Differences in the dynamic behavior of the eVTOL configuration predicted by the low-fidelity and mid-fidelity simulations are discussed.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85094884622
T3 - Aeromechanics for Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Meeting 2020, Held at Transformative Vertical Flight 2020
SP - 115
EP - 130
BT - Aeromechanics for Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Meeting 2020, Held at Transformative Vertical Flight 2020
PB - Vertical Flight Society
T2 - Aeromechanics for Advanced Vertical Flight Technical Meeting 2020, Held at Transformative Vertical Flight 2020
Y2 - 21 January 2020 through 23 January 2020
ER -