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Controllability of an aircraft with active high-lift system using a segmentwise controllable flap system

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Abstract

Active high-lift aircraft needs exceptional aerodynamic control performance to operate at low airspeed. In this study, a new concept for the improvement of controllability is investigated, incorporating the special capabilities of a blown Coandă flap system. The blowing system along the flaps is divided into 12 independently controllable segments. This provides the opportunity to influence the lift distribution along the wingspan by individual blowing performance settings for each segment without changing the flap deflection. This offers the chance to control the airplane in the final approach phase with fully deflected flaps using only the blowing system and to dedicate specific control tasks to particular segments. A model for the blowing system influence on the local wing aerodynamics is implemented in an existing nonlinear full aircraft flight mechanics model. The system capabilities in terms of roll control and the climb performance are investigated by criteria’ evaluation and dynamic simulation assessment. The ability to fly turn/altitude change maneuvers by utilizing the active high-lift system is proven and a corresponding control concept is presented. It also includes the compensation of different blowing failure cases, which leads to acceptable but still improvable aircraft reactions.

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Abbreviations

\(C_{L}, \tilde{C}_{L}\) :

Lift coefficient, with segment failure

\(C_{\mu }, \bar{C}_{\mu }\) :

Jet momentum coefficient, global

dC :

Local coefficient

E :

Failure factor

g :

Gravitational acceleration, m/s\(^2\)

\(H, \dot{H}\) :

Altitude, m, vertical speed, m/s

K :

Gain

k :

Gradient

\(m, \dot{m}\) :

Mass, kg, massflow, kg/s

\(\dot{p}\) :

Roll acceleration, \(^\circ\)/s\(^2\)

p, q, r :

Rotational rates, \(^\circ\)/s

\(q_{\infty }\) :

Free stream dynamic pressure, N/m\(^2\)

S :

Reference wing area, m\(^2\)

s :

Half wing span, m

t :

Time, s

\(t_{\Delta \Phi 30}\) :

Time to reach bank angle of \(\Phi =30^\circ\), s

T :

Throttle setting, %

\(T_{\mathrm{R}}\) :

Roll time constant, s

V :

Velocity, m/s

\(v_{\mathrm{jet}}\) :

Velocity of blowing airflow, m/s

Y :

Normalized half wingspan

\(\alpha\) :

Angle of attack, \(^\circ\)

\(\beta\) :

Sideslip angle, \(^\circ\)

\(\zeta\) :

Rudder deflection, \(^\circ\)

\(\delta _{\mathrm{fl}}\) :

Flap deflection, \(^\circ\)

\(\Delta\) :

Difference

\(\eta\) :

Elevator deflection, \(^\circ\)

\(\theta\) :

Pitch angle, \(^\circ\)

\(\kappa\) :

Scaling factor

\(\xi\) :

Aileron deflection, \(^\circ\)

\(\Phi\) :

Bank angle, \(^\circ\)

\(\chi , \dot{\chi }\) :

Flight-path azimuth, \(^\circ\), -rate \(^\circ\)/s

\(\omega _{0}\) :

Eigen frequency, rad/s

AC:

Aircraft

c:

Command

FF:

Feed-forward

fli:

Flap segment i

in:

Input values

j :

Normalized wing span coordinate

jet:

Blowing system

L:

Lift

l:

Rolling moment

lift:

HLS lift control input

max:

Maximum

n:

Aerodynamic data preset

roll:

HLS roll control input

WF:

Wing-fuselage

BLC:

Boundary layer control

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

DoF:

Degrees of freedom

HLS:

High-lift system

MAC:

Mean aerodynamic chord

MIL-HDBK:

Military handbook

MTOW:

Maximum take-off weight

NAL:

National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan

NASA:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

PID:

Proportional-integral-derivative (controller)

PrADO:

Preliminary aircraft design and optimization (tool)

SC:

Super circulation

SFB:

Sonderforschungsbereich (Collaborative research center)

SHP:

Shaft horsepower

STOL:

Short take-off and landing

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by CFD results from DLR’s Tau code generated by Dennis Keller [Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology (AS), DLR (German Aerospace Center)]. The reference aircraft design has been developed by Wolfgang Heinze [Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures (IFL), TU Braunschweig] with the preliminary aircraft design tool PrADO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Flight Systems, DLR, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108, Brunswick, Germany

    Jobst Henning Diekmann & Maximilian Pichler

  2. Institute of Flight Guidance, Technical University of Braunschweig, Herman-Blenk-Str. 27, 38108, Brunswick, Germany

    Meiko Steen & Peter Hecker

Authors
  1. Jobst Henning Diekmann
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  2. Maximilian Pichler
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  3. Meiko Steen
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  4. Peter Hecker
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Correspondence to Jobst Henning Diekmann.

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Diekmann, J.H., Pichler, M., Steen, M. et al. Controllability of an aircraft with active high-lift system using a segmentwise controllable flap system. CEAS Aeronaut J 9, 461–474 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13272-018-0304-5

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