Frequency Response Simulations and Tests of an Aeroservoelastic Wind Tunnel Model

Abstract

The development of active controls has the potential to provide weight savings, cost savings, and safety enhancements for many types of aircraft. With the creation of an aeroservoelastic wind tunnel model and testbed, the William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics now has the capability to test active controls on representative flexible aircraft configurations. Simulations of the aeroservoelastic model, validated by experimental data, advance the field of active controls by establishing reference test cases that are ready for testing alternative active control laws. This thesis focuses on frequency response simulations that use inputs from a NASTRAN Finite Element Model to create a state-space representation that aids in modern control law design for Active Flutter Suppression. Two analytical-numerical methods for finding the frequency response of the model are used and compared to one another as well as to experimental data to produce a full aeroservoelastic wind tunnel model test case.