An adaptive controller for nonlinear flutter suppression and free-play compensation

A technique aimed at neutralizing the presence of free-play effects in a control surface actuation chain is presented. It is based on an adaptive inversion of a function approximating such a nonlinearity. A simple, yet robust, on-line adaptive algorithm is proposed to identify the free-play parameters, i.e. free-play width, the equivalent control stiffness and friction. The procedure is then coupled to an immersion and invariance control law to drastically reduce possible residual closed-loop limit cycle oscillations due to the free-play nonlinearity. Within such a framework, the so chosen compensation technique can be interpreted as a control augmentation, easily extendable to multiple control surfaces. The methodology is then verified on a four-degree-of-freedom airfoil in a transonic regime, characterized by highly nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic loads, producing significant shock motions and large limit cycles, at a relatively high frequency. The presence of both aerodynamic and structural nonlinearities makes such a system bistable, leading to complex responses dependent on the initial conditions and the input used to excite the system. The effective suppression of these auto-induced vibrations becomes even more challenging because the limit cycle oscillations generated by different sources are characterized by differing amplitudes and frequencies.

Duke Scholars

Author Earl H. Dowell Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materia ...