Nonlinear Control Methods for High Energy Limit Cycle Oscillations

Abstract Limit cycle oscillations, as they manifest in high performance fighter aircraft, remain an area of scrutiny by the aerospace industry and military. Tools for the simulation and prediction of the onset for limit cycle oscillations have matured significantly over the years. Suprisingly, less progress has been made in the derivation of active control methodologies for these inherently nonlinear dynamic phenomena. Even in the cases where it is known that limit cycle oscillation may be observed in particular flight regimes, and active control methodologies are employed to attenuate response, there are very few analytical results that study the stability of the closed loop system. In part, this may be attributed to the difficulty in characterizing the nature of the contributing nonlinear structural and nonlinear aerodynamic interactions that account for the motion. This paper reviews recent progress made by the authors in the derivation, development and implementation of nonlinear control methodologies for a class of low speed flutter problems. Both analytical and experimental results are summarized. Directions for future study, and in particular technical barriers that must be overcome, are summarized in the paper.

Nonlinear Control Methods for High Energy Limit Cycle Oscillations Conference Paper