Gerosa, Giacomo (Politecnico di Milano), Zanoni, Andrea (Politecnico di Milano), Panza, Simone (Politecnico di Milano), Masarati, Pierangelo (Politecnico di Milano), Lovera, Marco (Politecnico di Milano)

Augmented Rotorcraft Conceptual Design Driven by Handling Qualities Requirements

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "Aircraft flight control analysis and design 1" (WeM1), Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 11:30−12:00, Carassa-Dadda

5th CEAS Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control, April 3-5, 2019, Milano, Italy

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 26, 2024

Abstract

This work presents a rotorcraft conceptual design tool that makes an early account of handling qualities. The conventional sizing is delegated to NDARC, a conceptual design software developed by NASA. The results are used to build a simple flight mechanics model, which is augmented by a simplified flight control system, designed using a structured Hinf method, with the main aim of determining the requirements in terms of augmentation, rather than of actually designing a flight control system. The handling qualities of the resulting rotorcraft are evaluated objectively, using bandwidth and phase delay requirements from ADS-33. Provisions are also made to support the automatic generation of a flight dynamics model for piloted flight simulation, for the subjective evaluation of handling qualities. The rotorcraft redesign is iteratively performed, based on handling qualities evaluation, until the desired requirements are met. The methodology is applied to the re-desing of a conventional, lightweight helicopter, to illustrate its capabilities.