Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FLiPASED (FLIGHT PHASE ADAPTIVE AERO-SERVO-ELASTIC AIRCRAFT DESIGN METHODS)
Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-04-30
Flight Phase Adaptive Aero-Servo-Elastic Aircraft Design Methods (FliPASED) opens a complete new dimension for the integrated aircraft design. Coupling between aeroelasticity, gust response, flight control methods, instrumentation and certification aspects is not exploited in current aircraft design. A common set of models, coupled with joint requirements enable a multidisciplinary-optimized design for the entire aircraft, leading to more optimized overall performance. The concept of exploiting coupling between disciplines will take advantage of tools developed by the partners in former projects.
The main objectives of the project aim at tightly coupled multi-objective optimization of advanced, active controlled wing designs through the integration of a collaborative design tool chain. More than 10% fuel efficiency improvement, and 20% reduction in peak amplitude of the gust response, as well as a 50% reduction of number of distinct models used during the development and certification process are set as project goals. Through the integration of all discipline tools from aerodynamics, structural design, aeroelastic simulation and control design in one integrated tool chain an active, condition optimized wing design becomes feasible, enabling enhanced performance at lower weight and cost. The project will raise the efficiency of a currently separately existing development toolchains, by advanced multidisciplinary and collaborative capabilities for whole aircraft along its life cycle. It will develop methods and tools for very accurate flexible-mode modelling and flexible aircraft control synthesis, in the context of reliable implementation of the avionics system, taking into consideration the fault detection and reconfiguration. The accuracy of developed tools and methods will be validated on a safe and affordable experimental platform, and results will be shared along with design requirements and standardized interfaces in an open source approach.
The main objectives of the project aim at tightly coupled multi-objective optimization of advanced, active controlled wing designs through the integration of a collaborative design tool chain. More than 10% fuel efficiency improvement, and 20% reduction in peak amplitude of the gust response, as well as a 50% reduction of number of distinct models used during the development and certification process are set as project goals. Through the integration of all discipline tools from aerodynamics, structural design, aeroelastic simulation and control design in one integrated tool chain an active, condition optimized wing design becomes feasible, enabling enhanced performance at lower weight and cost. The project will raise the efficiency of a currently separately existing development toolchains, by advanced multidisciplinary and collaborative capabilities for whole aircraft along its life cycle. It will develop methods and tools for very accurate flexible-mode modelling and flexible aircraft control synthesis, in the context of reliable implementation of the avionics system, taking into consideration the fault detection and reconfiguration. The accuracy of developed tools and methods will be validated on a safe and affordable experimental platform, and results will be shared along with design requirements and standardized interfaces in an open source approach.
Work has been performed in three technical and one management work packages, while minor preparatory work was also done on the non-active work package (WP4) about scale-up. These work items were the following:
• Setup of requirements incl. open data process,
• Definition of collaborative work process including interfaces between disciplines & selection of collaborative work tools
• Reference model definition
• Enhancement and maturation of (single discipline) tools towards robustness
• Demonstrator overall and component level improvements
• Setup of integrated tool framework (inc. design of control functions)
• Model refinement using GVT data & flight tests
• Setup of a collaborative (remote) workflow for many sub-problems
WP1
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were set-up.
The wing and demonstrator actuation and sensing concept was reviewed to account for the increased need of sensing and larger number of actuators coupled with the main objectives of demonstration.
Also, the requirements were reviewed to show clear benefits for a/c MDO design, where different advanced functions must work together in the design phase and their improvement potential has to be quantified.
WP2
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were adopted and the individual tools were given a common RCE/CPACS interface.
Building and intergrating methods/tools was successfully consolidated.
• Model step
o LTI (reduced) model construction
o LPV (reduced) model construction
• Control design
o Flight controller
o Load controllers
o Flutter controller
• Analysis
o LTI Performance evaluation
WP3
The demonstrator is instrumented and prepared for flight testing.
1. Sensor concept refined
o Sensing concept for new wings
o V-tail IMUs
o Aeroprobe and IMU repositioning
o Thrust measurement
2. Demonstrator wing design: -3 planing and back up Plan
3. Demonstrator component upgrades:
o On board computer 2
o Open MCT (Flutterometer)
o Antenna Upgrade
o Landing gear improvements and testing
o Power wiring
4. Flight test specification and system identification
5. Flight testing
WP5
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were set-up.
Setup of the project management and collaborative environment for the project is complete. Publicatios and exploitation is tracked and managed within the consortium.
The consortium established collaborative tools for project management (Nextcloud + Agantty), software development (Git), document editing (Overleaf). Moreover, the collaborative work process also involves common hardware development tools - a common hardware-in-the-loop platform. The partner contributions within the common MDO toolchain are all implemented and tested using the RCE environment.
• Setup of requirements incl. open data process,
• Definition of collaborative work process including interfaces between disciplines & selection of collaborative work tools
• Reference model definition
• Enhancement and maturation of (single discipline) tools towards robustness
• Demonstrator overall and component level improvements
• Setup of integrated tool framework (inc. design of control functions)
• Model refinement using GVT data & flight tests
• Setup of a collaborative (remote) workflow for many sub-problems
WP1
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were set-up.
The wing and demonstrator actuation and sensing concept was reviewed to account for the increased need of sensing and larger number of actuators coupled with the main objectives of demonstration.
Also, the requirements were reviewed to show clear benefits for a/c MDO design, where different advanced functions must work together in the design phase and their improvement potential has to be quantified.
WP2
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were adopted and the individual tools were given a common RCE/CPACS interface.
Building and intergrating methods/tools was successfully consolidated.
• Model step
o LTI (reduced) model construction
o LPV (reduced) model construction
• Control design
o Flight controller
o Load controllers
o Flutter controller
• Analysis
o LTI Performance evaluation
WP3
The demonstrator is instrumented and prepared for flight testing.
1. Sensor concept refined
o Sensing concept for new wings
o V-tail IMUs
o Aeroprobe and IMU repositioning
o Thrust measurement
2. Demonstrator wing design: -3 planing and back up Plan
3. Demonstrator component upgrades:
o On board computer 2
o Open MCT (Flutterometer)
o Antenna Upgrade
o Landing gear improvements and testing
o Power wiring
4. Flight test specification and system identification
5. Flight testing
WP5
The demonstrator MDO workflow with interfaces and requirements were set-up.
Setup of the project management and collaborative environment for the project is complete. Publicatios and exploitation is tracked and managed within the consortium.
The consortium established collaborative tools for project management (Nextcloud + Agantty), software development (Git), document editing (Overleaf). Moreover, the collaborative work process also involves common hardware development tools - a common hardware-in-the-loop platform. The partner contributions within the common MDO toolchain are all implemented and tested using the RCE environment.
The collaborative design framework with low-medium fidelity aerodynamics including drag estimate and control design related aspects is significantly beyond state of art. There are several difficulties with respect to integrating modelling (with different number of flaps) and control synthesis into an automated workflow, what was sucesfully tackled by the consortium.
The demonstrator development also includes several instrumentation and avionics related components what are unique in such small scale demonstrators (thrust measurement system, telemetry and onboard computing capabilities). The common software and hardware development approach, using shared models and simulation environment is also unique and provides significant advantage against other organizations.
Model reduction, control design, worst-case analysis and fault detection methods are also published in premier journals and conferences in the field, hence they are highly advanced and provides a potential for industry partners to gain socio-economic impact.
The demonstrator development also includes several instrumentation and avionics related components what are unique in such small scale demonstrators (thrust measurement system, telemetry and onboard computing capabilities). The common software and hardware development approach, using shared models and simulation environment is also unique and provides significant advantage against other organizations.
Model reduction, control design, worst-case analysis and fault detection methods are also published in premier journals and conferences in the field, hence they are highly advanced and provides a potential for industry partners to gain socio-economic impact.