Development of a simulation tool for flight dynamics and control investigations of articulated vtol unmanned aircraft

摘要

A simulation tool for flight dynamics and control investigations of three different VerticalTake Off and Landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft configurations has been developed. Acontrol concept has been proposed in order to take advantage of the fast responsecharacteristics of the ordinary small engine/propeller propulsion systems in such aircraft,as well as replacing the complex rotors used previously in VTOL concepts for smallunmanned aircraft. The simulation model has been established on the basis of theproposed concept so that it can also be used to study the feasibility of this idea. AnObject-based methodology has been introduced so as to reduce the amount ofaerodynamic required data for the simulation model. The equations of motion associatedwith the aircraft multibody system with ten degrees of freedom have been derived usingthe Newton-Euler method. The modelling of various subsystems including the propellermodel, the airframe aerodynamics and the engine model has been carried out. A methodfor calculating the propellers' slipstream effects on the other components has beenpresented. Input data for the simulation model have been estimated, using differentsources. The Advanced Continuous Simulation Language (ACSL) has been used for theprogramming of the mathematical model. A series of comprehensive tests have beencarried out in order to demonstrate the validity of the simulation model. The ability of thesimulation model to explain the aircraft modes of motion as well as to discover unknownnonlinear behaviours and to describe them has been demonstrated.