Reduced Order Modeling for Aeroservoelastic Control and Analysis (RACA)

NASA and other government agencies have been plagued by aeroelasticity of aircraft structures for a long time. The traditional approach has been to build stiff structures for suppressing aeroelastic effects. However, the increase in computational technology has enabled a careful analysis of aeroelastic effects, and design of lightweight structures. However, a direct CFD-CSD coupling is still too expensive to be used for control simulations and design. To address this critical need, IAI is developing reduced order models to capture the necessary physics, while enabling much more efficient computation. Our RACA approach will systematically study ROM technology and develop the appropriate methods for our particular application of interest ? supersonic low-boom aircraft. We will develop a full-fledged aeroelastic analysis framework as well, to provide simulation-based verification results. The ROMs developed will then be used for control system design and demonstration of adaptive control technologies for advanced flexible aircraft.