ACTIVE CONTROL FOR ROTOR SUSCEPTIBILITY REDUCTION

GUIDED SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES PROPOSES TO APPLY AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF INDIVIDUAL BLADE CONTROL CONCEPTS, AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY FOR BLADE ACTUATION USING SMART MATERIALS, TO ACHIEVE DRAMATIC REDUCTIONS IN ROTOR SUSCEPTIBILITY. IN PARTICULAR, CONTROL INPUTS WILL BE TAILORED TO SPECIFIC MISSION SEGMENTS, RELAXING TO SOME DEGREE THE USUAL ROTOR DESIGN TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND SIGNATURE REDUCTION. BY EXPLOITING THE CAPABILITIES OF MODERN DIGITAL ELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROLS AND RECENT ADVANCES IN APPLYING PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS, ADDITIONAL FREEDOM FOR ROTOR CONTROL CAN BE INTRODUCED, INCLUDING ACTIVE CONTROL OF ROTOR SPEED, INDIVIDUAL CONTROL OF BLADE PITCH, LIMITED CONTROL OF AIRFOIL SHAPE, AND EVEN CONTROL OF SPANWISE BLADE PROPERTIES. PHASE I WILL FOCUS ON CREATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO EXPLORE THE LIMITS OF ACTIVE CONTROL TECHNOLOGY FOR ROTOR SUSCEPTIBILITY REDUCTION. STATE-OF-THE-ART TOOLS FOR PREDICTION OF ROTOR BLADE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS WILL BE COUPLED WITH AVAILABLE ROTOR PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS AND ALGORITHMS FOR OBSERVABLE SIGNATURE PROPAGATION. THE DEVELOPED TOOLS WILL THEN BE USED TO IDENTIFY THE MOST PROMISING CONTROL FOR DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION IN PHASE II.