Print Email Facebook Twitter A Cybernetic Approach to Assess the Longitudinal Handling Qualities of Aeroelastic Aircraft Title A Cybernetic Approach to Assess the Longitudinal Handling Qualities of Aeroelastic Aircraft Author Damveld, H.J. Contributor Mulder, J.A. (promotor) Faculty Aerospace Engineering Department Control and Simulation Date 2009-05-20 Abstract The future demand for larger and lighter civil transport aircraft leads to more flexible aircraft, which bring their own controlling and handling problems. A review of established handling qualities methods showed that they were either unsuitable for aeroelastic aircraft, or had significant disadvantages. After consideration of the basic principles behind a number of handling qualities methods, a new handling qualities method was developed, the Experimental Behavior Measurement Method (EBMM). This new method is based on the principle that a satisfactory match between the aircraft characteristics and the human operator's behavioral characteristics is required to acquire proper vehicle handling qualities. The EBMM requires pilots to perform a number of pitch tracking tasks with a pursuit display, in the aircraft or a moving-base simulator. During these tasks the tracking signal bandwidth is increased, while the pilot's control behavior is determined using system identification techniques. A sudden decrease of the crossover frequency in the pilot's control behavior can be observed when the tracking signal bandwidth exceeds the pilot-vehicle capabilities. This phenomenon is called crossover regression, and the bandwidth at which crossover regression occurs is defined as the crossover-regression frequency. Since the crossover-regression frequency is dependent on the pilot-vehicle capabilities, it can be considered to be a measure of the handling qualities. The validity and applicability of the EBMM were investigated by conducting an experiment in the TU Delft SIMONA flight-simulator. Three aircraft models with varying levels of aeroelasticity were evaluated, using both the new EBMM as well as the well-established Cooper-Harper rating method, which assesses flying qualities as a surrogate for handling qualities. When the effects of the amount of aeroelasticity on the flying and handling qualities were compared, both a quantitative and qualitative correlation was seen between the results of the Cooper-Harper rating method and the new EBMM. In conclusion, the results suggest that the new EBMM method can contribute to the development of improved handling qualities of large and flexible future aircraft aircraft. Subject Handling QualitiesAeroelasticityCybernetics To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3869d074-4e3c-4738-b445-15dbdfd51cab ISBN 9789090242491 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type doctoral thesis Rights (c) 2009 Damveld, H.J. Files PDF ae_damveld_20090520.pdf 14.58 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:3869d074-4e3c-4738-b445-15dbdfd51cab/datastream/OBJ/view