2021/11/22 by Michelle K. Hickner, Hickner, Michelle, Urban Fasel +7 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace and Aviation Technology #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Model Reduction and Neural Networks #Real-time simulation and control systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.11299
openalex publication_date 2021/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Aeroelastic structures, from insect wings to wind turbine blades, experience transient unsteady aerodynamic loads that are coupled to their motion. Effective real-time control of flexible structures relies on accurate and efficient predictions of both the unsteady aeroelastic forces and airfoil deformation. For rigid wings, classical unsteady aerodynamic models have recently been reformulated in state-space for control and extended to include viscous effects. Here we further extend this modeling framework to include the deformation of a flexible wing in addition to the quasi-steady, added mass, and unsteady viscous forces. We develop low-order linear models based on data from direct numerical simulations of flow past a flexible wing at low Reynolds number. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these models to track aggressive maneuvers with model predictive control while constraining maximum wing deformation. This system identification approach provides an interpretable, accurate, and low-dimensional representation of an aeroelastic system that can aid in system and controller design for applications where transients play an important role.