Aeroservoelastic modeling with proper orthogonal decomposition

Abstract

A physics-based, reduced-order, aeroservoelastic model of an F-18 aircraft has been developed using the method of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), introduced to the field of fluid mechanics by Lumley. The model is constructed with data from high-dimensional, high-fidelity aeroservoelastic computational fluid dynamics (CFD-ASE) simulations that couple equations of motion of the flow to a modal model of the aircraft structure. Through POD modes, the reduced-order model (ROM) predicts both the structural dynamics and the coupled flow dynamics, offering much more information than typically employed, low-dimensional models based on system identification are capable of providing. ROM accuracy is evaluated through direct comparisons between predictions of the flow and structural dynamics with predictions from the parent, the CFD-ASE model. The computational overhead of the ROM is six orders of magnitude lower than that of the CFD-ASE model—accurately predicting the coupled dynamics from simulations of an F-18 fighter aircraft undergoing flutter testing over a wide range of transonic and supersonic flight speeds on a single processor in 1.073 s.