Analysis of Hypersonic Flight Dynamics with Probabilistic Uncertainty in System Parameters

Abstract

In this paper we present a novel computational framework for analyzing evolution of uncertainty in state trajectories of a hypersonic air vehicle due to uncertainty in initial conditions and other system parameters. The framework is built on the so called generalized polynomial chaos expansions. In this framework, stochastic dynamical systems are transformed into equivalent deterministic dynamical systems in higher dimensional space. In the research work presented here we study evolution of uncertainty due to initial condition, ballistic coecient, lift over drag ratio and atmospheric density. The problem studied here is related to the Mars entry descent landing problem.