Co-design of aircraft vertical tail and control laws using distributed electric propulsion

Abstract

Abstract Distributed Electric Propulsion is investigated as a way to increase directional control of aircraft and reduce the vertical tail surface area. A co-design approach is presented where a H∞ control method is used to both synthesize longitudinal/lateral control law gains and allocation module while sizing the vertical tail surface area and the propeller actuator bandwidth. The variation of the vertical tail surface area is captured throughout a collection of linearized aircraft systems representing different sizes of the vertical tail reassembled in a Linear Fractional Representation. This approach allows a reduction of 60% of the vertical tail surface area while maintaining desired dynamic behaviors with low actuator bandwidth.