Computational Analysis of the Active Control of Incompressible Airfoil Flutter Vibration Using a Piezoelectric V-Stack Actuator

Carmelo Rosario Vindigni,Alberto Milazzo,Calogero Orlando

doi:10.3390/vibration4020024

Carmelo Rosario Vindigni, Alberto Milazzo + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/vibration4020024

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Abstract

The flutter phenomenon is a potentially destructive aeroelastic vibration studied for the design of aircraft structures as it limits the flight envelope of the aircraft. The aim of this work is to propose a heuristic design of a piezoelectric actuator-based controller for flutter vibration suppression in order to extend the allowable speed range of the structure. Based on the numerical model of a three degrees of freedom (3DOF) airfoil and taking into account the FEM model of a V-stack piezoelectric actuator, a filtered PID controller is tuned using the population decline swarm optimizer PDSO algorithm, and gain scheduling (GS) of the controller parameters is used to make the control adaptive in velocity. Numerical simulations are discussed to study the performance of the controller in the presence of external disturbances.

Highlights

The flutter phenomenon is a dynamic instability that arises in lifting structures
These use the data recorded from sensors installed on the structure, such as accelerometers, that are elaborated by a control system to properly move some aerodynamic surfaces or to implement other changes in the structure shape in order to obtain the desired dynamic behavior
The numerical model of a three-degrees-of-freedom airfoil was studied in order to predict the flutter boundary of the system

Summary

Introduction

The flutter phenomenon is a dynamic instability that arises in lifting structures. It starts when the velocity becomes greater than a critical speed value, namely the flutter boundary. The first attempts of piezoelectric actuation were related to the use of bimorph beams realized by bonding two piezoelectric layers such that when an electric voltage is applied, one stretches while the other contracts, and bending deformations of the beam are obtained Applications of this technology have been studied for the active control of helicopter blade twist by Waltz and Chopra [4] and for the flutter suppression of cantilever wings by Heeg [5]. An innovative method for wing oscillation control consists of the integration of actuators into the structure such that the geometry of the structure itself can be modified, usually in terms of the airfoil camber This technology is called morphing actuation and has been studied since the 1990s, a period in which greater knowledge of piezoelectric materials was acquired, allowing the modeling of these materials in thin patches that can be integrated into the structure. The actuation of the patches is combined with modern control techniques in order to obtain a robust suppression system [8]

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