Abstract
This paper introduces a novel gimballed rotor mathematical model for real-time flight simulation of tilt-rotor aircraft and other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) concepts, which improves the previous version of a multi-purpose rotor mathematical model developed by ZHAW and Politecnico di Torino as part of a comprehensive flight simulation model of a tilt-rotor aircraft currently implemented in the Research and Didactics Simulator of ZHAW and used for research activities such as handling qualities studies and flight control systems development. In the novel model, a new formulation of the flapping dynamics is indroduced to account for the gimballed rotor and better suit current tilt-rotor designs (XV-15, V-22, AW-609). This paper describes the mathematical model and provides a generic formulation as well as a specific one for 3-blades proprotors. The method expresses the gimbal attitude but also considers the variation of each blade’s flapping due to the elasticity of the blades, so that the rotor coning angle can be represented. A validation of the mathematical model is performed against the available literature on the XV-15 Tilt-rotor aircraft and a comparison between the previous model is provided to show the improvements achieved. The results show a good correlation between the model and the reference data and the registered performance allow real-time flight simulation with pilot and hardware in the loop.
Highlights
The industry and research institutes have so far responded to these challenges with multiple vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) architectures, partially driven by a rather wide background of experimental solutions which have already been investigated in the past decades, as duly documented in References [1,2], yet enforced by renewed enthusiasm and business interest as well as improved design tools
In previous developments of their tilt-rotor model for real-time simulation, the authors of the present paper used the Generic Tilt Rotor Simulator (GTRS) described in Reference [6] as baseline for the overall aerodynamic modelling of the generic tilt-rotor but replaced the reference rotor model with a novel one which uses a multi-blade formulation of the rotor’s airloads and flapping motion and tested it successfully in the Research and Didactics Simulator (ReDSim) of ZHAW, a reconfigurable flight simulation platform for both helicopters and airplanes
The reference data is derived from the experimental test conducted by NASA on the isolated XV-15 Proprotor and reported in Reference [21]
Summary
Current developments in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology such as the advancement in structures, automation and control and energy generation-storage-utilization are driving aircraft designers towards a wide range of innovative architectures that may better suit the transport of people and goods in high population density scenarios. The tilt-rotor concept offers high potential for commercial aircraft, military platforms as well as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)/drone applications. The research interest in tilt-rotors is renewed today with the uprising of air taxi concepts combined with the need for more efficient and cost effective VTOL platforms and the innovation effort in the more electric and green propulsion field
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