Modeling and Control of Generic Transport Model

Abstract

This paper involves modeling and control of the Generic Transport Model (GTM), which is a notional twin-engine transport aircraft introduced by the NASA Langley Research Center. The aircraft components, namely fuselage, wing, and horizontal and vertical stabilizers are modeled as hollow beams with constant thicknesses. The mass and stiness distributions of the components are approximated using cross-sectional properties, such as geometric center, cross-sectional area, area moments of inertia etc., at some nite number of sections on the respective components. Each beam is assumed to have one bending and one torsional displacements. The aerodynamic forces and moments are generated using a quasi-steady theory. The equations of motion are derived using Lagrange’s Equations in quasi-coordinates. The partial dierential equations are replaced by a set of ordinary dierential equations by means of the Galerkin discretization method in conjunction with eigenfunctions of uniform cantilever beam and uniform shaft.