Algorithms for Automatic Feedback Control of Aerodynamic Flows

This thesis focuses on deriving algorithmic frameworks for the control of Aerodynamic Phenomena. The application of one such control law to the control of Flutter is discussed in detail. Flutter is an aero-structural instability that arises due to the adverse transfer of energy between the airplane structure and the surrounding fluid. CFD is now a mature technology and can be used as a design tool in addition to being used as an analysis tool. This is the motivation for much of the research that takes place at the Aerospace Computing Lab at Stanford. Shape optimization involves finding the shape (2-d or 3-d) that optimizes a certain performance index. Clearly, any optimum shape will be optimum only at the design point. It has been found that the aerodynamic performance at neighboring operating points is a lot less optimal than the original shapes. What we need to do is to design and develop a feasible way of controlling the flow at any operating point such that the resulting performance is optimal. In designing control laws, our philosophy has been to develop an algorithmic framework that enables treating a broad class of control problems rather than design control laws for specific isolated cases. This ensures that once a framework is established, extensions to particular problems can be done with very little effort. The framework we develop is problem independent and controller independent. Moreover, it has been shown that this leads to control laws that are feedback based, hence robust.