Post-Stall Aerodynamic Modeling and Gain-Scheduled Control Design

A multidisciplinary research effort that combines aerodynamic modeling and gain-scheduled control design for aircraft flight at post-stall conditions is described. The aerodynamic modeling uses a decambering approach for rapid prediction of post-stall aerodynamic characteristics of multiple-wing configurations using known section data. The approach is successful in bringing to light multiple solutions at post-stall angles of attack right during the iteration process. The predictions agree fairly well with experimental results from wind tunnel tests. The control research was focused on actuator saturation and flight transition between low and high angles of attack regions for nearand post-stall aircraft using advanced LPV control techniques. The new control approaches maintain adequate control capability to handle high angle of attack aircraft control with stability and performance guarantee.