Control-oriented modeling of a high-aspect-ratio flying wing with coupled flight dynamics

The flight-structural dynamics of a high-aspect-ratio wing challenge the flight control design. This paper develops a reduced model of coupled dynamics with stability consideration. The structural dynamics are formulated with dihedrals, and the central loads drive the deformation. The control-oriented model with essential coupled dynamics is formulated. Modal sensitivity anal-ysis and input-output pairing are performed to identify the control structure. Besides, an example of flight control design is provided to discuss the necessity of considering structural dynamics in controller design. Analytical coupled flight dynamics provide a system-theoretic approach for sta-bility and facilitate model-based control techniques. Simulation results reveal the characteristics of flight-structural coupled dynamics and demonstrate that the influence of flexible modes should be considered in control design, especially in lateral dynamics.(c) 2022 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).