Control surface allocation based on offline handling quality simulations for a flying wing aircraft

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Aviation Emissions Reduction

Background:

• Flying wing aircraft offer potential for reduced carbon and nitrogen emissions in aviation.
• A key challenge for flying wing designs is their inherent lack of controllability due to the absence of a traditional tail.
• Optimizing control surface placement and sizing is critical for ensuring safe and effective operation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenge of reduced controllability in flying wing aircraft.
• To develop a method for determining optimal placement and sizing of control surfaces (elevator, aileron, rudder).
• To ensure flying wing aircraft meet stringent aviation certification requirements for handling qualities.

Main Methods:

• Utilized offline handling quality simulations based on aviation certification requirements.
• Calculated minimum control authority needed for elevators, ailerons, and rudders across various flight conditions and maneuvers.
• Employed a hybrid aerodynamic modeling approach combining Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) simulations.
• Estimated control surface authority using VLM, calibrated with RANS simulations.

Main Results:

• Determined the global minimum control authority required across all specified maneuvers.
• Successfully sized and placed control surfaces along the wing based on simulation outcomes.
• Identified significant discrepancies between VLM-only and RANS-calibrated VLM estimations of control authority.

Conclusions:

• The proposed simulation-based methodology effectively determines optimal control surface configuration for flying wing aircraft.
• Meeting certification handling quality requirements is achievable through careful control surface design.
• Accurate aerodynamic modeling, considering RANS calibration, is crucial for reliable control authority estimation in flying wing designs.