National Aerospace Laboratories

Collaborative project with the National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bangalore, India

Project duration: 2010 - 2014

CSIR-NAL and De Montfort University signed a memorandum of understanding on April, 2010 to promote collaborative research in the area of nonlinear flight dynamics and control, which was recently extended till April, 2015.

Two research projects were successfully completed in February 2012 and the third phase is in progress now. A short outline of the completed and ongoing activities is given below.

Flight at high angles of attack is associated with a variety of types of aircraft departure and post stall behaviour. Every aircraft has its own specific set of flight characteristics in extended flight envelope. This work was motivated by the need for using flight simulator in training military pilots at high angles of attack conditions to give pilots awareness about nonlinear aircraft behaviours and peculiarities of flight at stall and above stall. Flight simulators, equipped with representative aerodynamic models covering normal and extended flight envelope can be utilized for this purpose. A special approach of building a synthetic representative aerodynamic model for pilot training has been proposed and developed via complementary transformation of a number of key aerodynamic characteristics of the original aerodynamic model with an objective to diversify post stall dynamics.

Many modern aircraft have special algorithms in their fly-by-wire control system for flight envelope protection, normally implemented in the form of angle of attack and roll rate limiters. Installed flight envelope boundaries are specified with account of deterioration of stability and controllability characteristics taking place due to separated flow conditions. However, safety protecting boundaries can be expanded allowing aircraft more manoeuvrability. In this case unfavourable aircraft dynamics in extended flight envelope should be transformed by control system algorithms guaranteeing reliable departure prevention, wing rock suppression and spin modes elimination.

Two staff members from CSIR-NAL, Centre of Excellence in Flight Mechanics and Control are registered in 2011 at DMU Centre of Engineering Sciences and Advanced Systems (CESAS) for PhD studentships.