Dynamics and control for an in‐plane morphing wing

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the dynamic principle of internal structure of a complex morphing wing and control the wing to change configurations rapidly and smoothly. It includes modeling the dynamics of the morphing wing and designing a rational morphing control system.

Design/methodology/approach

The dynamic model of the morphing wing is developed based on Lagrange method of analytical mechanics. The generalized forces are obtained by virtual work principle. Since the morphing wing is a strongly coupled, over‐actuated and nonlinear system with multi‐input and multi‐output, the control system design includes a control allocator, a dynamic inversion controller and two PID controllers. The control allocator is designed based on pseudo inverse method; the dynamic inversion controller is applied to make the original system decoupled into two independent linear systems by proper nonlinear feedback transformation; two classical PID controllers are adopted for the linearlized systems.

Findings

The validity of the dynamic model and the controller is verified according to the simulation results using ADAMS and Matlab. It suggests that integrating Lagrange equation, pseudo inverse allocation, dynamic inversion control and classical PID method, is an effective way to solve problems of dynamic modeling and control for morphing wings.

Research limitations/implications

The flexibility of the structure, the changes of the aerodynamic load, the mass and the dynamic performances of actuators are not taken into account. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to develop a more realistic morphing wing model.

Practical implications

The paper includes implications for the development of a dynamic model of a complex morphing wing and a rational morphing control system.

Originality/value

The paper fulfils a complete process from multi‐rigid‐body dynamic modeling to control system design for an over‐actuated nonlinear complex morphing wing, which could be a foundation of further researches on morphing wing dynamics and control.

Citation

Rongqi, S. and Jianmei, S. (2013), "Dynamics and control for an in‐plane morphing wing", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 85 No. 1, pp. 24-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/00022661311294094