Category: Seminars and Conferences
State: Archived
Jun 14 - 21

Course of excellence "Flight Dynamics and Control of Vertical Lift Vehicles” by Prof. Umberto Saetti - University of Maryland (US).

Sala Ferrari @DIMEAS 2nd floor

Wednesday, Jun 14

  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Course Introduction and Review of Fundamentals in Vertical Flight Aerodynamics
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Modeling of the of Rotorcraft Flight Dynamics
Thursday, Jun 15
  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Trim, Linearization, and Model-Order Reduction
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Dynamic Modes of Motion in Hover and Forward Flight
Friday, Jun 16
  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Dynamic Analysis of a Simple Helicopter Model
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Intro to Rotorcraft Flight Control Design

Monday, Jun 19
  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Modern Flight Control Design I: Explicit Model Following
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Implementation of Explicit Model Following Flight Control Law
Tuesday, Jun 20
  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Modern Flight Control Design II: Dynamic Inversion
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Implementation of Dynamic Inversion Flight Control Law

Wednesday, Jun 21
  • 10:00 to 11:30 - Stability, Handling Quality, and Performance Specifications
  • 16:00 to 17:30 - Model Stitching/Tiltrotor Modeling and Simulation
Overview of the course: This course provides a modern perspective on the theory of flight dynamics and control of vertical flight, with applications including rotary- and flapping-wing vehicles. Computer simulation methods for modeling the motion of these vehicles in generalized maneuvering flight will be presented. The course will present modern automatic control system design in order to enhance stability, achieve desired response characteristics, and to enable fully autonomous control. Although the course will focus on rotorcraft, other hovering vehicles such as flapping-wing flyers/micro air vehicles (MAVs) will be studied. Computer simulations of rotary- and flapping-wing vehicles will be provided to students to derive those results presented in theory first-hand, and to implement modern flight control laws for existing rotorcraft platforms.

Syllabus: The course consists in 12 1.5h sessions (12 lectures/labs). To provide students with real-life problem experience, one minimum-fidelity and one higher-fidelity flight simulation models of rotorcraft will be provided in MATLAB and/or Julia.

Assessment: Report.

References:
  • Padfield, G. D., “Helicopter Flight Dynamics: Including a Treatment of Tiltrotor Aircraft,” Wiley, 3rd Edition, 2018, ISBN: 978-1-119-40105-6.
  • Tischler, M. B. et al., “Practical Methods for Aircraft and Rotorcraft Flight Control Design: An Optimization-Based Approach,”, AIAA Education Series, 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2514/4.104435.
  • Stevens, B. L., Lewis, F. L., and Johnson E. N., “Aircraft Control and Simulation: Dynamics, Controls, Design, and Autonomous Systems,” Wiley, 3rd Edition, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-118-87098-3.
  • · Course notes provided