• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.305-317
• /
• 2011

This paper presents an overview on flutter boundary prediction in tests which is principally based on a system stability measure, named Jury's stability criterion, defined in the discrete-time domain, accompanied with the use of autoregressive moving-average (AR-MA) representation of a sampled sequence of wing responses excited by continuous air turbulences. Stability parameters applicable to two-, three- and multi-mode systems, that is, the flutter margin for discrete-time systems derived from Jury's criterion are also described. Actual applications of these measures to flutter tests performed in subsonic, transonic and supersonic wind tunnels, not only stationary flutter tests but also a nonstationary one in which the dynamic pressure increased in a fixed rate, are presented. An extension of the concept of nonstationary process approach to an analysis of flutter prediction of a morphing wing for which the instability takes place during the process of structural morphing will also be mentioned. Another extension of analytical approach to a multi-mode aeroelastic system is presented, too. Comparisons between the prediction based on the digital techniques mentioned above and the traditional damping method are given. A future possible application of the system stability approach to flight test will be finally discussed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.43-57
• /
• 2012

In a modern aircraft, there are many variations in its mass, stiffness, and aerodynamic characteristics. Recently, an analytical approach was proposed, and this approach uses the idea of uncertainty to find out the most critical flight flutter boundary due to the variations in such aerodynamic characteristics. An analytical method that has been suggested to predict robust stability is the mu method. We previously analyzed the robust flutter boundary by using the mu method, and in that study, aerodynamic variations in the Mach number, atmospheric density, and flight speed were taken into consideration. The authors' previous attempt and the results are currently quoted as varying Mach number mu analysis. In the author's previous method, when the initial flight conditions were located far from the nominal flutter boundary, conservative predictions were obtained. However, relationships among those aerodynamic parameters were not applied. Thus, the varying Mach number mu analysis results required validation. Using an optimization approach, the varying Mach number mu analysis was found out to be capable of capturing a reasonable robust flutter boundary, i.e., with a low percentage difference from boundaries that were obtained by optimization. Regarding the optimization approach, a discrete nominal flutter boundary is to be obtained in advance, and based on that boundary, an interpolated function was established. Thus, the optimization approach required more computational effort for a larger number of uncertainty variables. And, this produced results similar to those from the mu method which had lower computational complexity. Thus, during the estimation of robust aeroelastic stability, the mu method was regarded as more efficient than the optimization method was. The mu method predicts reasonable results when an initial condition is located near the nominal flutter boundary, but it does not consider the relationships that are among the aerodynamic parameters, and its predictions are not very accurate when the initial condition is located far from the nominal flutter boundary. In order to provide predictions that are more accurate, the relationships among the uncertainties should also be included in the mu method.