Multi-agent control of airplane wing stability under the flexural torsion flutter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-agent control method using surface 'feathers' to prevent wing flutter, potentially enabling higher aircraft speeds by damping oscillations more effectively.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-agent control approach with theoretical validation for preventing wing flutter, expanding possibilities for aircraft speed and safety.

Findings

High potential to prevent flexural-torsional vibrations

Theoretical model supports increased flight speed

Control system effectively dampens wing oscillations

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel method for prevention of the increasing oscillation of an aircraft wing under the flexural torsion flutter. The paper introduces the novel multi-agent method for control of an aircraft wing, assuming that the wing surface consists of controlled 'feathers' (agents). Theoretical evaluation of the approach demonstrates its high ability to prevent flexural-torsional vibrations of an aircraft. Our model expands the possibilities for damping the wing oscillations, which potentially allows an increase in aircraft speed without misgiving of flutter. The study shows that the main limitation is the time, during which the system is able to damp vibrations to a safe level and keep them. The relevance of this indicator is important because of the rather fast process of increasing wing oscillations during flutter. In this paper, we suggest a new method for controlling an aircraft wing, with the use of which it becomes theoretically possible to increase the maximum flight speed of an aircraft without flutter occurrence. A mathematical model of the bending-torsional vibrations of an airplane wing with controlled feathers on its surface is presented. Based on the Speed-Gradient method a new control laws are synthesized.