Grasping Extreme Aerodynamics on a Low-Dimensional Manifold

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that complex extreme gust-wing interactions in aerodynamics can be effectively represented on a low-dimensional manifold using machine learning, enabling real-time analysis and control of unsteady flows.

Contribution

It introduces a novel low-rank representation of extreme aerodynamics using autoencoders, simplifying the complex physics of gust interactions for practical applications.

Findings

Flow fields can be compressed into three key variables.

Low-dimensional models enable real-time flow reconstruction.

Supports stable flight in extreme atmospheric conditions.

Abstract

Modern air vehicles perform a wide range of operations, including transportation, defense, surveillance, and rescue. These aircraft can fly in calm conditions but avoid operations in gusty environments, encountered in urban canyons, over mountainous terrains, and in ship wakes. With extreme weather becoming ever more frequent due to global warming, it is anticipated that aircraft, especially those that are smaller in size, will encounter sizeable atmospheric disturbances and still be expected to achieve stable flight. However, there exists virtually no theoretical fluid-dynamic foundation to describe the influence of extreme vortical gusts on wings. To compound this difficulty, there is a large parameter space for gust-wing interactions. While such interactions are seemingly complex and different for each combination of gust parameters, we show that the fundamental physics behind extreme aerodynamics is far simpler and lower-rank than traditionally expected. We reveal that the nonlinear vortical flow field over time and parameter space can be compressed to only three variables with a lift-augmented autoencoder while holding the essence of the original high-dimensional physics. Extreme aerodynamic flows can be compressed through machine learning into a low-dimensional manifold, which can enable real-time sparse reconstruction, dynamical modeling, and control of extremely unsteady gusty flows. The present findings offer support for the stable flight of next-generation small air vehicles in atmosphere conditions traditionally considered unflyable.