Flight Control Design

Lecture 4: Longitudinal motion (Stick Fixed)

1
Second-Order Differential equations
• Most physical systems, such as control servomotors, many electrical and mechanical systems, are modeled
by second-order differential equations.
• Example: Motion of a mechanical system composed of a mass, a spring and a damping device

• Motion is represented by the following non-homogeneous equation

• The function F(t) is the forcing function, for a nul function the system is said to have a free response, while
for a function F(T) different from zero, the system is said to have a forced response.
2
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Second-Order Differential equations
• Example: Motion of a mechanical system composed of a mass, a spring and a damping
device

• The solution of the homogeneous equation is given as;

• For which the characteristic equation is given as;

• While the roots are found to be equal to

• The solution of the DE is given as;

3
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Second-Order Differential equations
• Overdamped motion (c/2m>sqrt(k/m)): roots are negative and real

• Damped sinusoid motion (c/2m<sqrt(k/m)): roots are complex

Natural frequency:

• Critically damped motion (c/2m)=sqrt(k/m)): roots are identical

• For an undamped system c=0, then the undamped natural frequency Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Second-Order Differential equations
• The characteristic equation for the
standard form of the second-order
differential equation is given as;

• Where the roots are given as

• The real η of the root governs the

damping of the response and ω is the
damped natural frequency.

5
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Pure Piching moment
• Study case: Wind tunnel tests: the airplane's center of gravity is constrained to
move in a straight line at constant speed but the aircraft is free to pitch about its
center of gravity.

• The pitch moment and pitch angle are given as;

• Such that

• Given that the body reference frame and the fixed reference frame are aligned at
t=0, then

• Substituting we result in the following;

6
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Pure Piching moment
• Non-homogeneous 2nd order DE:

• The characteristic equation is given as;

• Where;

• The roots of the characteristics equation

• such that w is the damped natural frequency of the system.

7
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Pure Piching moment

• The general solution of the pure pitching

moment equation is given as,

8
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Stick fixed longitudinal motion
• The airplane has three translational motions (vertical, horizontal, and transverse), three rotational motions (pitch,
yaw, and roll) and numerous elastic degrees of freedom.
• Assumptions: (reasonable provided the airplane is not undergoing a large amplitude or very rapid maneuver)
1. The aircraft's motion consists of small deviations from its equilibrium flight condition
2. The motion of the airplane can be analyzed by separating the equations into two groups (decoupling
longitudinal and lateral).
• The longitudinal motion of an airplane without control input. The longitudinal motion of an airplane (controls
fixed) disturbed from its equilibrium flight condition is characterized by two oscillatory modes of motion; which
are the long-period and the short period mode.

9
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Stick fixed longitudinal motion: state variable
representation of the equations of motion.
• The state-space equation is represented mathematically as

Such that:
x is the state vector,
η is the control vector,
A and B aircraft’s dimensional stability derivatives.
The linearized longitudinal equations are given as follows;

10
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Stick fixed longitudinal motion: state variable
representation of the equations of motion.
• The homogeneous solution of the equation can be written in the form of;

• The roots are called the characteristic roots or eigenvalues found by

solving for:

• The eigenvectors are found using

Such that Pij is the eigenvector corresponding to the jth eigenvalue,

• The set of equations making up the last equations are linearly dependent
and homogeneous; therefore, the eigenvectors cannot be unique.

11
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Longitudinal approximations: long-period mode
• The long-period or phugoid mode is illustrated as a
gradual interchange of potential and kinetic energy
about the equilibrium altitude and airspeed.
• The long-period mode is characterized by changes in
pitch attitude, altitude, and velocity at a nearly
constant angle of attack.
• An approximation to the long-period mode can be
obtained by neglecting the pitching moment equation
and assuming that the change in angle of attack is
zero,

12
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Longitudinal approximations: short-period mode
• The short-period mode of motion can be obtained by
assuming Δu = 0 and dropping the X-force equation.
• The longitudinal state-space equations reduce to the
following:

• The angle of attack is therefore given as,

• Thus;

• The equivalent characteristic equation is given as

follows,

13
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Longitudinal approximations: summary

Long-period (Phugoid) longitudinal mode Short-period longitudinal mode oscillation

oscillation

14
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
The influence of stability derivatives on the longitudinal
modes of motion
• Response we obtain from solving the DE
depends on the magnitude of the stability
coefficients.
• The Short-Period (SP) mode is the most
important.
1. Case 1: If SP mode has a high frequency and
heavily damped mode, then the airplane will
respond rapidly to an elevator input without any
undesirable overshoot.
2. Case 2: If the SP mode is lightly damped or has a
relatively low frequency, the airplane will be
difficult to control and, in some cases, may even
be dangerous to fly.
• The phugoid or long-period mode occurs so
slowly that the pilot can easily negate the
15
disturbance by small control movements. Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Influence of the center of gravity and the horizontal
tail on the longitudinal response

• As the center of gravity is moved rearward, the longitudinal modes become aperiodic and, eventually, unstable.
From a performance standpoint, it would be desirable to move the center of gravity further aft so that trim drags
during the cruise portion of the flight could be reduced. Unfortunately, this leads to a less stable airplane. By using
an active control stability augmentation system, the requirement of static stability can be relaxed without degrading
the airplane's flying qualities. 16
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Flying qualities
• The pilot forms subjective opinions about the ease or difficulty of controlling the airplane in steady and
maneuvering flight.
• In addition to the longitudinal dynamics, the pilot's impression of the airplane is also influenced by the
feel of the airplane that is provided to the pilot by the stick force and stick force gradients.
• The flying qualities expected by the pilot depend upon the type of aircraft and the flight phase.
• The flying qualities are specified in terms of three levels:
• Level l Flying qualities clearly adequate for the mission flight phase.
• Level2 Flying qualities adequate to accomplish the mission flight phase, but some increase in pilot
workload or degradation in mission effectiveness, or both, exists.
• Level 3 Flying qualities such that the airplane can be controlled safely, but pilot workload is
excessive or mission effectiveness is inadequate, or both.

• The levels are determined on the basis of the pilot's opinion of the flying characteristics of the airplane.

17
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Flying qualities: classification of the airplanes and flight
phase categories.

18
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
Example 1: Longitudinal eigenvalues and eigenvectors for general aviation airplane

19
Nelson, R. C. (1998). Flight stability and automatic control (Vol. 2). New York: WCB/McGraw Hill.
End

20