Research on Dynamic Characteristics Analysis and Control Law Design Method of Model Aircraft in Wind Tunnel–Based Virtual Flight Testing

In the three-degree-of-freedom virtual flight test, the scaled model has no translational motion, which will result in the model’s dynamics being different from that of free flight, and this difference will directly affect its effectiveness in simulating free flight and the design of the flight control law. In this paper, the longitudinal and lateral-directional dynamic characteristics of virtual flight are studied from the three aspects of modal characteristics, disturbance response characteristics, and control response characteristics. The dynamic characteristic difference between the virtual flight test and free flight is analyzed. In addition, the scaling ratio of the model will also lead to differences in the flight control law design methods of virtual flight and full-size aircraft. The control law design method of the virtual flight test is established by studying the similarity relation of control law parameters between full-size aircraft and the scaled model, and the correctness of similar design of closed-loop control law parameters of the scaled model is verified by a virtual flight test. Finally, the attitude control law parameters obtained from the virtual flight test are applied to the six-degree-of-freedom flight simulation of a full-size aircraft, and the simulation results show that the three-axis attitude control law designed based on the virtual flight test also has good performance in the six-degree-of-freedom flight of the full-size aircraft, and the response of attitude angle and angular rate are approximately the same for both.

Generally, the steady aerodynamic data of the aircraft are obtained through the traditional static wind tunnel test to construct the aerodynamic model of the aircraft. The aerodynamic model established by this method may not be able to accurately simulate the actual dynamic flight. However, the actual test flight of full-size aircraft has many disadvantages, such as high cost and high risk. To simulate real flight on the ground, the method of placing the scaled model in a wind tunnel for dynamic flight is proposed, which is called wind tunnel–based virtual flight testing (WTBVFT). The scaled model is connected with the strut through a three-degree-of-freedom rotation mechanism and installed in the wind tunnel test section, so that the model has three degrees of freedom of angular motion and no translational motion. This paper analyzes the differences in dynamics between virtual flight and free flight under open-loop and closed-loop control. The results show that the virtual flight test can simulate the angular motion of free flight well and can be used to design, verify, and simulate the attitude control law of full-size aircraft well.