Horizontal Flight Dynamics Simulations using a Simplified Airplane Model and Considering Wind Perturbation

Abstract

An in-house method of Newton-Euler inverse dynamics guidance based on a simplified airplane model in horizontal flight was proposed in a previous paper presented at NMAS 2018 workshop [1]. The goal was to guide the airplane between two locations situated at 100 km distance in the horizontal plane, considering some simplifying assumptions:  the airplane was considered a material point (no motion equations involving torques are considered here);  the thrust was constant in magnitude during the entire motion;  the airplane is inclined at time t with the rolling angle (t);  the main parameter for controlling the flight path was considered to be the sideslip angle  (angle between the thrust vector and the velocity vector);  the lift force balanced the weight, the centrifugal force and the wind perturbation lateral force;  the wind perturbation was considered linear by pieces of 10 km distance. So, the horizontal flight guidance parameter is the sideslip angle , while the rolling angle  is determined from the condition that the flight remains in the horizontal plane, which has to be permanently fulfilled. This paper presents several simulations validating the proposed inverse dynamics guidance tool for airplane horizontal flight. Various wind perturbation possibilities have been tested, considering this wind perturbation as linear by pieces during the horizontal flight. In conclusion, this guidance method worked well for the simplified horizontal flight case study.

Keywords

• guidance method
• horizontal flight
• inverse dynamics
• simplified airplane motion
• rolling angle
• sideslip angle