Revealing adverse Rotorcraft Pilot Couplings induced by Flight Control Systems
Host institution
Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands)
Supervisors
Co-tutoring institution
Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Start date
Strictly before end of May 2017
Duration
48 months
Gross salary
38.925,00 € per year
Work location
Mainly Delft (The Netherlands) and Milano (Italy)
Objective
Rotorcraft-Pilot Couplings (RPCs) are annoying vehicle oscillations that arise from the effort of controlling rotorcraft. Known in the past under the name pilot induced/pilot assisted oscillations PIO/PAO, helicopter RPCs are still a subject of concern for helicopter’s safety. The current practice of revealing adverse rotorcraft pilot couplings (RPC) shows significant gaps in predicting the effects of the vehicle automatic flight control system (FCS) on human pilot.
The main objective of this project is to better predict and alleviate those RPCs related to malfunctioning of automatic flight control system that result in loss of vehicle. The project will focus especially on the Category III RPC, i.e., those RPCs associated with the non-linear elements in the FCS (such as breakout and hysteresis in the command shaping, effects of gain scheduling, mode switching, and aerodynamic nonlinearities). Currently there are only a few tools for predicting Cat III RPC, this in the context of increased use of FCS in the helicopter and these tools need to be urgently developed.
The ESR will need to learn how FCSs of modern aircraft are built. The project builds on the expertise available at TU Delft and POLIMI in the area of model-based nonlinear control systems and RPC prediction. As part of this project, the ESR will learn the necessary modelling accuracy needed for rigid-body and aero-elastic RPC prediction and also touch upon pilot modelling. The project uses the SIMONA Research Simulator (SRS) at TU Delft and other simulator facilities available to the NITROS project.
Research profile
The researcher will be working with TU Delft (The Netherlands) and POLIMI (Italy) towards a dual doctorate degree. Secondments will be performed at The University of Liverpool (UK) to test for RPCs in their simulator environment and at Finmeccanica in Italy for gaining industrial experience.
Research field
• Control system modelling
• Rotorcraft
• Nonlinear flight control
• Simulator/flight test planning, pilot evaluation
• Modelling and Simulation
• Flight dynamics
• Aero-structural modelling
• Pilot modelling
Requirements
• MSc degree in aerospace engineering (preferred)
• Experience with control and simulation
• Ability to program in Matlab and/or C
• Solid background in flight dynamics and control
Type of contract
The successful ESR applicant will be offered a 4-year full-time funded contract by Delft University of Technology.
Additional Eligibility criteria
English language (IELTS overall score 6.5; no sub-test less than 6.0)
