Lessons Learned from Flight Testing Active Flutter Suppression Technologies

Kurzfassung

Active flutter suppression (AFS) was demonstrated in real-life conditions during the project FLIPASED (Flight Phase Adaptive Aero-Servo-Elastic Aircraft Design Methods). It was done by passing the flutter speed with a subscale demonstrator called P-FLEX. Two different flutter suppression controllers were used in this case, both of which proved to dampen the flutter modes, allowing the demonstrator to further increase the airspeed. This article presents the background of the demonstrator, its systems, and the testing, the challenges faced during the tests and finally the important lessons learned during the process.