Experimental Validation of Decentralized Control for Gust Load Alleviation in a Wind Tunnel

Abstract

The concept of decentralized control of ailerons for gust load alleviation was validated in a wind tunnel experiment. Decentralized control uses remote electronic units near the ailerons, which measure the acceleration of the wing and are able to run a local control law. The proposed control laws are using the acceleration as an input to calculate aileron deflections to counteract the gust-induced accelerations of the wing. Using a model of the wing in the wind tunnel, these local control laws were designed and optimized according to defined quality criteria. The experimental results show a high reduction of the accelerations by 33.6 %, which in turn leads to a reduction of the wing root bending moment by 34.2 %. Thereby proving the concept of decentralized control from a flight physical point of view and demonstrating its effectiveness in alleviating gust loads.