Abstract:
Flying-wing aircraft feature high efficiency of aerodynamic configuration and excellent performance of radar stealth, but are prone to body-freedom flutter, namely, a coupling phenomenon between aircraft pitch motion and wing bending vibration when the aircraft has large-span wings. This lecture elaborates on the establishment of a simplified flying-wing aircraft model and the exploration of the underlying mechanism of body-freedom flutter, namely the Hopf bifurcation. It further outlines the numerical prediction method for body-freedom flutter and the design scheme of flutter controllers. Finally, the lecture presents flight tests of a flying-wing aircraft equipped with a custom-designed flutter controller. The controller achieves complete suppression of body-freedom flutter, setting a new world record for flying-wing aircraft development.