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Nonlinear disturbance observer-based control of a structural dynamic model of a twin-tailed fighter aircraft

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Abstract

In this work, a nonlinear disturbance observer-based control law is developed for buffet alleviation of the twin-tails of a fighter aircraft. A nonlinear model of the twin-tails is utilized, and the buffeting load is simulated using a combination of Von-Karman wind turbulence and discrete wind gust directly exciting the twin-tails. A nonlinear controller is designed for buffet mitigation; its performance is studied and compared with the linear velocity-feedback controller using bifurcation analysis. A nonlinear disturbance observer is developed to estimate the exogenous disturbances affecting the twin-tails. The estimates are integrated with the nonlinear controller to attenuate the wind gust disturbances. The stability of the overall closed-loop system and the ultimate boundedness of the estimation error are proved using Lyapunov stability arguments. Simulation studies validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller to suppress the vibrations of the twin-tails.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

    Youssef Mahgoub & Ayman El-Badawy

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  1. Youssef Mahgoub
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  2. Ayman El-Badawy
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Correspondence to Ayman El-Badawy.

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Mahgoub, Y., El-Badawy, A. Nonlinear disturbance observer-based control of a structural dynamic model of a twin-tailed fighter aircraft. Nonlinear Dyn 108, 315–328 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-022-07213-z

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