Maneuverability Set Estimation and Trajectory Feasibility Evaluation for eVTOL Aircraft

This work investigates the identification of reduced-order state-space models from aeroelastic simulations of the interaction of a built-in structural finite element model and a linear aerodynamic model using unsteady potential theory. The objective is to propose and compare different new frequency-based identification methods operating on frequency response associated to the inputs and outputs of interest. The first methods considered are the Loewner interpolation method and a subspace algorithm. Subsequently, the paper introduces the possibility to apply stability constraints and to impose a certain number of poles estimated beforehand by the p-k method in order to make the identified models closer to the true aeroelastic physics. To achieve this goal, new dedicated techniques are developed and subsequently validated on data generated by random state-space models of various orders, and on aeroelastic data obtained from structural and aerodynamic aircraft models.