Aircraft flutter suppression: from a parametric model to robust control

This paper deals with the suppression of flutter – a type of dynamic instability provoked by the interaction of aerodynamic, inertial, and flexible forces acting over a flexible structure immersed in a fluid – through robust control methods. Since this problem is heavily dependent on flight conditions (such as altitude, speed, etc), an accurate controller synthesis requires a representative model. The Loewner framework offers tools for the generalized realization problem, allowing the construction of such a model using sampled frequency data responses and simple algebraic machinery. This tool helps build a parametric model of an aeroelastic system used then to synthesize a scheduled, dynamic output-feedback robust control law that damps the flexible mode responsible for the appearance of flutter.