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Virginia Tech

Control authority assessment in aircraft conceptual design

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

All aircraft must meet controllability requirements to be certified for commercial use or adopted by the mi1itary. Aircraft maneuverability is often 1imited by control authority. Thus, it is essential for designers to evaluate a candidate concept's control authority early in the conceptual design phase. In this thesis, a methodology for rapid control power evaluation of preliminary design configurations against requirements at the key flight conditions is established. First, a collection of critical flight conditions to be considered using this methodology is identified. To examine a variety of aircraft configurations and accelerate the process of estimating stability and control derivatives, a FORTRAN program using the Vortex-Lattice Method was written to estimate subsonic, low angle-of-attack aerodynamics. Then, a spreadsheet processes the aerodynamic data to check whether the design configuration possesses adequate control power to satisfy the requirements of the critical flight conditions.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1992

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Kay, Jacob
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Mason, William H.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Durham, Wayne C.
  • Lutze, Frederick H. Jr.

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-03242009-040703
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41767

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Kay, Jacob. Control authority assessment in aircraft conceptual design. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/41767