The Application of Thrust-Vector Control to Damaged Asymmetric Aircraft

In this paper, an asymmetric military fighter, equipping a thrust-vector engine and suffering a serious damage, is studied in detail. Dynamic stability analysis and stability augmentation control of the incomplete fighter are discussed to elaborate the superiority of thrust-vector control. Firstly, dynamic modeling of the damaged fighter is performed to assess damage effect on center of mass and inertia properties. Secondly, a trim analysis under the limit of zero-roll-angle and a linear stability analysis based on eigenvalue method are developed. The results show that the damaged asymmetric fighter experiences instability of roll mode. Finally, a LQR active flight control system is designed for the damaged fighter. The performance of the closed-loop active control system with or without thrust-vector control is compared. The simulation results show that the thrust-vector control performs a compensation effect on the stability of active flight control system and mitigate control input saturation problem.