Aeronautical Engineering (MEng)
Flight Dynamics and Control
The purpose of this module is to provide you with a working understanding of the concepts associated with the dynamics, stability and control of flight vehicles. Though both a review of the theoretical background and its practical application using the Department's Flight Simulation facility, the techniques available to predict and control the dynamic behaviour of aircraft are studied.
On successfully completing this module, you should be able to:
Basic qualitative understanding of flight mechanics without equations.
Aircraft modelled as rigid body which rotates and translates in response to moments and forces applied to it.
Introduction of the body fixed coordinate system.
Rigid body evolution equations applied to aircraft by specifying that moments and forces acting on it arise from gravitational and aerodynamic forces.
Aircraft motions represented in state space; application of dynamical systems theory to aircraft equations of motions and derivation of their linearised form.
Stability derivatives as they appear from this linearised form and ways to model them.
Eigenvalue analysis of the linearised equations of aircraft motion and reduction of the state space of the aircraft into subspaces.
Derivation of several natural models of aircraft motion.
Open Loop control of an aircraft and derivation of control derivatives.
Introduction to closed-loop control strategies.
The module will be delivered primarily through large-class lectures introducing the key concepts and methods, supported by a variety of delivery methods combining the traditional and the technological. The content is presented via a combination of slides, whiteboard and visualiser.
This module presents opportunities both for formative and summative assessment.
You will be formatively assessed through a number of progress tests and tutorial sessions.
Additional opportunities are provided for you to self-assess your learning via tutorial problem sheets.
Summative Assessment takes the form of a written exam at the end of the module as well as practical laboratory assessments and one written laboratory report.
|Assessment type||Assessment description||Weighting||Pass mark|
|Coursework||Flight Simulation and Control laboratory||25%||40%|