Altitude excursions particular to high speed aircraft are investigated in this thesis. An aerodynamic database of the XB-70 is created and a longitudinal linear model is constructed for a high speed cruise flight condition. An examination of the unpiloted aircraft dynamics revealed that the excursions were not due to a poorly handling aircraft. Thus, it is theorized that the excursions are due to pilot vehicle interactions. A classical control method developed a loop closure scheme suitable for acceptable control of the aircraft. The results showed that a pilot should close an inner loop with negative attitude feedback and an outer loop with positive flight path feedback. A modern control method analysis using an optimal control pilot model confirmed the preceding conclusions. Based on these results, the cockpit pitch attitude display resolution should be less than 1° so that the pilot will be able to perform the loop closures necessary for constant altitude flight. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43312 |
| Date | 16 June 2009 |
| Creators | Honaker, David |
| Contributors | Aerospace Engineering, Anderson, Mark R., Cliff, Eugene M., Durham, Wayne C. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | xiv, 70 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 29815489, LD5655.V855_1993.H658.pdf |
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