Modeling and Dynamic Stability Analysis of Distributed Electric Propulsion Tilt-Rotor UAV

Distributed electric propulsion tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (TRUAVs) with a lift-increasing flap in the propulsion wake have better aerodynamic efficiency than traditional tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles and better takeoff/landing capacity than fixed-wing aircraft. However, for this configuration, establishing the propulsion–aerodynamic coupling model between the flap and the duct is difficult. This paper presents a flight dynamics model with propulsion–aerodynamic coupling components and analyzes dynamic characteristics during the transition period for TRUAVs with a distributed-propulsion/flap configuration. The development of the flight dynamics model considers the descriptions of the duct model, the lift-increasing flap model, and the propeller model. The model of the lift-increasing flap in both the duct exhaust jet and the freestream is the key component of the vehicle dynamics equations and is validated with experimental data and computational fluid dynamics results. Based on the dynamics model, the transition corridor of the tilt-rotor aircraft with multiple asynchronous tilting components and a geometrical constraint is calculated and analyzed. Additionally, the longitudinal dynamics stability of the aircraft in different flight speeds and configurations is assessed based on the numerical differentiation method. The results showed that the vehicle flight speed has more influence on longitudinal short-period stability than the angle of attack (AOA) of the flap. Also, the longitudinal long-period stability is affected by both the vehicle flight speed and the AOA of the flap. Finally, a mathematical derivation is developed to analyze the aircraft’s unstable state. The presented analysis results show that the stability of the long period is affected by the velocity derivative of the fuselage’s lift.