Unsteady Lift Suppression with a Robust Closed Loop Controller

The ability to control lift in unsteady flows using active flow control is examined experimentally with a three-dimensional, low-aspect-ratio wing and pulsed-blowing actuators as the test article. An unsteady flow wind tunnel is used to generate step-like and harmonic oscillations in flow speed and the corresponding fluctuating lift force on the wing. A 'black box' model of the wing response to actuation is obtained using conventional system identification techniques. A robust H _∞  controller is designed with a mixed sensitivity loop-shaping technique, whose objective was to maintain a constant lift in the unsteady flow. The controller is shown to be capable of significant reductions in lift fluctuations given step, harmonic and random input disturbance conditions.