Model Predictive Gust Load Alleviation for a Flexible Wing Considering System Limitations

Model Predictive Gust Load Alleviation for a Flexible Wing Considering System Limitations | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Model Predictive Gust Load Alleviation for a Flexible Wing Considering System Limitations Leif Rieck, Benjamin Herrmann, Oliver Luderer, Frank Thielecke This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8496708/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Future aircraft with increasingly flexible high aspect ratio wings are more vulnerable to gust and turbulence encounters. Active control technologies are therefore required to mitigate the effects of atmospheric disturbances and reduce structural sizing loads. However, the achievable load alleviation performance is constrained by system limitations such as time delays, parasitic dynamics, actuator limits, and sensor noise. In this context, model predictive control systems offer strong potential, as they can address these limitations. This paper presents the design and evaluation of such a model predictive gust load alleviation controller for a flexible test wing. The high-fidelity aeroelastic simulation model is based on a modal description of the structural dynamics and aerodynamic strip theory, with its parameters identified from ground vibration and wind tunnel tests. A Kalman filter is designed to estimate structural loads and non-measurable quantities including generalized structural coordinates and wind disturbances from highly noisy wind tunnel measurements. Preview information of upcoming gusts is provided to the controller, enabling feedforward control to compensate for time delays. The formulation accounts for actuator limits and maximum allowable loads, ensuring effective operation within the system boundaries. To reduce the computational effort of the controller, Laguerre functions and an efficient soft output constraint formulation are employed. The resulting control system is evaluated in virtual wind tunnel tests with gust and turbulence encounters across a range of operating conditions. Further, the effects of degraded actuator limits and failure cases are investigated. Particular emphasis is placed on encounters with short and load-critical gusts, where the controller achieves good load alleviation performance despite restrictive system limitations. Model Predictive Control Gust Load Alleviation System Limitations Aeroelasticity Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8496708","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":581936426,"identity":"023f425d-0114-4348-a45e-09af0bb9255a","order_by":0,"name":"Leif Rieck","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2ElEQVRIie2PMQ6CMBRAf2MCS6FrWeAKEBePA/EeWkKCC+44eAfcHBxqSGSpu4OJEBM2EzZXKzg4WUaHvukP//X9Amg0f4gNiHUAFABPuJw5AFcoBqA4HxQjYiMVQHk/YRyMVMwkZugwc0kmnndrfwW7YgoFH2MGLZ3S83qXWKIFRygyBo1WNXAaFcSSSlqCfwkVitfICqfLguBmUG61qoJ6JfStDH0qvw35lyhmIadBLk7BZpuW2BGKw4hZNazjC49k87p7pKVrV1yRefP9LB6xr9FoNBoVL9gYSU8nObG/AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Hamburg University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Leif","middleName":"","lastName":"Rieck","suffix":""},{"id":581936427,"identity":"52d86a70-f8a6-4f01-8ff0-5f6c4878c8df","order_by":1,"name":"Benjamin Herrmann","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hamburg University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benjamin","middleName":"","lastName":"Herrmann","suffix":""},{"id":581936428,"identity":"382e6601-06ef-4abb-8ea1-f0ac15d5536c","order_by":2,"name":"Oliver Luderer","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hamburg University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oliver","middleName":"","lastName":"Luderer","suffix":""},{"id":581936429,"identity":"d786efc5-608c-48a8-90da-076239e17f5e","order_by":3,"name":"Frank Thielecke","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hamburg University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Frank","middleName":"","lastName":"Thielecke","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-01 18:38:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8496708/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8496708/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101398471,"identity":"66e49886-0e85-498d-9041-9756f48ae6d9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-29 09:41:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2596342,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Rieck2026initialSubmission.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8496708/v1_covered_33c84085-7a92-4fab-8968-dc746df542fd.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Model Predictive Gust Load Alleviation for a Flexible Wing Considering System Limitations","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Model Predictive Control, Gust Load Alleviation, System Limitations, Aeroelasticity","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8496708/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8496708/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFuture aircraft with increasingly flexible high aspect ratio wings are more vulnerable to gust and turbulence encounters. 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