摘要: |
The recent emergence of distributed electric propulsion Vertical Takeoff and Landing(VTOL) aircraft has created a rapid introduction of new design concepts with unique stabilityand control characteristics. A challenge to realizing the full potential of these vehicles forurban transportation is to gain public acceptance which is largely driven by flight safety. Thispaper describes ongoing research to address the feasibility of integrating flying qualities safetymetrics into conceptual design of VTOL Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicles. The discussionis composed of the approach and progress toward a toolbox that integrates with existing NASArotorcraft design software and processes. Several key challenges are highlighted includingmodeling requirements for failures, identification of critical failures, and capturing criticalfailures, with robustness to model uncertainty. A discussion of requirements for safetymetrics, specific to UAM vehicles, as well as the effects of the control system design is alsoincluded. Results to date have demonstrated the degradation in flying qualities metrics due topropulsion failures. |