Modeling and controller design for an experimental test bench for aircraft actuators

Abstract

The reliable and repeatable experimental ground testing of aircraft actuator is an essential phase before flight testing. It is not an easy task to simulate the alternating aerodynamic forces on actuators reasonably and accurately in a laboratory. In this article, an experimental test bench is designed to simulate the aerodynamic forces by a hydraulic actuator, which replicates the operating conditions that the actuator will encounter in service. In order to improve the force control performance, a feed-forward compensator and a fuzzy proportional–integral–derivative controller are designed. Both simulation and experimental results show that the designed method can improve the control performance.