The paper is an investigation on computational modelling and control system design
of integrally actuated membrane wings. A high- delity electro-aeromechanical model is
used for the simulation of the dynamic
uid-structure interaction between a low-Reynolds-
number
ow and a dielectric elastomer wing. A reduced-order model (ROM) is obtained
coupling a modal structural description with a linearisation of the
uid equations based on
the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD). The low-order system is then used for the
design of Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG)
feedback schemes for the control of the wing lift coe cient. Their implementation in the
high- delity model shows very good agreement with the reduced-order model, demonstrat-
ing the suitability of the approach for the initial design of control systems on integrally
actuated membranes. Finally, the designed controllers are used to track required aerody-
namic performance and compensate for prescribed disturbances of the inlet
ow conditions.
Numerical results demonstrates the potential for the aerodynamic control of membrane
wings in outdoor
ight using dielectric elastomers.