Adverse Aeroelastic Rotorcraft-Pilot Couplings

This book presents methods for the analysis of rotorcraft-pilot couplings, discusses typical phenomena, and suggests ways to predict and reduce adverse coupling events at the design stage. The book is divided into three parts; the first offers an introduction to a “modern” approach to the modeling of complex systems applied to rotorcraft aeromechanics, pilot biomechanics, and their interaction, namely biodynamic feedthrough. The second part presents a general approach for simulation of the coupled pilot-vehicle system and analyzes specific stability problems in detail. The final part focuses specifically on alleviation and prevention of adverse rotorcraft-pilot couplings with the aim of designing a cockpit with reduced sensitivity to biodynamic feedthrough. It explains how robust stability analysis can improve the design of the pilot-vehicle interface and how simple parametric models can assist in designing tuned impedance control devices that will increase the robustness of the coupled pilot-vehicle system.