Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

Purpose – To develop structured guidelines for the synthesis of dynamic force simulators that are required for the testing of high speed aerospace actuators. To provide realistic and proven solutions at both test bench hardware and control design levels.

Design/methodology/approach – The state of the art in control design applied to load simulators in mainly based on complex controllers and does not take into account practical considerations. The objective of the present work is to provide generic preliminary design rules to ensure that the test bench architectures (frame, power transmission and control) and the components specifications are consistent with the targeted performance. Once selected the appropriate power transmission architecture, a linear approach is used as a foundation to generate design rules. Then, preliminary design is achieved thanks to the introduction, as early as possible, of the unavoidable technological defects.

Findings – A step-by-step methodology allows the designer to select the controller architecture and to specify components with special care to their consistency with the required dynamic performance. The linear then practical approach generates key rules that can be used in the very early phase of the test bench design.

Originality/value – Practical considerations on the components static and dynamic limitations are introduced progressively to make the natural test bench performance as consistent as possible with the performance requirements. Consequently, the controller becomes simpler to design and robust.