Parametric Krylov-based order reduction of aircraft aeroelastic models

We present an interpolation-based scheme to obtain in real-time linearised aeroelastic models of very flexible aircraft at any flight condition within the flight envelope. First, in an offline phase, a library of reduced-order linear aeroelastic models is computed by finding the nonlinear equilibrium (trimmed aircraft) using a nonlinear, geometrically-exact beam formulation coupled with an Unsteady Vortex Lattice Method. Subsequent linearisation is achieved analytically and followed by reduction using Krylov subspace methods. The interpolation is performed directly on the reduced-order system matrices, which are projected onto a congruent coordinate system for compatibility. Any interpolation scheme of choice can be used, and the size of the models permits real-time computation.