System Identification from Virtual Flight Test Data for a Flexible Transport Aircraft

This chapter describes the latest achievements from system identification of flexible aircraft using virtual flight test data. The goal is to arrive at a model that is real-time capable and can be used in a flight simulator. Virtual flight tests were performed using high-fidelity multidisciplinary CFD/CSM methods. For that a new method for input design was applied. A description of the flexible aircraft model is included and this model structure is adopted for the system identification process. The time domain system identification for the flexible aircraft was split in two parts: first the rigid-body dynamics were identified and then a new process to estimate the structural dynamics was developed and applied. Results for both parts will be shown.