Investigation of Lateral-Directional Coupling in the Longitudinal Responses of a Transfer Function Simulation Model

The linear variable stability Transfer Function Simulation Model (TFSM), inspired by the United States Air Force's NF-16D Variable stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) and created by Henrik Pettersson, can simulate any desired aircraft. The TFSM represents a non-linear aircraft model with its stability parameters - a collection of gain constants, time constants, damping ratios, and natural frequencies. Stability parameters for aircraft generally fall into two uncoupled modes: longitudinal and lateral-directional. Unfortunately, flight tests using the TFSM exhibited undesired lateral-directional coupling in the longitudinal responses. An S-turn maneuver, formation flight test, and an uncontrolled simulation with an initial bank angle of 60 degrees were the foundation for the investigation to pinpoint the TFSM's errors. The flight tests and subsequent analysis showed that although this model is highly versatile, it has three fundamental problems. First, the original creation of the TFSM incorrectly assumed that the time rate of change for the pitch angle (in the local-horizontal reference frame) is equal to the body-axis pitch-rate for all flight conditions. Second, the TFSM's dynamics do not contain gravity terms. Third, the TFSM cannot generate the angular rates needed in a turn. Integrating the aircraft's pitch, roll, and yaw angles with the equations of motion for aircraft fixed the first problem. Unfortunately, resolving this issue only intensified the second two problems. The results from this thesis show that the last two problems are part of the TFSM and cannot be fixed explicitly. Master of Science