AIAA-2002-4611

MODELING AND SIMULATION OF AIRCRAFT HYDRAULIC SYSTEM Ashok Joshi, Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Non-member, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India P G Jayan, Manager ARDC, Non-member, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bangalore , India Abstract This paper presents the work carried out in the development of a software package for modeling and simulation of aircraft hydraulic system. The development of simulation package has been done for a typical fighter aircraft hydraulic system, with MATLAB as the basic platform. Various component models, along with the influence of engine speed and system failure modes, are combined to configure the present package. The inputs for simulation are; altitude, Mach number, angle of attack, elevator command, aileron command and rudder command, which are obtained from independent pilot-in-loop tests conducted on hydraulic system test rig for a typical fighter aircraft. Verification and validation of the simulation package is carried out using results conducted on the above rig, under different flight conditions and also for different failure modes of the system. These simulation results are found to be satisfactory, when compared with the actual test results. Lastly, the software developed is general enough to be applicable to many different types of hydraulic systems and can also be augmented to include other features. Nomenclature Apiston Area of Piston D Tube Diameter F Flow Friction Factor hm Aerodynamic Hinge Moment of the Actuator Kq Nonlinear Flow Gain of the Servo Valve Orifice p Pressure Drop L Length of the Tube pac Accumulator Pressure pr Return Line Pressure pv Servo Valve Pressure Drop qv Servo Valve Flow Demand ti Inertia Force due to Control Surface Deflection xv Servo Valve Position v Velocity of Flow Density of Fluid

Abbreviations EMDP - Electric Motor Driven Pump (Pump 4). F1, F2, F3, F4 - Filters FCS - Flight Control System IV - Isolation Valve NRV - Non Return Valve P1, P2, P3, P4 - Pumps System 1 - System Powered by Pump 1 System 2 - System Powered by Pumps 2, 3 & 4 Introduction Hydraulic system, which is a complex assembly of electronic, hydraulic and mechanical components, utilizes the pressurized liquid to transmit energy from one place to another. For an efficient hydraulic system design, these components need to be chosen in an optimum way, which requires the exact information about system loads, component capabilities and the dynamic characteristics of the overall system. In general, prototype testing is an expensive tool for the design as there are many applicable component configurations as well as a large number of physical variables that need to be measured during testing and validation. In addition, if there are changes in system configuration during the design cycle, the total hardware for testing needs to be re-configured, leading to cost and time overruns. Therefore, prediction of performance of hydraulic system through computer simulation, by using greater fidelity mathematical models, is an attractive option. A simulation model offers equivalent and repetitive condition and for both qualitative and quantitative analysis and, therefore, meaningful comparisons between different candidate systems become feasible. Simulation of aircraft hydraulic system has received attention from many quarters and both general purpose and special purpose software tools have been evolved. In this context, general purpose software like MATLAB1 and ADAMS2 provide a framework, which can be used to create a specific hydraulic system simulation package. The other category of software includes specialized packages for the use in modeling hydraulic system e.g. HYPNEU3 and EASY 54 etc. These packages are configured for specific hydraulic systems are usually not suitable for application to a complex system like aircraft hydraulic system.

In most cases of simulation of aircraft hydraulic system, there is also a requirement of interfacing it with other modules e.g. flight control systems, models of sensors & actuators, aircraft dynamic models etc. In addition, many of these sub-systems may either be the actual hardware or the corresponding software models developed under either MATLAB or other general purpose software tools. Therefore, it is desirable to use software that can dynamically link to the other software systems. In special purpose software e.g. EASY5, there is a graphic model generator, which builds the model from components from its library. This paper presents the work carried out in the development of a simulation package for the hydraulic system of a typical aircraft hydraulic system with MATLAB as the basic environment. The aim is to make it general enough so that not only different kinds of aircraft hydraulic systems but also other hydraulic systems may be simulated.

Modeling Of Hydraulic System The hydraulic system of an aircraft consists of (1) a power generation system e.g. pumps, accumulators etc., (2) a power distribution system e.g. the hydraulic fluid, tubes, hoses etc, and (3) a power utilization system e.g. actuators, motors etc. Normally, there are two or more power generation systems for redundancy and the utilization is divided among different subsystems e.g. flight control system (FCS), landing gear system, nose wheel steering system, brake system etc.5 The present study, initially, focuses on the requirements of an aircraft flight control system only, which in the present case is assumed to consist of elevons (elevators & ailerons), rudder and slats. The schematic of a typical hydraulic system is given in Fig. 1.

System 1

System 2

Fig. 1 Typical Fighter Aircraft Hydraulic System

Modeling of Hydraulic Pump There are four pumps modeled in the system. Pumps 1 and 2 are identical and are driven by the gearbox. Pump 3 is driven directly by the engine pad and pump 4 is an electric-motor-driven pump. All the pumps are pressure-controlled and have a non-linear pressure flow characteristics as a function of engine Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). The hydraulic fluid flow rate varies with the change in engine RPM and hence the pump flow rate is also modelled as a function of the engine RPM at the time of simulation. However, engine RPM is treated as an input parameter, which is assumed to be constant for the entire simulation and therefore, the flow gain is obtained for the chosen RPM at the beginning of the simulation. In the present study, all the pumps are mathematically represented by a first order lag due to the inertia of the hydro-mechanical feedback system of the swash plate.6 Modeling of Accumulator & FCS Actuators Accumulator is represented as an integrator between flow rate and gas volume. The adiabatic gas law is used to model the accumulator pressure as a function of gas volume, at a pre-charged pressure. The accumulator is modelled assuming an adiabatic process in a prefect gas7. Accumulator is pre-charged with gas to about 14 MPa and it is assumed that process of pre-charging occurs isothermally. The actuators are modelled based on the servo valve dynamics and jack parameters, in which the servo valve dynamics is modelled using a first order transfer function. This is found to represent the flow demands of the actuator in the closed loop at all excitation amplitudes, with acceptable accuracy8. The hydraulic fluid stiffness and mounting structure stiffness have not been included in the present model, since they represent very high frequency dynamics in the actuator closed loop response, which are filtered by the load resonance notch filter in the actuator position control loop. The tandem pistons have been represented with an equivalent average piston area, instead of unequal areas, as such a model is found to be adequate. Equating individual system accumulator pressures to zero during initialization simulates the failure conditions. Thus, both flow demand and actuator forces are taken as zero for the failed cylinder.

The inertial force due to control surface deflection has been modelled using control surface inertia and acceleration. The aerodynamic hinge moment due to the angle of attack, angle of sideslip and control surface deflection have also been modeled as disturbance moments. The servo valve pressure drop is given by, pv = pac pr sign(xv) (hm+ti)/ Apiston The servo valve flow demand is given by qv = Kq xv abs ( pv )

(1)
(2)

Modeling of Pipe lines, Hoses & Failure Modes The pipelines and hoses are considered the same for the purpose of modeling. The static pressure drop in a pipe is calculated as given below.9 p = v2 f L / (2 d) (3)

The failure modes of the system are the different failure conditions, which occur in the system at any time. The failure can be bursting of a pipe, malfunctioning of a component or physical damage to a critical component. The bursting of a pipe or failure of a component results in the loss of fluid power and this is equivalent to the corresponding pump failure. Hence, for the present investigation, failures of pumps only are considered as failure modes of the hydraulic system. In the software, inclusion of the corresponding failed model, at the start of the simulation, simulates the failure modes. The failure of a pump is modeled by equating its output flow and pressure to zero. In the case of system 1, failure of Pump 1 is system 1 failure. In the case of system 2, failure of one pump brings another pump into operation. The full range of failure models and their effect on the system are given in Table 1. Simulation Of Hydraulic System Fluid power is the product of pressure and flow rate and in the case of hydraulic systems, the power capability is usually limited by the pressure flow characteristic of the pump. The pump pressure is inversely proportional to the pump flow and since the accumulator helps in meeting the peak flow demands of the actuator servo valves, the accumulator determines the system pressure.

Table 1 Failure Modes and their Effect

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Case for simulation No failure Pump 1 failed Pump 2 failed Pump 3 failed Pump 1 and Pump 2 failed Pump 1 and Pump 3 failed Pump 2 and Pump 3 failed Pump 1 , Pump 2 and Pump 3 failed

Effect on System 1 No effect System 1 fail No effect No effect System 1 fail System 1 fail No effect System 1 fail

Effect on System 2 No effect No effect System 2 on Pump 3 (Degraded performance) No effect System 2 on Pump 3 (Degraded performance) No effect System 2 fail System 2 on Pump 4 (Degraded performance)

A drop in the system pressure accompanies flow from the accumulator and hence the accumulator needs to be sufficiently large to meet peak flow demands without appreciable drop in the system pressure This is necessary since the drop in system pressure implies a reduction in servo valve flow capacity and therefore a rate saturation of the FCS actuators, which could have serious effects on the aircraft stability and, therefore, safety. The flight control system simulation is set up using the different component models and the inputs (Time, Mach Number, Angle of Attack, Angle of Sideslip, Altitude, Elevator Command, Aileron Command and Rudder Command), which are obtained from a pilotin-loop real time simulation of flight condition, considered to be critical for evaluating the hydraulic system performance. These variables are obtained as a time trace at a frame-sampling rate of 80 Hz (12.5 msec interval) from the Real Time Simulator and stored in an ASCII file. The flow chart for simulation of the system is given in Fig. 2. The simulation parameters are stored in the file hydsim.m and they

can be modified before the start of the simulation based on the latest information of the components.

The component pressure drop and subsystem flow rate calculations are done using a hydcomp.m file and this also can be updated based on the component and subsystem data. The component pressure drops are added to form the system pressure drop and this is deducted from the accumulator pressure for calculating the pressure available for the FCS actuator. The flow rates for the steering system, landing gear and slats also are calculated and along with the system leakage, which gives the maximum flow from the pump other than to the FCS actuators. Also, the main program prompts the user for selecting the operational / failure modes of the hydraulic system before the start of the simulation. The modification of simulation parameters, selection of system operational / failure states and finalization of all component parameters are to be completed before the start of the simulation. The software initializes all the variables and starts the time counter at the start of simulation.

Fig.2 Flow Chart for the Hydraulic System Simulation Software Package The various parameters e.g. flow demand to servos, the gas volume of accumulator, the accumulator pressure, pressure losses in the pipe lines and components, individual servo flow requirements and the pump flow rates etc., are calculated during the simulation in time steps of 12.5 Milli-seconds till the final time is reached. After the completion of simulation, the total pressure drop, the pump flow rate, accumulator flow rate, pump and accumulator pressure variation, peak flow demands of the servo actuators, actuator position, control surface position, control surface acceleration etc. are also available for analysis and can be seen as plots with time for system evaluation.

START MODIFY SIMULATION PARAMETERS

LOAD DATA SELECT FAILURE MODES INITIALISE ALL VARIABLES TIME = INITIAL TIME

BEGIN LOOP

CALCULATE TOTAL VOLUME DEMAND OF SERVOS CALCULATE ACCUMULATOR PRESSURE CALCULATE PRESSURE LOSSES IN COMPONETS DEDUCT TOTAL PRESSURE DROP FROM ACCUMULATOR PRES. CALCULATE INDIVIDUAL SERVO FLOW RATES CALCULATE PUMP FLOW RATE

NO

Testing And Verification In the present study, out of all the failure modes, two typical cases of data each representing a failure mode (Nos.2 & 5 in table 1), have been considered for validation. In the actual test, for simulating a failure, the corresponding pump is switched off during the test. But, in the case of simulation, the failure mode is to be selected at the starting itself and hence the start time differs from the actual test. Also, the pressure transducers used for testing has an upper limit of 28 MPa and hence, pressures above 28 MPa have not been recorded during testing. The cases considered along with the simulated and actual test results are discussed below. The simulation is carried out from 40 seconds to 208 seconds to match with the Pump 1 fail time during actual testing. The input values of Angle of attack, elevator command, aileron command and rudder command is given in fig. 4.

Case 1 : Pump 1 failed, Pump 2 and Pump 3 Working (RPM 100%) This test case represents Pump 1 in failed condition. The pressure from the Pumps 1 and 2 are given in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the Pump 1 pressure is zero and Pump 2 pressure is almost constant at 28 MPa.

(a)

(a)

Case 2 : Pump 1 and Pump 2 Failed. System 2 Working on Pump3 This test represents Pump 1 and Pump 2 in failed condition. It can be seen from fig. 5 that the Pump 1 pressure is zero and Pump 3 pressure is almost constant at 25.8 MPa.

The simulation is carried out from 50 seconds to 227 seconds to match with the Pump 1 and Pump 2 fail time during actual testing The input values of Angle of attack, elevator command, aileron command and rudder command are given in fig. 6.

(a)

Test Results for Case 2 Failure The actual test results for Case 2 failure conditions are shown in fig. 7, for the variation of line pressure.

Fig. 7 Test Results for Pressure Output; Case 2 It is seen that these results match fairly well with the simulation results for pressure, presented in fig. 5. Thus, it can be concluded that software developed in the present study is able to capture the salient physical effects of aircraft hydraulic systems.

(a)

Line Pressure (bar)

System time (sec)

References 1 URL : http:// www.mathworks.com 2 Asko Rouvinen and Heikki Handrooms , How to describe a hydraulic system ADAMS,2001 3. Dr. Ing.T.Hong, Ming-Yuan Tsuei, Hypneu Computerized system problem identification and analysis, Symposium on steel production technology, Taiwan, 1993 4 Duleba GS, Ginsburg and Harrison JE, Hydraulic system modeling steady state analysis, simulation and control system analysis using a lumped mass approach, The Boeing Company, Seattle, 1990. 5 Conway H G, Aircraft Hydraulics Vol. I , Chapman and Hall Ltd, London, 1957. 6 Ray Levek and Bob Young, Aircraft Hydraulic System Dynamic Analysis Technical Report AFAPLTR-76-43, Volume VI, Aero Propulsion Laboratory, Ohio, 1980 7 Viersma.Taco.J, Analysis, Synthesis and Design of Hydraulic Servosystems and Pipelines, Elsevier Scientific Publishing company, 1980.

Conclusions A package has been developed for aircraft hydraulic system simulation with Matlab and Simulink. The software requires inputs consisting of time, altitude, angle of attack, Mach number, elevator command, aileron command and rudder command. The component data and failure modes are initialized before the start of the simulation. The simulation results give the pressures and pressure drops of the pumps and accumulator, flow rates, position of control surfaces, actuator spool positions, acceleration and the accumulator gas volume. The data and results from two different tests each corresponding to a failure mode was used to verify the simulation. The test results are similar to the simulation results in each case. This simulation software gives only a limited number of component models though additional models can be easily added Presently, no graphical representation of the components and circuit are available in this software for visualization, but, these can be easily added by converting the existing Matlab models to corresponding Simulink models.

8 Lt. Cdr Renganathan, Hydraulic System Simulation, Report No.ADA/TD/FMS/ LCA/94/022, ADA, Bangalore, 1994, India. 9 Guillon M, Hydraulic Servo Systems Analysis and Design, Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd, 1969. Acknowledgements This work was carried out as part of an M. Tech. Dissertation, at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, under the sponsorship from HAL, Bangalore. Authors wish to thank HAL, Bangalore and Centre for Aerospace Systems Design ang Engg., (CASDE), IIT Bombay, for the support extended to this work.