Dynamics of aerospace vehicles

Abstract

The focus of this research was to address the modeling, including model reduction, of flexible aerospace vehicles, with special emphasis on models used in dynamic analysis and/or guidance and control system design. In the modeling, it is critical that the key aspects of the system being modeled be captured in the model. In this work, therefore, aspects of the vehicle dynamics critical to control design were important. In this regard, fundamental contributions were made in the areas of stability robustness analysis techniques, model reduction techniques, and literal approximations for key dynamic characteristics of flexible vehicles. All these areas are related. In the development of a model, approximations are always involved, so control systems designed using these models must be robust against uncertainties in these models.