Rotorcraft Real Time Damage Alleviation through Load Limiting Control

This paper presents an in-flight damage alleviation system for rotorcraft based upon an in-the-loop structural model which provides component damage estimates as feedback to the control system for control gain adjustment. Using a dynamic inversion control system architecture coupled with an artificial neural network based damage model, a substantial increase in the lifespan of specific rotor head structural components has been found with minimal impact to the handling qualities of the rotorcraft.