Control of hypersonic flight trajectories to minimize heat load

Abstract

This work studies optimized controls which minimize the heat load at the stagnation point of an ascending hypersonic flight vehicle. Two types control schemes are studied, namely, a polynomial type of feedback controller and a neural controller. To validate the results obtained a comparison is made with precious analytical and numerical studies. Different cases are then studied by considering the specific impulse of the SCRAM-Jet engine as a constant or varying with Mach no. The effect of variation of initial and final attitudes is also studied. The results show that the minimized heat load is in the range of 300-350kJ/cm² in general. It is also observed that the proposed neural controller performs well.