A moving-mass control method is introduced to stratospheric airship for its special working condition of low atmospheric density and low speed.The dynamic equation of airship is derived by using the Newton-Euler method and the mechanism of attitude control by moving masses is studied.Then the passive gliding of airship by the moving masses is given based on the theory of glider,and attitude control capability between moving mass and elevator is compared at different airspeed.Analysis results show that the motion of masses changes the gravity center of the airship system,which makes the inertia tensor and the gravity moment vary.Meanwhile,the aerodynamic angles are generated,which results in the change of aerodynamic moment.Control efficiency of moving masses is independent of airspeed.Thus the moving-mass control has the advantage over the aerodynamic surfaces at low airspeed.
The parametric model of stratospheric airships is established in the body axes coordinate system. In this paper we study the turning mechanism of stratospheric airships including the generated forces and the key parameters for steady turning. We compare and analyze the different driven-characteristics between aerodynamic control surfaces and vectored thrust in turning. We design a composite control combining aerodynamic control surfaces and vectored thrust according to different dynamic pressure conditions, to achieve coordinated turning under high or low airspeed situations.
A new concept stratospheric aerostat is investigated which consists of a saucer-shaped hull, multi-vectored thrusters, and an under-slung nacelle. The design of this aerostat involves tradeoffs between conventional airship and high altitude balloon. The sling connection simplifies structure design significantly, but brings challenges for dynamics analysis. Dynamics modeling for this aerostat is a kind of double-body problem with geometric constraint. Nonlinear dynamics model is established by considering the effects of under-slung nacelle. Oscillation behavior of this double-body system is superposed by a long-period oscillation of the hull and a short-period oscillation of the nacelle. The length of sling only influences the short-period oscillation but the mass ratio of nacelle to main body determines the stability of system. Finally, an envelope about mass ratio and maximal open loop forward thrust as well as speed is presented, where the system is stable.
