Quasi-steady flight to quasi-steady flight transition for abort landing in a windshear: Trajectory optimization and guidance (Q1095095)

This paper is concerned with the optimal transition and the near-optimum guidance of an aircraft from quasi-steady flight to quasi-steady flight in a windshear. The abort landing problem is considered with reference to flight in a vertical plane. In addition to the horizontal shear, the presence of a downcraft is considered. First, trajectory optimization is considered. The optimal transition problem is formulated as a Chebyshev problem of optimal control: the performance index being minimized is the peak value of the modulus of the difference between the instantaneous altitude and a reference value, assumed constant. By suitable transformations, the Chebyshev problem is converted into a Bolza problem. Then, the Bolza problem is solved employing the dual sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (DSGRA) for optimal control problems. Next, trajectory guidance is considered. Two guidance schemes are developed so as to achieve near-optimum transition from quasi-steady descending flight to quasi-steady ascending flight: acceleration guidance (based on the relative acceleration) and gamma guidance (based on the absolute path inclination). The numerical results show that the guidance schemes for quasi-steady flight recovery yield a transition from quasi-steady flight to quasi- steady flight which is close to that of the optimal trajectory, ensures the restoration of the initial quasi-steady state, and has good stability properties.