Control equivalent turbulence input model for the UH-60 helicopter

Flight test data from a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter hovering in the atmospheric turbulence downwind of a large cube-shaped hanger on a wind day were collected. An inverse modeling method was used to extract the control inputs that are required to replicate the portion of the aircraft response attributable to atmospheric disturbances from the flight-test data. Based on the extracted control inputs, a parametric Control Equivalent Turbulence Input (CETI) model comprised of white-noise driven filters that have a Dryden-type form and are scalable for varying levels of turbulence were developed. The outputs of the filters are disturbance time histories that sum with the pilot's inputs, to replicate the effects of atmospheric turbulence in calm atmospheric conditions.; A ground-based piloted simulation study was conducted in the NASA/Ames Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) comparing the empirically based CETI model with flight-test data and with a complex Simulation Of Rotor Blade Element Turbulence (SORBET) model. Two test pilots performed precision hover tasks with increasing levels of simulated turbulence from both the CETI and SORBET models. The results of the simulation study showed good pilot acceptance of the CETI model and provided a good level of validation of the more complex rotating frame turbulence model.; An in-flight simulation study was conducted on the Rotorcraft Aircrew Systems Concepts Airborne Laboratory (RASCAL) UH-60 helicopter using the CETI model. Two test pilots performed a precision hover task on calm days with simulated CETI turbulence. Aircraft response metrics showed good agreement between a hover task with CETI simulated turbulence and the same task in atmospheric turbulence. Both pilots commented that the RASCAL's response to CETI turbulence was similar to the response hovering downwind of the large cube-shaped hangar on a windy day.; The CETI model developed in this dissertation simulates turbulence by generating equivalent disturbance inputs to the control system of the helicopter. This makes the CETI model suitable for use with any helicopter math model to study the effects of turbulence on handling qualities and for use in designing control systems to reject atmospheric turbulence.