Adaptive control design for active Pogo suppression of large strap-on liquid launch vehicles

In order to better solve the problem of Pogo stability considering parameter uncertainty and time-variation in the large launch vehicle, the model-reference adaptive control based on the dimensionality reduction model (MRAC-DRM) is proposed. Firstly, the state space Pogo model with an active controller is established for control system design by the improved Rubin method. Secondly, a greatly reduced dimensional model of the Pogo control system is derived from the eigenvalue transformation theory, which preserves the features of Pogo instability and is appropriate for control design. Then, the reference model and adaptive control law are designed by the model -reference adaptive control method based on the reduced dimensional model. Finally, two examples with different types of propulsion systems are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MRAC-DRM. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method not only has excellent adaptability to the Pogo systems with parameter uncertainty and time-variation but also is insensitive to the initial value of feedback gain.

Automated summary

To better address the issue of Pogo stability in large launch vehicles under parameter uncertainty and time-variation, this study proposes a model-reference adaptive control based on the dimensionality reduction model (MRAC-DRM). A state space Pogo model with an active controller is first established using the improved Rubin method. Then, a greatly reduced dimensional model of the Pogo control system is derived through eigenvalue transformation theory, which retains the Pogo instability characteristics and is suitable for control design. The effectiveness of the proposed MRAC-DRM is demonstrated through simulation examples with different types of propulsion systems, showing its adaptability to parameter uncertainty and insensitivity to the initial value of feedback gain.