This paper presents velocity control of a Solid Fuel Ramjet (SFRJ) in variable flight conditions. Since SFRJ is classified as an air breathing propulsion system its performance depends on the air flow over the solid fuel. Dynamic modeling of internal ballistics of SFRJ is developed using gas dynamic relations. This results in a set of nonlinear differential equations. The nonlinearity of equations comes from the fact that gas dynamic relations are generally nonlinear and since the value of some ballistic properties of SFRJ are inaccurate, uncertainties are available in dynamic equations. Then, an adaptive sliding controller is designed for velocity regulation of SFRJ. In order to design the controller the dynamic model is first identified using neural networks. Then the identified model is used to design the control system with the concept of sliding surfaces. The results show the effective performance of controller in velocity regulation of SFRJ in variable flight conditions. Also, the controller showed a good performance in disturbance rejection which proves its robustness.

Volume Subject Area:
Dynamic Systems and Control
Topics:
Artificial neural networks, Fuels, Ramjets, Control equipment, Design, Flight, Air flow, Ballistics, Control systems, Dynamic modeling, Dynamic models, Equations of motion, Nonlinear differential equations, Propulsion systems, Robustness, Uncertainty
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