Advanced flow control for supersonic slowdown wind tunnel using extended Kalman filter

Supersonic wind tunnels provide controlled test environments for aerodynamic research on scaled models. During the experiment, the stagnation pressure in the test section is required to remain constant. Due to the nonlinearity and distributed characteristics of the controlled system, a robust controller with effective flow control algorithms is required, which is then capable of properly working under different operating conditions. In this paper, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) based flow control strategy is proposed and implemented in the controller. The control strategy is designed based on the state estimation of a real blowdown wind tunnel, which is carried out under an EKF structure. One of the distinctive advantages of the proposed approach is its adaptability to a wide range of operating conditions for blowdown wind tunnels. Furthermore, it provides a systematic approach to tune the controller parameters to ensure the stability of the controlled air flow. Experiments with different initial conditions and control targets have been conducted to test the applicability and performance of the designed controller. The results demonstrate that the controller and its strategies can effectively control the stagnation pressure in the test section and maintain the target pressure during the stable stage of the blowdown process. Copyright © 2013 by ASME.