A Review of Wind Tunnel Based Virtual Flight Testing Techniques for Evaluation of Flight Control Systems

Table 1

Comparisons between VFT and traditional dynamic wind tunnel tests.

Dynamic wind tunnel tests	Captive	Wind tunnel 1-DOF	Low speed free-flight	High speed free-flight	Free spin/tumble/fall	VFT
Form of model motion	FCM	FEM	FEM	FEM	FEM	FEM
Form of FCS	Without control	Without control	Closed-loop control	Without control	Without or open-loop control (if applicable)	Closed-loop guidance/closed-loop control
Applications for flight dynamics	SDM, CLD	SDM, CLD	SDM, CLD, FQE, and CLEE	SDM, CLD	S/T RPE, TMDM	SDM, CLD, FQE, CLEE, S/T RPE, and FPE

FCM: forced motion; FEM: free motion; SDM: stability derivatives measurement; CLD: control law design; FQE: flying qualities evaluation; CLEE: control law effects evaluation; S/T RPE: spin/tumble recovery performances evaluation; TPDM: trajectories prediction of dropped model; and FPE: flight performances evaluation.