Hardware-in-the-loop simulation study of modeling and thrust control of a high-bypass-ratio turbofan engine

Aero-engines are highly complex nonlinear thermomechanical devices. Modeling, model-based control, and experimental validation are important means of achieving accurate thrust regulation. In this study, a high-bypass-ratio turbofan engine is considered, and a component-level model is established using a variable-specific-heat method. A feedforward-PID composite rotor-speed controller is designed in Simulink to achieve rapid and accurate adjustment of thrust with power lever angle (PLA). Using NI VeriStand, the model is deployed on a RobustRIO real-time simulator. Electronic controller software was developed based on the STM32F407, and a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation test system was built that includes the real-time simulator, the electronic controller, and the host computer. The HIL tests cover three PLA conditions: large-step, gradual acceleration, and stepped-acceleration. Thrust is accurately regulated in response to the PLA command. Under the large-step condition, the settling time was less than 5 s, and there was no overshoot. The results show that the developed model, control schedule, and real-time test chain can operate cooperatively, providing a reference for subsequent engineering validation.