Kyle Hanquist | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Thrust Regulation in a Solid Fuel Ramjet using Dynamic Mode Adaptive Control

This paper presents the application of a novel data-driven adaptive control technique, called dynamic mode adaptive control (DMAC), for regulating thrust in a solid fuel ramjet (SFRJ). A high-fidelity computational model incorporating compressible flow theory and equilibrium chemistry is used to simulate the combustion dynamics. An adaptive tracking controller is designed using the DMAC framework, which leverages dynamic mode decomposition to approximate the local system behavior, followed by a tracking controller synthesized around the identified model. Simulation results demonstrate that DMAC provides an effective and reliable approach for thrust regulation in SFRJs. In addition, a systematic hyperparameter sensitivity study is conducted by varying the tuning parameters over several orders of magnitude. The resulting responses show that the closed-loop performance and tracking error remain stable across wide parameter variations, indicating that DMAC exhibits strong robustness to hyper parameter tuning.

math.OC↗

arXiv2025

Computational Modeling and Learning-Based Adaptive Control of Solid-Fuel Ramjets

Solid-fuel ramjets offer a compact, energy-dense propulsion option for long-range, high-speed flight but pose significant challenges for thrust regulation due to strong nonlinearities, limited actuation authority, and complex multi-physics coupling between fuel regression, combustion, and compressible flow. This paper presents a computational and control framework that combines a computational fluid dynamics model of an SFRJ with a learning-based adaptive control approach. A CFD model incorporating heat addition was developed to characterize thrust response, establish the operational envelope, and identify the onset of inlet unstart. An adaptive proportional-integral controller, updated online using the retrospective cost adaptive control (RCAC) algorithm, was then applied to regulate thrust. Closed-loop simulations demonstrate that the RCAC-based controller achieves accurate thrust regulation under both static and dynamic operating conditions, while remaining robust to variations in commands, hyperparameters, and inlet states. The results highlight the suitability of RCAC for SFRJ control, where accurate reduced-order models are challenging to obtain, and underscore the potential of learning-based adaptive control to enable robust and reliable operation of SFRJs in future air-breathing propulsion applications.

math.OC↗