An Optimized Yaw Damper for Enhanced Passenger Ride Comfort

The primary purpose of any yaw damper is to suppress the dutch roll response of the airplane in turbulence. Large lateral accelerations at the aft end of the aircraft are especially degrading to ride quality. These lateral accelerations are due to higher frequency structural modes of the aircraft in addition to the low frequency dutch roll mode. Here we will present an optimized yaw damper to enhance passenger ride comfort. Because of the limited scope of this analysis, only the rigid body effects, or dutch roll mode, will be considered.