Development of a SimScape model for prognostic of electro-hydraulic actuator mechanical components

The aeronautical industry is constantly evolving in terms of efficiency,consumption, accessibility, environmental impact and, in particular, safety. Each product, whether it is intended for civil or military use, is subject to continuous study and validation in order to meet compliance requirements. Nowadays, thankfully, the use of computers and calculators has made this process easier and faster, as well as more accurate. One of the main steps to validate and study a product is to simulate its behaviour digitally. Not only this process allows a more complex study, but it also saves time and costs. This thesis will examine this study and the validation process for a servovalve model in an electro-hydraulic control system. The study will focus not only on the simulation of the actuator behaviour, but also on the phenomena that affect the behaviour (e.g. pressure drops, mechanical backlash and friction). In the initial part of this thesis, there will be an introductory description of the different actuation systems and the different servovalve models that make up their architecture, of which, afterwards, the different operating characteristics and relative non-linearities will be analysed. A Simulink model of the servovalve will first be studied and analysed. Then, this model, whose elements and results will be analyzed, will be used as a reference model. The SimScape model is then presented, describing the choices and solutions that characterized the modeling and made it possible to achieve similarity with the reference model.