Experiment and numerical simulation on the characteristics of fluid–structure interactions of non-rigid airships

Fluid-structure interaction is an important issue for non-rigid airships with inflated envelopes. In this study, a wind tunnel test is conducted, and a loosely coupled procedure is correspondingly established for numerical simulation based on computational fluid dynamics and nonlinear finite element analysis methods. The typical results of the numerical simulation and wind tunnel experiment, including the overall lift and deformation, are in good agreement with each other. The results obtained indicate that the effect of fluid-structure interaction is noticeable and should be considered for non-rigid airships. Flow- induced deformation can further intensify the upward lift force and pitching moment, which can lead to a large deformation. Under a wind speed of 15 m/s, the lift force of the non-rigid model is increased to approximatelv 60% compared with that of the rigid model under a high angle of attack.

Numerical simulation of fluid-thermal-structural coupling characteristics of stratospheric non-rigid airship

The voluminous stratospheric non-rigid airship is very sensitive to the external thermal environment.The temperature change of internal gas caused by the variation in the external ther-mal environment and wind speed will lead to a change in the shape and buoyancy of the airship,thereby affecting its flight control.The traditional static analysis method is difficult to accurately reflect this fuid-thermal-structural coupling process.In this paper,the iterative analysis method was established for the fluid-thermal-structural coupling effect of stratospheric non-rigid airship based on the models of fluid,thermal,and structural deformation.Considering the load such as the internal thermal effect and external flow field of the airship,the simulation of the thermo-induced structural deformation effect was conducted using Fluent and Abaqus software.The influ-ence of local time and external wind speed on the structural deformation,volume,and equilibrium altitude of the airship was analyzed.The results demonstrate that,at low wind speed,the influence of aerodynamic pressure on the deformation of the airship is negligible.However,a great amount of heat is carried away by the wind,then the structural deformation caused by internal and external pressure difference is alleviated and the equilibrium altitude of the airship change obviously.This can serve as a guideline for the design and flight test of the long-endurance stratospheric non-rigid airship.

Vibration Characteristic Analysis and Experiment of Non-Rigid Airship with Suspended Curtain

In order to evaluate the vibration characteristics of non-rigid airship with suspended curtain,we introduce vibration characteristic analysis method of the inflatable membrane structure.Modal numerical method of the inflatable membrane structure under the pressure difference is validated by the model testing of the inflatable cantilever tube.The finite element model of 75 m airships is established to simulate the vibration characteristics subjected to only pressure difference and the resultant force of weight and buoyancy.The nonlinear static deformation and stress analysis are investigated for two kinds of equilibrated configurations with various pressure differences,as well as the vibration characteristics.The structural efficiency of the suspended curtain is investigated through the force transfer ratio at the assumed equilibrated point.The effects of manufacture error of the suspended cable length on the structural behavior are analyzed.The results indicate that the local area of airship envelope connected to the suspended cable is a weak part.Various pressures and pressure gradients have significant effects on the global airship structure and the suspended curtain.The suspended curtain is effective to transfer the equilibrated force from the bottom to the top of airship envelope.Manufacture error of the suspended cable length could result in obvious deformation of local airship envelope.The presented work is valuable to the structural engineering design of stratospheric airship.

Deformation behavior of non-rigid airships in wind tunnel tests

Deformation behavior of non-rigid airships in wind tunnel tests is studied by considering three factors, including internal pressure, flow velocity and angle of attack. Fiber Bragg grating strain sensors are used to measure the deformation of non-rigid airships. Wind tunnel tests in the case of different flow velocities and angles of attack are conducted. The measurement results reveal that the airship deformation is in proportion to internal pressure. For the tensile region,the airship deformation is in proportion to flow velocity. Effects of angle of attack on structural deformation are more complicated and there is no clear relationship existing between airship deformation and angle of attack.

Intermodal Competition: Cargo Airships versus Long-Haul Trucking for Perishable Commodities

Intermodal competition changes with changes in technology, economics, and environmental concerns. Trucks and airships are generally considered not to be competitors, but this depends on the distance of haul. The tonne-kilometer cost of trucking rises much more quickly with distance than it does the cost of a cargo airship. At some distance, the two modes are direct substitutes. The costs of the Mexico-Canada refrigerated truck supply chain are compared with the costs of a 100t-lift, electrically-powered airship. The flight characteristics of the Hindenburg Zeppelin are used as a model for a modern cargo airship. The supply chain cost of trucking tomatoes is used to test the theorical proposition. The cost difference works out to about US10￠/kg (5￠/lb) advantage for trucking Mexican tomatoes to Canada. However, this cost disadvantage of the airship could be made up by their vibrationless ride, better air circulation and one-day service versus four days by truck. This alternative form of transportation could have a positive impact on worldwide north-south distribution of food. Airships can overcome trade barriers and distance to open new markets for perishable food exports. In addition, they would reduce the carbon emissions of transport. Canada imports 160,000 refrigerated truckloads of fruits and vegetables by from the southern US and Mexico. With an average driving distance of 3,000 km, these trucks emit 606,000 MT of CO2 annually. Airships powered by hydrogen fuel cells would have zero-carbon emissions. Markets are not yet incorporating the environmental advantage of airships in any freight comparison, but inevitably this will be important.

Nonlinear dynamic modeling of planar moving Timoshenko beam considering non-rigid non-elastic axial effects

Due to the importance of vibration effects on the functional accuracy of mechanical systems,this research aims to develop a precise model of a nonlinearly vibrating single-link mobile flexible manipulator.The manipulator consists of an elastic arm,a rotary motor,and a rigid carrier,and undergoes general in-plane rigid body motion along with elastic transverse deformation.To accurately model the elastic behavior,Timoshenko’s beam theory is used to describe the flexible arm,which accounts for rotary inertia and shear deformation effects.By applying Newton’s second law,the nonlinear governing equations of motion for the manipulator are derived as a coupled system of ordinary differential equations(ODEs)and partial differential equations(PDEs).Then,the assumed mode method(AMM)is used to solve this nonlinear system of governing equations with appropriate shape functions.The assumed modes can be obtained after solving the characteristic equation of a Timoshenko beam with clamped boundary conditions at one end and an attached mass/inertia at the other.In addition,the effect of the transverse vibration of the inextensible arm on its axial behavior is investigated.Despite the axial rigidity,the effect makes the rigid body dynamics invalid for the axial behavior of the arm.Finally,numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of the developed model,and the results are compared with those obtained by the finite element approach.The comparison confirms the validity of the proposed dynamic model for the system.According to the mentioned features,this model can be reliable for investigating the system’s vibrational behavior and implementing vibration control algorithms.

Robust design of sliding mode control for airship trajectory tracking with uncertainty and disturbance estimation

The robotic airship can provide a promising aerostatic platform for many potential applications.These applications require a precise autonomous trajectory tracking control for airship.Airship has a nonlinear and uncertain dynamics.It is prone to wind disturbances that offer a challenge for a trajectory tracking control design.This paper addresses the airship trajectory tracking problem having time varying reference path.A lumped parameter estimation approach under model uncertainties and wind disturbances is opted against distributed parameters.It uses extended Kalman filter(EKF)for uncertainty and disturbance estimation.The estimated parameters are used by sliding mode controller(SMC)for ultimate control of airship trajectory tracking.This comprehensive algorithm,EKF based SMC(ESMC),is used as a robust solution to track airship trajectory.The proposed estimator provides the estimates of wind disturbances as well as model uncertainty due to the mass matrix variations and aerodynamic model inaccuracies.The stability and convergence of the proposed method are investigated using the Lyapunov stability analysis.The simulation results show that the proposed method efficiently tracks the desired trajectory.The method solves the stability,convergence,and chattering problem of SMC under model uncertainties and wind disturbances.

Biaxial tensile properties and elastic constants evaluation of envelope material for airship

This paper presents an experimental study to determine the tensile properties of the envelope fabric Uretek3216L under biaxial cyclic loading.First the biaxial cyclic tests were carefully carried out on the envelope material to obtain the stress-strain data and the corresponding nonlinearity and orthotropy of the material were analyzed. Then for some determination options with different stress ratios the least squares method minimizing the strain terms was used to calculate the elastic constants from the experimental data.Finally the influences of the determination options with different stress ratios and the reciprocal relationship on the elastic constants were discussed.Results show that the orthotropy of the envelope material can be attributed to the unbalanced crimp of their constitutive yarns in warp and weft directions and the elastic constants vary noticeably with the determination options as well as the normalized stress ratios.In real design practice it is more reasonable to use constants determined for specific stress states in particular stress ratios depending on the project＆#39;s needs.Also calculating the structures with two limitative sets of elastic constants instead of using only one set is recommendable in light of the great variety of the constant＆#39;s values.

SINGULAR PERTURBATION APPROACH TO MOVING MASS CONTROL OF BUOYANCY-DRIVEN AIRSHIP IN 3-D SPACE

The attitude control problem and the guidance problem are solved in 3-D for a buoyancy-driven airship actuated by the combined effects of an internal air bladder which modulates the airshiprs net weight and of two moving masses which modulate its center of mass. A simple and clear modeling is introduced to derive the 8 degree of freedom （DOF） mathematical model. Nonlinear control loops are derived through maximal feedback linearization with internal stability for both dynamics in the longitudinal plane and in the lateral plane. Based on a singular perturbation approach, the superposition of these two control actions in the longitudinal plane and in the lateral plane is shown to achieve the control of the dynamics in 3-D space. The simulations of the airship tracking specified attitude, moving direction and speed in 3-D space are presented.

DYNAMIC MODELING FOR AIRSHIP EQUIPPEDWITH BALLONETS AND BALLAST

Total dynamics of an airship is modeled. The body of an airship is taken as a submerged rigid body with neutral buoyancy, i.e., buoyancy with value equal to that of gravity, and the coupled dynamics between the body with ballonets and ballast is considered. The total dynamics of the airship is firstly derived by Newton-Euler laws and Kirchhoff’s equations. Furthermore, by using Hamiltonian and Lagrangian semi-direct product reduction theories, the dynamics is formulated as a Lie-Poisson system, or also an Euler-Poincaré system. These two formulations can be exploited for the control design using energy-based methods for Hamiltonian or Lagrangian system.

Stabilization and trajectory tracking of autonomous airship's planar motion

The stabilization and trajectory tracking problems of autonomous airship＇s planar motion are studied. By defining novel configuration error and velocity error, the dynamics of error systems are derived. By applying Lyapunov stability method, the state feedback control laws are designed and the close-loop error systems are proved to be uniformly asymptotically stable by Matrosov theorem. In particular, the controller does not need knowledge on system parameters in the case of set-point stabilization, which makes the controller robust with respect to parameter uncertainty. Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the controller designed.

DYNAMIC MODELING FOR AIRSHIP EQUIPPED WITH BALLONETS AND BALLAST

Total dynamics of an airship is modeled. The body of an airship is taken as a submerged rigid body with neutral buoyancy, i. e. , buoyancy with value equal to that of gravity, and the coupled dynamics between the body with ballonets and ballast is considered. The total dynamics of the airship is firstly derived by Newton-Euler laws and Kirchhoff＇ s equations. Furthermore, by using Hamiltonian and Lagrangian semidirect product reduction theories, the dynamics is formulated as a Lie-Poisson system, or also an Euler-Poincare system. These two formulations can be exploited for the control design using energy-based methods for Hamiltonian or Lagrangian system.

Adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control for robotic airship with model uncertainty and external disturbance

An adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control （AFSMC） ap- proach is proposed for a robotic airship. First, the mathematical model of an airship is derived in the form of a nonlinear control system. Second, an AFSMC approach is proposed to design the attitude control system of airship, and the global stability of the closed-loop system is proved by using the Lyapunov stability theorem. Finally, simulation results verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control approach in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances.

AIRSHIP ATTITUDE TRACKING SYSTEM

The attitude tracking control problem for an airship with parameter uncertainties and external disturbances was considered in this paper. The mathematical model of the airship attitude is a multi-input/multi-output uncertain nonlinear system. Based on the characteristics of this system, a design method of robust output tracking controllers was adopted based on the upper-bounds of the uncertainties. Using the input/output feedback linearization approach and Liapunov method, a control law was designed, which guarantees that the system output exponentially tracks the given desired output. The controller is easy to compute and complement. Simulation results show that, in the closed-loop system, precise attitude control is accomplished in spite of the uncertainties and external disturbances in the system.

Structural Performance Evaluation Procedure for Large Flexible Airship of HALE Stratospheric Platform Conception

Basic loads applied on the airship envelope were analyzed.The resultant forces,the static bending moment and the dynamic bending moment were formulated.Based on classic linear elastic membrane theory,the procedures to calculate the minimum pressure were proposed for sufficient rigidity evaluation.The limit load capacity was further investigated,and the related formula were developed.Finally,the stress and internal forces analysis was carried out for cylindrical and non-cylindrical approximations of envelope hull of airship.The present research is very valuable to the overall preliminary design of airship and further research.

Airship aerodynamic model estimation using unscented Kalman filter

An airship model is made-up of aerostatic,aerodynamic,dynamic,and propulsive forces and torques.Besides others,the computation of aerodynamic forces and torques is difficult.Usually,wind tunnel experimentation and potential flow theory are used for their calculations.However,the limitations of these methods pose difficulties in their accurate calculation.In this work,an online estimation scheme based on unscented Kalman filter(UKF)is proposed for their calculation.The proposed method introduces six auxiliary states for the complete aerodynamic model.UKF uses an extended model and provides an estimate of a complete state vector along with auxiliary states.The proposed method uses the minimum auxiliary state variables for the approximation of the complete aerodynamic model that makes it computationally less intensive.UKF estimation performance is evaluated by developing a nonlinear simulation environment for University of Engineering and Technology,Taxila(UETT)airship.Estimator performance is validated by performing the error analysis based on estimation error and 2-σ uncertainty bound.For the same problem,the extended Kalman filter(EKF)is also implemented and its results are compared with UKF.The simulation results show that UKF successfully estimates the forces and torques due to the aerodynamic model with small estimation error and the comparative analysis with EKF shows that UKF improves the estimation results and also it is more suitable for the under-consideration problem.

Kinetic Analysis of Vectored Electric Propulsion System for Stratosphere Airship

To enhance the controllability of stratosphere airship,a vectored electric propulsion system is used.By using the Lagrangian method,a kinetic model of the vectored electric propulsion system is established and validated through ground tests.The fake gyroscopic torque is first proposed,which the vector mechanism should overcome besides the inertial torque and the gravitational torque.The fake gyroscopic torque is caused by the difference between inertial moments about two principal inertial axes of the propeller in the rotating plane,appears only when the propeller is rotating and is proportional with the rotation speed.It is a sinusoidal pulse,with a frequency that is twice of the rotation speed.Considering the fake gyroscope torque pulse and aerodynamic efficiency,three blade propeller is recommended for the vectored propulsion system used for stratosphere airship.

Cargo Airships: International Competition

The advance of transportation technology depends on science and economics. During the 1930s, airships and airplanes competed head-to-head for the Atlantic passenger market. When World War 2 broke out, everything changed. Over the next five years, the combined combatants built over half of a million military airplanes. By the end of the war, four-engine, high-altitude bombers and jet engines were developed. Further investment in airplane technology was stimulated by the Cold War. All this public investment was adapted to civilian passenger jet airplanes. By 1980, dedicated jet airplanes were in use as cargo carriers. Despite the growth of the cargojet market over the past three decades, rising fuel costs and environmental concerns are changing the economics of airships and airplanes again. Investment in large cargo airships is returning. Much of the technology developed for fixed-wing aircraft can be applied to cargo airships. New materials, better engines, control systems and engineering eliminate the need for large ground crews and improve airship reliability and safety. However, two fundamental design issues have yet to be resolved: structural integrity and buoyancy control. A worldwide competition is underway on three continents to develop the dominant design for a cargo airship. This paper examines the alternative design approaches and presents the status of the international competition.

Non-Rigid Medical Image Registration with Joint Histogram Estimation Based on Mutual Information

A mutual information-based non-rigid medical image registration algorithm is presented. An approximate function of Hanning windowed sinc is used as kernel function of partial volume (PV) interpolation to estimate the joint histogram, which is the key to calculating the mutual information. And a new method is proposed to compute the gradient of mutual information with respect to the model parameters. The transformation of object is modeled by a free-form deformation (FFD) based on B-splines. The experiments on 3D synthetic and real image data show that the algorithm can converge at the global optimum and restrain the emergency of local extreme.

Relaxation labeling for non-rigid point matching under neighbor preserving

Non-rigid point matching has received more and more attention.Recently,many works have been developed to discover global relationships in the point set which is treated as an instance of a joint distribution.However,the local relationship among neighboring points is more effective under non-rigid transformations.Thus,a new algorithm taking advantage of shape context and relaxation labeling technique,called SC-RL,is proposed for non-rigid point matching.It is a strategy that joints estimation for correspondences as well as the transformation.In this work,correspondence assignment is treated as a soft-assign process in which the matching probability is updated by relaxation labeling technique with a newly defined compatibility coefficient.The compatibility coefficient is one or zero depending on whether neighboring points preserving their relative position in a local coordinate system.The comparative analysis has been performed against four state-of-the-art algorithms including SC,ICP,TPS-RPM and RPM-LNS,and the results denote that SC-RL performs better in the presence of deformations,outliers and noise.