Design optimization and testing of a morphing leading-edge with a variable-thickness compliant skin and a closed-chain mechanism

Climate warming and the increased demand in air travels motivate the aviation industry to urgently produce technological innovations.One of the most promising innovations is based on the smoothly continuous morphing leading-edge concept.This study proposes a two-step process for the design of a morphing leading-edge,including the optimization of the outer variable-thickness composite compliant skin and the optimization of the inner kinematic mechanism.For the compliant skin design,an optimization of the variable thickness composite skin is proposed based on a laminate continuity model,with laminate continuity constraint and other manufacturing constraints.The laminate continuity model utilizes a guiding sequence and a ply-drop sequence to describe the overall stacking sequence of plies in different thickness regions of the complaint skin.For the inner kinematic mechanism design,a coupled four-bar linkage system is proposed and optimized to produce specific trajectories at the actuation points on the stringer hats of the compliant skin,which ensures that the compliant skin can be deflected into the aerodynamically optimal profile.Finally,a morphing leading-edge is manufactured and tested.Experimental results are compared with numerical predictions,confirming the feasibility of the morphing leading-edge concept and the overall proposed design approach.

Improvement and application of wall function boundary condition for high-speed compressible flows

In order to develop a wall function boundary condition for high-speed flows so as to reduce the grid-dependence of the simula- tion for the skin friction and heat flux, a research was performed to improve the compressible wall function boundary condition proposed by Nichols. Values of parameters in the velocity law-of-the-wall were revised according to numerical experiments and the expression of temperature law-of-the-wall was modified based on theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Be- sides, the formula of the heat conduction term in near-wall region was derived so that the coupling between the wall function boundary condition and CFD code was realized more accurately. Whereafter, the application study of the modified wall func- tion was carried out. The numerical case of supersonic turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate illustrated that the modified wall function produces reasonable results of skin friction and heat flux, and profiles of velocity, temperature and turbulent eddy viscosity for coarse grids with the initial wall spacing of y＋〈400, and that the modifications to the original wall function can obviously improve the simulation precision. As for the application of separation flows, it was found from the numerical cases of supersonic cavity flow and hypersonic axisymmetric compression comer that the compressible velocity law-of-the-wall originally established based on the fully-developed attached turbulent boundary layer approximately holds in the near-wall re- gion inside the separation flows, which ensures that reliable skin friction and heat flux can be given by the wall function inside the separation flows, while for the region near separation and reattachment points, the wall function gives results with a rela- tively large error, because the velocity law-of-the-wall used in the wall function takes on obvious deviation from the real ve- locity profiles near the separation and reattachment points.

Effect of Stitching on Plain and Open-hole Strength of CFRP Laminates

Experimental and analytical investigation is conducted to explore the effects of stitching on plain （without hole） and open-hole compressive and tensile strength of uniweave T300/QY9512 laminates under different environmental conditions （20 ℃/dry and wet, 150 ℃/dry and wet）. Strength performance of stitched composite laminates is also studied using finite element analysis （FEA） model and compared with the experimental results to validate the model. It is found that under similar environmental conditions, the open-hole compressive strength of stitched laminate is decreased and open-hole tensile strength increased as compared to the unstitched laminates. Predicted tensile and compressive strengths are found to be in a good agreement with the test results and the relative error in all cases is less than 15%.

Competing effects of surface catalysis and ablation in hypersonic reentry aerothermodynamic environment

Under hypersonic flow conditions, the complicated gas-graphene interactions including surface catalysis and surface ablation would occur concurrently and intervene together with the thermodynamic response induced by spacecraft reentry. In this work, the competing effects of surface heterogeneous catalytic recombination and ablation characteristics at elevated temperatures are investigated using the Reactive Molecular Dynamics(RMD) simulation method. A GasSurface Interaction(GSI) model is established to simulate the collisions of hyper-enthalpy atomic oxygen on graphene films in the temperature range of 500–2500 K. A critical temperature Tcaround900 K is identified to distinguish the graphene responses into two parts: at T < T_(c), the heterogeneous surface catalysis dominates, while the surface ablation plays a leading role at T > T_(c). Contradicting to the traditional Arrhenius expression that the recombination coefficient increases with the increase of surface temperature, the value is found to be relatively uniform at T < T_(c) but declines sharply as the surface temperature increases further due to the competing ablation effect. The occurrence of surface ablation decreases the amounts of active sites on the graphene surface for oxygen adsorption, leading to reduced recombination coefficient from both Langmuir-Hinshelwood(L-H) and Eley-Rideal(E-R) mechanisms. It suggests that the traditional Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) simulation method, which relies on the Arrhenius-type catalysis model, would result in large discrepancies in predicting aerodynamic heat for carbon-based materials during reentry into strong aerodynamic thermal environment.

Robust fault detection and optimization for a network of unmanned vehicles with imperfect communication channels

The observer-based robust fault detection and optimization for a network of unmanned vehicles with imperfect communication channels and norm bounded modeling uncertainties are addressed. The network of unmanned vehicles is modeled as a discrete-time uncertain Markovian jump system. Based on the model, a residual generator is constructed and the sufficient condition for the existence of the desired fault detection filter is derived in terms of linear matrix inequality. Furthermore, a time domain optimization approach is proposed to improve the performance of the fault detection system. The problem of detecting small faults can be formulated as an optimization problem and its solution is given. For preventing false alarms, a new adaptive threshold function is established. The combined fault detection and optimization algorithm and the adaptive threshold are then applied to a network of highly maneuverable technology vehicles to illustrate the effective- ness of the orooosed aooroach.

Identification of aircraft longitudinal aerodynamic parameters using an online corrective test for wind tunnel virtual flight

The identification of aerodynamic parameters is accomplished through the test data of the dynamic movement of scaled aircraft models flying dynamically in wind tunnel,which can real-ize the accurate acquisition of the aerodynamic model of the aircraft in the preliminary stage for aircraft design,and it is of great significance for improving the efficiency of aircraft design.How-ever,the translational motion of the test model in the wind tunnel virtual flight is subject to con-straints that result in distinct flight dynamics compared to free flight.These constraints have implications for the accuracy of aerodynamic derivatives obtained through the identification of wind tunnel test data.With this issue in mind,the research studies the differences in longitudinal dynamic characteristics between unconstrained free flight and wind tunnel virtual flight,and inno-vatively proposes an online correction test based wind tunnel virtual flight test technique.The lon-gitudinal trajectory and velocity changes of the model are solved online by the aerodynamic forces measured during the test,and then the coupled relationship between aircraft translation and rota-tion is used to correct the model's pitch attitude motion online.For the first time,the problem of solving the data approximation for free flight has been solved,eliminating the difference between the dynamics of wind tunnel virtual flight and free flight,and improving the accuracy of the aero-dynamic derivative identification results.The experiment's findings show that accurate aerodynamic derivatives can be identified based on the online correction test data,and the observed behaviour of the identified motion model has similarities to that of the free flight motion model.

A numerical study of turbulent combustion characteristics in a combustion chamber of a scramjet engine

3D numerical simulation of flow fields in a combustion chamber of a scramjet engine using an SST turbulence model with an explicit compressibility correction was performed and the results were compared to the experimental results.The characteristics of the turbulent combustion flow fields were analyzed via the numerical results and presented.In order to identify the mechanisms of turbulent combustion in supersonic flows,the evolutions of governing dimensionless parameters in the flow fields were investigated based on the theory of combustion and the available numerical results.It was found that the supersonic combustion takes place in the region of fully developed turbulence and that the strongest effects of turbulence and combustion processes appear in the vicinity of the injector.The unsteady effects and the local flame extinction phenomenon induced by turbulent flows were found to be negligibly small,and the steady flamelet approximation will hold for practical applications.

Numerical research on mixing characteristics of different injection schemes for supersonic transverse jet

A numerical method using AUSMDV scheme and k-ω SST turbulence model with an explicit compressibility correction was developed,and a 3-D numerical simulation of a supersonic flow field with a vertical sonic jet of hydrogen was performed.Good agreement between numerical results and experimental data validated the reliability of the numerical method.Whereafter,two parameters,mass-weighted average total pressure and mixing efficiency,were defined to evaluate the mixing performance of different injection schemes.Based on the numerical method and evaluation criterion,the mixing characteristics of different injection schemes were studied in detail.It was found that for the mixing field of supersonic transverse jet,the near-field mixing is controlled by convection transport while the far-field mixing is controlled by mass diffusion;the circular-hole injection causes a loss of total pressure comparable to the slot injection,but can induce a much higher mixing efficiency because of its 3-D flow characteristic;the variation of injection angle under circular-hole injection mainly affects the near-field mixing degree,and among the five injection angles studied in the present paper,angle 120° is the optimal one;with the increase of the ratio between injector space and diameter,the induced mixing efficiency increases while the caused loss of total pressure can grow greatly;the two-stage injection method designed through reducing the injector area to keep the same hydrogen mass flowrate can induce a much higher mixing efficiency while only a bit larger loss of total pressure when compared to the single-stage injection,and hence the two-stage injection is superior to the single-stage injection.The research results can direct the design of the fuel injection method in the combustor of scramjet engine.

Multi-body dynamic system simulation of carrier-based aircraft ski-jump takeoff

The flight safety is threatened by the special flight conditions and the low speed of carrier-based aircraft ski-jump takeoff. The aircraft carrier motion, aircraft dynamics, landing gears and wind field of sea state are comprehensively considered to dispose this multidiscipline intersection problem. According to the particular naval operating environment of the carrier-based aircraft ski-jump takeoff, the integrated dynamic simulation models of multi-body system are developed, which involves the movement entities of the carrier, the aircraft and the landing gears, and involves takeoff instruction, control system and the deck wind disturbance. Based on Matlab/Simulink environment, the multi-body system simulation is realized. The validity of the model and the rationality of the result are verified by an example simulation of carrier-based aircraft ski-jump takeoff. The simulation model and the software are suitable for the study of the multidiscipline intersection problems which are involved in the performance, flight quality and safety of carrier-based aircraft takeoff, the effects of landing gear loads, parameters of carrier deck, etc.

Numerical simulation of heat transfer of latent functionally thermal fluid in tubes with coaxially inserted cylindrical bars in laminar

The heat transfer of latent functionally thermal fluid in three kinds of tubes with coaxially inserted cylindrical bars is numerically researched using equivalent spe- cific heat model, and the flow fields are analyzed with field synergy field. It is found that in the tubes with coaxially inserted cylindrical bars, the heat transfer effects of functionally thermal fluid become more and more pronounced with the Ste de- creasing. This is similar to be case of functionally thermal fluid flowing in smooth straight tubes. Compared with the results receiving from smooth straight tubes, the heat transfer of functional thermal fluid in tubes with coaxially inserted cylindrical bars has been significantly enhanced. And this effect becomes more apparent as the diameter of coaxially inserted cylindrical bars increases meanwhile, however, energy consuming of the tubes shows the same trend.

Multi-objective optimization of shock control bump on a supercritical wing

Based on the supercritical ＂wingl＂ which was released in the DPW-III conference, multi-objective optimization has been done to increase the lift-drag ratio at cruise condition and improve transonic buffet boundary and drag-rise performance. Hicks-Henne shape functions are used to represent the bump shape. In the design optimization to increase lift-drag ratio, the objectives involve the cruise point and three other off-design points nearby. In the other optimization process to improve buffet and drag-rise performance, three buffet onset points near the cruise point and one drag-rise point are selected as the design points. Non-dominating sort genetic algorithm II （NSGA-II） is used in both processes. Additionally, individual analysis for every selected point on the Pareto frontier is conducted in order to avoid local convergence and achieve global optimum. Re- sults of optimization for aerodynamic efficiency show a decrease of 11 counts in drag at the cruise point. Drag at nearby off-design points are also reduced to some extent. Similar approaches are made to improve buffet and drag-rise characteristics, resulting in significant improvements in both ways.

Convective heat transfer characters of nanoparticle enhanced latent functionally thermal fluid

The latent heat of the microencapsulated phase change material(MPCM)increases the effective ther-mal capacity of latent functionally thermal fluid.However,researchers found that the heat transfer performance of such fluids was diminished due to the reduction of the low thermal conductivity of MPCM.For this reason,the nanoparticle enhanced latent functionally thermal fluids were formulated and the heat transfer behaviors of these fluids in a vertical circular tube at the laminar regime were conducted.The result showed that slurries containing 0.5% TiO2 nanoparticles by mass and 5%―20% MPCM by mass exhibited improved heat transfer rates in comparison with the conventional latent functionally thermal fluid and that the enhancement increased with the increasing MPCM concentration and up to 18.9% of the dimensionless wall temperature was reduced.

Numerical simulation of parachute Fluid-Structure Interaction in terminal descent

A numerical simulation method for parachute Fluid-Structure Interaction （FSI） problem using Semi-Implicit Method for Pres- sure-Linked Equations （SIMPLE） algorithm is proposed. This method could be used in both coupling computation of para- chute FSI and flow field analysis. Both fiat circular parachute and conical parachute are modeled and simulated by this new method. Flow field characteristics at various angles of attack are further simulated for the conical parachute model. Compari- son with the space-time FSI technique shows that this method also provides similar and reasonable results.

Topological evolution of laminar juncture flows under different critical parameters

Horseshoe vortex topological structure has been studied extensively in the past,traditional"saddle of separation"and new"attachment saddle point"topologies found in literature both have theoretical basis and experimental and computational evidences for support.The laminar incompressible juncture flows at low Reynolds numbers especially are observed to have new topology.Studies concerning the existence of the new topology though found in literature,the topological evolution and its dependency on various critical flow parameters require further investigation.A Particle Image Velocimetry based analysis is carried out to observe the effect of aspect ratio,?*/D and shape of the obstacle on laminar horseshoe vortex topology for small obstacles.Rise in aspect ratio evolves the topology from the traditional to new for all the cases observed.The circular cross section obstacles are found more apt to having the new topology compared to square cross sections.It is noted that the sweeping effect of the fluid above the vortex system in which horseshoe vortex is immersed plays a critical role in this evolution.Topological evolution is observed not only in the most upstream singular point region of horseshoe vortex system but also in the corner region.The corner vortex topology evolves from the traditional type to new one before the topological evolution of the most upstream singular point,resulting in a new topological pattern of the laminar juncture flows"separation-attachment combination".The study may help extend the understanding of the three-dimensional boundary layer separation phenomenon.

Cantilever sandwich beams with pyramidal truss cores subjected to tip impact

Experiments were conducted to investigate the deformation of cantilever sandwich beams with pyramidal truss cores subjected to impact by a projectile at their tips.A new technique was employed to the fabrication of sandwich beams with pyramidal truss cores.For a better observation of large deformation of specimens during impact process,a high-speed digital video camera was successfully used to capture the instant shapes of the deformed beams.A projectile collection device was designed and installed to avoid the projectile flying away from the beam tips after impact and thus the kinetic energy imparted to the beams was measurable.The experiments show that the sandwich beams have a superior shock resistance compared to the monolithic beams of the same material and mass.Further,finite element simulations were performed to gain insight into the deformations and plastic energy absorptions in the sandwich beams.

Tube-based robust reinforcement learning for autonomous maneuver decision for UCAVs

Reinforcement Learning(RL)algorithms enhance intelligence of air combat AutonomousManeuver Decision(AMD)policy,but they may underperform in target combat environmentswith disturbances.To enhance the robustness of the AMD strategy learned by RL,thisstudy proposes a Tube-based Robust RL(TRRL)method.First,this study introduces a tube todescribe reachable trajectories under disturbances,formulates a method for calculating tubes basedon sum-of-squares programming,and proposes the TRRL algorithm that enhances robustness byutilizing tube size as a quantitative indicator.Second,this study introduces offline techniques forregressing the tube size function and establishing a tube library before policy learning,aiming toeliminate complex online tube solving and reduce the computational burden during training.Furthermore,an analysis of the tube library demonstrates that the mitigated AMD strategy achievesgreater robustness,as smaller tube sizes correspond to more cautious actions.This finding highlightsthat TRRL enhances robustness by promoting a conservative policy.To effectively balanceaggressiveness and robustness,the proposed TRRL algorithm introduces a“laziness factor”as aweight of robustness.Finally,combat simulations in an environment with disturbances confirm thatthe AMD policy learned by the TRRL algorithm exhibits superior air combat performance comparedto selected robust RL baselines.

A flamelet model for turbulent diffusion combustion in supersonic flow

In order to develop a turbulent diffusion combustion model for supersonic flow, the physical argument of the extension of the flamelet model to supersonic flow was presented, and the flow field of a hydrogen/air diffusion combustion generated by axisymmetric supersonic jets was numerically simulated by employing the flamelet model. Using the experimental data, value of the model coefficient of scalar dissipation in the flamelet model was revised specifically for supersonic flow. The computational results of the modified flamelet model were compared with the experimental results, and it was indicated that the precision of the modified flamelet model was satisfying. Based on the numerical results and flamelet theory, the influence mechanisms of turbulence fluctuation on the average state equation and chemical reaction rate were studied for the first time. It was found that the fluctuation correlation of species mass fractions and temperature has little effect on the averaged gas state equation; the temperature fluctuation decreases the product of H2O, but its effect is small; the fluctuation of species mass fractions increases the product of H2O in the region close to oxidizer while decreases the product of H2O in other regions; the fluctuation correlation of species mass fractions and temperature largely decreases the product of H2O.

A decoupled procedure for convection-radiation simulation in scramjets

Following an order analysis of key parameters, a decoupled procedure for simulation of convection-radiation heat transfer problems in supersonic combustion ramjet(scramjet) engine was developed. The radiation module of the procedure consisted of Perry 5GG weighted sum gray gases model for spectral property calculation and discrete ordinates method S4 scheme for radiative transfer computation, while the flow field was computed using the Favrè average conservative Navier-Stokes(N-S) equations, in conjunction with Menter's k-ω SST two-equation model. A series of 2D supersonic nonreactive turbulent channel flows of radiative participants with selective parameters were simulated for validation purpose. Radiative characteristics in DLR hydrogen fueled and NASA SCHOLAR ethylene fueled scramjets were numerically studied using the developed procedure. The results indicated that the variations of spatial distributions of the radiative source and total absorption coefficient are highly consistent with those of the temperature and radiative participants, while the spatial distribution of the incident radiation spreads wider. It also demonstrated that the convective heating is significantly affected by the complexity of the flow field, such as the shock wave/boundary layer interactions, while the radiative heating is simply an integral effect of the whole flow field. Although the radiative heating in the combustion chambers reaches a certain level, an order of magnitude of 10 k W/m2, it still contributes little to the total heat transfer(<7%).

Closed-loop fault detection for full-envelope flight vehicle with measurement delays

Abstract A closed-loop fault detection problem is investigated for the full-envelope flight vehicle with measurement delays, where the flight dynamics are modeled as a switched system with delayed feedback signals. The mode-dependent observer-based fault detection filters and state estimation feedback controllers are derived by considering the delays＇ impact on the control system and fault detection system simultaneously. Then, considering updating lags of the controllers/filters＇ switching signals which are introduced by the delayed measurement of altitude and Mach number, an asynchronous H analysis method is proposed and the system model is further augmented to be an asynchronously switched time-delay system. Also, the global stability and desired performance of the augmented system are guaranteed by combining the switched delay-dependent Lyapunov Krasovskii functional method with the average dwell time method （ADT）, and the delaydependent existing conditions for the controllers and fault detection filters are obtained in the form of the linear matrix inequalities （LMIs）, Finally, numerical example based on the hypersonic vehicles and highly maneuverable technology （HiMAT） vehicle is given to demonstrate the merits of the proposed method.

A dual-loop robust controller for DC electro-mechanical servo system

In order to further improve the tracking performances of the conventional disturbance observer(DOB)-based control schemes,a dual-loop robust control scheme is proposed for DC electro-mechanical servo system.The outer-loop sliding mode controller(SMC)is designed in order to deal with the impacts from the remainder equivalent disturbances,which is due to the inadequate estimation of the inner-loop DOB.Meanwhile,the existence of DOB can reduce the switching gain of SMC law,which can suppress the high-frequency chattering of control input to a certain extent.Moreover,an approximate differential method is employed in order to reliably acquire the differential information in a noisy environment.From the experiment results on a DC motor servo system,it is presented that the proposed dual-loop control scheme can effectively improve the tracking performances with respect to higher tracking accuracy and stronger system robustness against external disturbances and parameter perturbations,compared with the traditional DOB+PD control scheme.