Relative Attitude and Position Estimation for Spacecraft from Multiple Geometric Features

This paper investigates the pose and motion estimation problem using single camera measurement for spacecraft. The leader spacecraft of three-dimensional shape is observed by a calibrated camera fixed on the follower spacecraft. Based on dual numbers,an integrated observation model is proposed based on a combination of multiple geometric features including points,lines and circles,which can improve the robustness and accuracy of the estimation algorithm. A six-degree-of-freedom relative motion model is proposed by using the dual quaternion representation,in which the rotation-translation coupling effect due to the points deviating from the center of the mass is described. Employing the proposed observation model and dynamics model,an Extended Kalman Filter is presented to estimate the relative state between the two spacecraft. Numerical simulations are performed to evaluate the proposed approaches,showing the convergence of relative estimation errors and superior estimation performance.

Exploration on the Frontiers of Flexible and Deformable Cross-Domain Intelligent Flight

As human aeronautic and aerospace technology continues to prosper and the aerial flight space domain further expands,traditional fixed-shape air vehicles have been confronted with difficulties in satisfying complex missions in cross-domain scenarios.Owing to their flexible and deformable appearance,morphing air vehicles are expected to realize cross-domain intelligent flight,thus emerging as the most subversive strategic development trend and research focus in aeronautic and aerospace fields.This paper primarily reviews the research background and challenges of flexible and deformable cross-domain intelligent flight,proposing a corresponding research framework and mode as well as exploring the scientific issues and state-of-the-art solutions,where key research progress is introduced.The explorations covered in this paper also provide ideas and directions for the study of deformable cross-domain intelligent flight,which has critical scientific significance in promoting the study itself.

Preparation Process and Optimization Design for Composites Rudderpost in the Long-Time High Temperature Environment

Rudder is an important part for the glider aircraft. In order to satisfy the long-time high-velocity for the near-space vehicle in the atmosphere, the light- weight, high-stiffness and high-strength all-composites rudderpost is required urgently to be prepared. The all-composites rudderpost can keep high rudder efficiency in the high temperature environment. Based on the technique require-ment of high-performance composites rudder, a 3D C/SiC rudderpost was manufactured by the CVI-CMC-SiC [1] processes. It was found during rudderpost testing that the high-temperature mechanical properties decreased and had large discretization. The analysis of the failure mechanisms was conducted by FTA method to recognize the failure modes and main reasons for rudderpost abnormal fracture and to reproduce the fracture phenomenon, which could guide production company to modify their preparation process control. Then the modified processes were proved to be validated. And the stability and reliability of the production performances were improved.

Simulation on Pyrolysis Products of Thermoset Phenolic Resin with Different Chemical Structure and Experimental Validation

The simulation on pyrolysis products of pure PF resin with different chemical structure was investigated and validated by pyrolysis gas-chromatography mass spectrometry(Py-GC/MS).The simulation of pyrolysis products of phenolic resin with different chemical structure was investigated by AMBER(Assisted Model Building with Energy Refinement)force field.The content of pyrolysis products phenol and cresol decreases with the increase of F/P(formaldehyde/phenol)value.The content of pyrolysis products dimethylphenol and trimethylphenol increases with the enhancement of F/P value.The crosslink density of phenolic mixture can be measured by the content of pyrolysis products dimethylphenol and trimethylphenol.Consequently,the results of simulation were validated by the Py-GC/MS experiment.

Simulation of SLD Impingement on Wind Turbine Blade Airfoil

Accurate prediction of droplet impingement on wind turbine blade is one of the most important premises of anti-icing and de-icing system design.In a super-cooled large droplets(SLD)conditions,droplet no longer maintains a sphere shape,and it may deform,break up,and splash when moving or impinging on the surface.Semi-empirical models of droplet dynamic behaviours are embedded into the Eulerian droplet model to improve the accuracy of the numerical simulation of droplet impingement limits and local collection efficiency.Eulerian droplet model(Model 1)for small droplets and improved Eulerian droplet model(Model 2)for large droplet are both validated by comparing to the wind tunnel experiment results.Using the proposed methods,droplet impingement limitation and local collection efficiency on the S809 airfoil are calculated in various conditions.A detailed derivation of Model 1and Model 2is presented along with a comparison of numerical trajectories,drag coefficient and collection efficiency distributions.The results show that droplet dynamic behaviours,including splashing,break-up and deforming,must be considered to accurately simulate the impingement behaviour in the SLD conditions.And with the increase of the droplet diameters,the effects of the droplet dynamic behaviors on the impingement characteristics are more obvious.

Mechanical Properties of the Cured Laminates on the Hot-press Tackified Preforms in Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding

A hot-press tackified preform was used to improve the uniformity of the laminates thickness and the mechanical properties of the obtained laminates were studied using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding（VARTM）. Two modified preforms were prepared under 0.1 and 0.6 MPa in an autoclave and then were used to fabricate the laminates via VARTM. Permeability and thickness distribution of the laminates were obtained by using a special device. Moreover, the tensile and compressive strengths of the obtained laminates were studied and compared with the unmodified ones. Results show that the tackified laminates present a maximum and minimum thickness under 0.1 and 0.6 MPa, respectively. The thicknesses and in-plane permeability of the tackified laminates, with better thickness uniformity, are significantly decreased compared with that of the unmodified cases, while the tensile and compressive strengths of the tackified laminates are improved obviously. Results show that the mechanical property of the tackified laminates prepared by hotpressing at 0.1 MPa is better than that processed at 0.6 MPa.

Control for Underactuated Reentry Aircraft in Small Angle of Attack

The control problem for under-actuated reentry vehicle like HTV-2 is considered with small angle of attack.The control strategy for an aircraft with positive lateral control departure parameter relies on strong lateral stability,which declines with the decrease of the angle of attack.Thus,to control the lateral-directional motion in a stable state is hard and even impossible in some scenarios where the under-actuated reentry vehicle,like HTV-2,flies in a low angle of attack.To address this problem,the lateral-directional open-loop motion characteristics are analyzed.The results show that in an uncontrolled state,the lateral-directional motion can automatically converge to stabilization thanks to the aerodynamic damping effect.Therefore,a method of turning-off the lateral-directional control and inviting aerodynamic damping to control can achieve stability.The six-degree-of-freedom simulation show that the lateral-directional motion can be stabilized by the aerodynamic damping,and the lateral position error caused by the bank angle deviation is limited near the zero-rise angle of attack.The control strategy is effective.

Interfacial Stress Analysis on Skutterudite-based Thermoelectric Joints under Service Conditions

In thermoelectric(TE)devices,the interfacial reliability greatly influenced devices’durability and power output.For skutterudites(SKD)devices,TE legs and electrodes are bonded together with diffusion barrier layer(DBL).At elevated temperatures,DBL react with SKD matrix or electrode to generate complex interfacial microstructures,which often accompanies evolutions of the thermal,electrical and mechanical properties at the interfaces.In this work,a finite element model containing the interfacial microstructure characteristics based on the experimental results was built to analyze the interfacial stress state in the skutterudite-based TE joints.A single-layer model was applied to screen out the most important parameters of the coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE)and the modulus of DBL on the first principle stress.The multilayer model considering the interfacial microstructures evolution was built to quantitively simulate the stress state of the TE joints at different aging temperatures and time.The simulation results show that the reactive CoSb2 layer is the weakest layer in both SKD/Nb and SKD/Zr joints.And by prolonging the aging time,the thickness of the reaction layer continuously increased,leading to a significant raising of the interfacial stress.The tensile testing results of the SKD/Nb joints match the simulation results well,consolidating accuracy and feasibility of this multilayer model.This study provides an important guidance on the design of DBL to improve the TE joints’mechanical reliability,and a common method to precisely simulate the stress condition in other coating systems.

Study on the Critic Ablation Property of 2D Carbon Reinforced Silicon Carbide (C/SiC) Laminated Composites via CVI Process

Two dimensions (2D) C/SiC laminated composites is the material with isotropic properties in laminated sheets, which is considered as a promising thermal skin for aircrafts. There are intense thermal flux and thermal impact at the local interference region during the flight of the aircrafts. Therefore, mastering ablation and mechanical properties of 2D C/SiC laminated composite under extreme environments become the guild lines for the designs of the flight corridor and the aircraft security. This paper presents the experimental results of the ablation and thermal impact of C/SiC composites under different thermal environments (thermal flux ~5 MW/m2), which were carried out with the equipments of free-jets and conduct pipes. The effects on the ablation and mechanical properties of the C/SiC composites are studied, including gas pressure, thermal temperature, and the rates of temperature increasing and decreasing. The results show that the active oxidation and ablation behaviors of 2D C/SiC laminated composites under the thermal flux 5 MW/m2 consist with that of theoretical simulations. The critical failure conditions of 2D C/SiC laminated composite is also provided for the enveloping designs of the whole composites lightweight aircrafts.

Heuristic Virtual Machine Allocation for Multi-Tier Ambient Assisted Living Applications in a Cloud Data Center

Cloud computing provides the essential infrastructure for multi-tier Ambient Assisted Living(AAL) applications that facilitate people's lives. Resource provisioning is a critically important problem for AAL applications in cloud data centers(CDCs). This paper focuses on modeling and analysis of multi-tier AAL applications, and aims to optimize resource provisioning while meeting requests' response time constraint. This paper models a multi-tier AAL application as a hybrid multi-tier queueing model consisting of an M/M/c queueing model and multiple M/M/1 queueing models. Then, virtual machine(VM) allocation is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a CDC, and is further solved with the proposed heuristic VM allocation algorithm(HVMA). The results demonstrate that the proposed model and algorithm can effectively achieve dynamic resource provisioning while meeting the performance constraint.

Thermal conductivity and bending strength of SiC composites reinforced by pitch-based carbon fibers

In this work,pitch-based carbon fibers were utilized to reinforce silicon carbide(SiC)composites via reaction melting infiltration(RMI)method by controlling the reaction temperature and resin carbon content.Thermal conductivities and bending strengths of composites obtained under different preparation conditions were characterized by various analytical methods.Results showed the formation of SiC whiskers(SiC_(w))during RMI process according to vapor–solid(VS)mechanism.SiC_(w) played an important role in toughening the C_(pf)/SiC composites due to crack bridging,crack deflection,and SiC_(w) pull-out.Increase in reaction temperature during RMI process led to an initial increase in thermal conductivity along in-plane and thickness directions of composites,followed by a decline.At reaction temperature of 1600℃,thermal conductivities along the in-plane and thickness directions were estimated to be 203.00 and 39.59 W/(m×K),respectively.Under these conditions,bending strength was recorded as 186.15±3.95 MPa.Increase in resin carbon content before RMI process led to the generation of more SiC matrix.Thermal conductivities along in-plane and thickness directions remained stable with desirable values of 175.79 and 38.86 W/(m×K),respectively.By comparison,optimal bending strength improved to 244.62±3.07 MPa.In sum,these findings look promising for future application of pitch-based carbon fibers for reinforcement of SiC ceramic composites.

Hybrid intelligent modeling approach for online predicting and simulating surface temperature of HVs

Online prediction as well as online simulation of surface temperature will play a sig-nificant role in flight safety of future near space hypersonic vehicles(HVs).But it still remains a classical scientific problem both in thermodynamics and aerospace sci-ence.In view of the complex HV structure and complex heat conduction procedure,three-dimensional numerical simulation is too inefficient for online prediction,while cur-rent rapid computation methods cannot meet the requirement of accuracy.Therefore,a hybrid intelligent dynamic modeling approach is proposed to estimate the surface temperature of HV with the combination of mechanism equations,test data and intel-ligent modeling technology.A simplified model based on a mechanism equation and experimental formulas is presented for predicting or simulating transient heat conduc-tion procedure efficiently,while a case-based reasoning(CBR)algorithm is developed to estimate two uncertain coefficients in the simplified model.Furthermore,a support vector regression(SVR)-based model is developed to compensate the modeling error.With the data both from high-precision finite element computation and from real-world HV thermal protection experiments,a number of comparative simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid intelligent modeling approach.

Numerical analysis on combustion characteristics of hybrid rocket motor with star-tube segmented grain

A method of star-tube combined segmented grain is proposed to improve the combustion performance of hybrid rocket motor.The star-tube combined segmented grain consists of a single-port star part and a single-port tube part.A mid-chamber forms between the fore-grain and the aft-grain for better mixing effect.The single-port feature gives hybrid rocket motor several advantages,such as simple structure,high reliability,and variable combinations.This paper is mainly aimed at studying the combustion characteristics of hybrid rocket motor with star-tube segmented grain through three-dimensional steady simulations.Combustion performance of the motors with different segmented grain combinations,including fore-tube/aft-tube,fore-tube/aftstar,fore-star/aft-star and fore-star/aft-tube,is contrastively analyzed.The motor in this paper adopts polyethylene and 90%hydrogen peroxide as the propellants.Simulations reveal that segmented grain with different-type grain combinations could greatly change the flow field in the second half of the combustion chamber.Transformation of the flow field is beneficial to the mixing between the fuel and the oxidizer,and it could increase the fuel regression rate and the combustion efficiency.The turbulence effect of tube aft-grain is better than that of star aft-grain.Among the four segmented grain combinations,the combination of star fore-grain and tube aft-grain is the preferred method with optimal overall performance.This grain configuration could increase the regression rate of tube aft-grain to surpass that of star aft-grain in other combinations.Besides,hybrid rocket motor with this grain configuration achieves the highest combustion efficiency.

Comparison of Acoustic Emission Characteristics for C/SiC Composite Component Under Combination of Heating and Mechanical Loading

The acoustic emission（AE） characteristics of C/SiC composite component under various conditions were compared, with the purpose of identifying the possible damage and failure mechanism. During the process of the single mechanical loading, the highest amplitude of the AE signal was less than 85 dB and the main damage forms of matrix cracking and interface debonding were involved. For the heating process, high-energy AE signals with an amplitude more than 85 dB were detected and fiber fracture mechanism was determined as well due to the thermal stress caused by the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient between the reinforced fiber and matrix. During the combination process of the heating and mechanical loading, it was concluded that the degree of damage was much severer than the simple superposition of damage produced by the individual mechanical loading and the individual heating process.

Flexibly regulated electrochemiluminescence of all-inorganic perovskite CsPbBr_(3)quantum dots through electron bridge to across interfaces between polar and non-polar solvents

All-inorganic perovskite quantum dots(QDs)have attracted great interests due to its outstanding properties.But their poor stability in polar solvents seriously hampered wide applications in analytical chemistry.In this work,strong,stable and flexibly regulated the electrochemiluminescence(ECL)emission form CsPbBr(_3)QDs was successfully obtained and applied in the analysis of polar solvents through the unique structure of closed bipolar electrode(BPE).To demonstrate the feasibility,it was successfully used in the detection of tetracycline(Tc)aqueous solution.CsPbBr(_3)QDs was immersed into organic solution in anode microcell of closed BPE while Tc aqueous solution was added into cathode microcell.The two microcells were physically separated and would not interfere with each other.But the bio-recognition event between aptamer and Tc in cathode microcell would induce the ECL signal change in anode microcell through the electrons conducted by BPE as the bridge.The ECL emission can be flexibly regulated by environmental factors of both polar and non-polar solvents and the interface status of the BPE.Compared with traditional methods to overcome the intrinsic instability in polar medium,the reported method does not need any further surface modifications,has no limitations on the targets and can provide wide development space for further deep research,which may open a new direction for the ECL sensing of CsPbBr(_3)QDs.

Non-intrusive reduced-order model for predicting transonic flow with varying geometries

A Non-Intrusive Reduced-Order Model(NIROM)based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition(POD)has been proposed for predicting the flow fields of transonic airfoils with geometry parameters.To provide a better reduced-order subspace to approximate the real flow field,a domain decomposition method has been used to separate the hard-to-predict regions from the full field and POD has been adopted in the regions individually.An Artificial Neural Network(ANN)has replaced the Radial Basis Function(RBF)to interpolate the coefficients of the POD modes,aiming at improving the approximation accuracy of the NIROM for non-samples.When predicting the flow fields of transonic airfoils,the proposed NIROM has demonstrated a high performance.

Inverse Heat Conduction Estimation of Inner Wall Temperature Fluctuations under Turbulent Penetration

Turbulent penetration can occur when hot and cold fluids mix in a horizontal T-junction pipe at nuclear plants. Caused by the unstable turbulent penetration, temperature fluctuations with large amplitude and high frequency can lead to time-varying wall thermal stress and even thermal fatigue on the inner wall. Numerous cases, however, exist where inner wall temperatures cannot be measured and only outer wall temperature measurements are feasible. Therefore, it is one of the popular research areas in nuclear science and engineering to estimate temperature fluctuations on the inner wall from measurements of outer wall temperatures without damaging the structure of the pipe. In this study, both the one-dimensional(1D) and the two-dimensional(2D) inverse heat conduction problem(IHCP) were solved to estimate the temperature fluctuations on the inner wall. First, numerical models of both the 1D and the 2D direct heat conduction problem(DHCP) were structured in MATLAB, based on the finite difference method with an implicit scheme. Second, both the 1D IHCP and the 2D IHCP were solved by the steepest descent method(SDM), and the DHCP results of temperatures on the outer wall were used to estimate the temperature fluctuations on the inner wall. Third, we compared the temperature fluctuations on the inner wall estimated by the 1D IHCP with those estimated by the 2D IHCP in four cases:(1) when the maximum disturbance of temperature of fluid inside the pipe was 3℃,(2) when the maximum disturbance of temperature of fluid inside the pipe was 30℃,(3) when the maximum disturbance of temperature of fluid inside the pipe was 160℃, and(4) when the fluid temperatures inside the pipe were random from 50℃ to 210℃.

Simultaneous generation of controllable double white light lasers by focusing an intense femtosecond laser pulse in air

We report on a simultaneous generation of double white light lasers through filamentation by focusing a femtosecond laser pulse. The appearance of the two white light lasers can be controlled by tilting the focusing lens. The spectral bandwidth and the pulse energy of the double white light lasers were controlled by tuning laser filamenting pulse energy and polarization. Two white light lasers with pulse energies of 1.54 m J and 1.84 m J,respectively, were generated with the pump laser energy of 7.43 m J. Besides being beneficial in understanding the multiple white light lasers generation process through multiple filamentation and its control, the results are also valuable for white light laser-based applications.

Rotorcraft flight endurance estimation based on a new battery discharge model

To avoid the numerical complexities of the battery discharge law of electric-powered rotorcrafts,this study uses the Kriging method to model the discharge characteristics of Li-Po batteries under standard conditions.A linear current compensation term and an ambient temperature compensation term based on radial basis functions are then applied to the trained Kriging model,leading to the complete discharged capacity-terminal voltage model.Using an orthogonal experimental design and a sequential method,the coefficients of the current and ambient temperature compensation terms are determined through robust optimization.An endurance calculation model for electric-powered rotorcrafts is then established,based on the battery discharge model,through numerical integration.Laboratory tests show that the maximum relative error of the proposed discharged capacity-terminal voltage model at detection points is 0.0086,and that of the rotorcraft endurance calculation model is 0.0195,thus verifying their accuracy.A flight test further demonstrates the applicability of the proposed endurance model to general electric-powered rotorcrafts.

Conjugate heat transfer investigation of cooled turbine using the preconditioned density-based algorithm

The preconditioned density-based conjugate heat transfer(CHT)algorithm was used to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of a cooled turbine vane.Fluid domain provided boundary heat flux for solid domain and obtained boundary temperature from it for the coupling strategy.The governing equations were solved by the preconditioned density-based finite-volume method,with preconditioning matrix,improved Abu-Gharmam Shaw(AGS)transition model,matrix dissipation scheme and four kinds of turbulence models.The grid system is multi-block structured grids for fluid domain and unstructured grids for solid domain,with full-matched grids at the fluid-solid interfaces.The effects of turbulence model,outlet Mach number,outlet Reynolds number,inlet turbulence intensity and the temperature ratio of blade surface/gas on the local heat transfer performance were studied.Results indicate that the k-o shear-stress transport(SST)and AGS model can predict the conjugate heat transfer better than others.The Mach number and Reynolds number have relatively obvious influences on the heat transfer,while the turbulence intensity and temperature ratio only have slight influences.Comparisons with experimental data demonstrate the applicability and accuracy of the numerical algorithm.