Optimization and design of an aircraft's morphing wing-tip demonstrator for drag reduction at low speeds,Part Ⅱ-Experimental validation using Infra-Red transition measurement from Wind Tunnel tests

In the present paper, an ‘in-house' genetic algorithm was numerically and experimentally validated. The genetic algorithm was applied to an optimization problem for improving the aerodynamic performances of an aircraft wing tip through upper surface morphing. The optimization was performed for 16 flight cases expressed in terms of various combinations of speeds, angles of attack and aileron deflections. The displacements resulted from the optimization were used during the wind tunnel tests of the wing tip demonstrator for the actuators control to change the upper surface shape of the wing. The results of the optimization of the flow behavior for the airfoil morphing upper-surface problem were validated with wind tunnel experimental transition results obtained with infra-red Thermography on the wing-tip demonstrator. The validation proved that the 2D numerical optimization using the ‘in-house' genetic algorithm was an appropriate tool in improving various aspects of a wing's aerodynamic performances.     

Structural optimization for multiple structure cases and multiple payload cases with a two-level multipoint approximation method

This paper is to address structural optimization problems where multiple structure cases or multiple payload cases can be considered simultaneously. Both types of optimization problems involve multiple finite element models at each iteration step, which draws high demands in opti-mization methods. Considering the common characteristic for these two types of problems, which is that the design domain keeps the same no matter what the structure cases or payload cases are, both problems can be formulated into the unified expressions. A two-level multipoint approxima-tion (TMA) method is firstly improved with the use of analytical sensitivity analysis for structural mass, and then this improved method is utilized to tackle these two types of problems. Based on the commercial finite element software MSC.Patran/Nastran, an optimization system for multiple structure cases and multiple payload cases is developed. Numerical examples are conducted to ver-ify its feasibility and efficiency, and the necessity for the simultaneous optimizations of multiple structure cases and multiple payload cases are illustrated as well.     

A new non-linear vortex lattice method:Applications to wing aerodynamic optimizations

This paper presents a new non-linear formulation of the classical Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) approach for calculating the aerodynamic properties of lifting surfaces. The method accounts for the effects of viscosity, and due to its low computational cost, it represents a very good tool to perform rapid and accurate wing design and optimization procedures. The mathematical model is constructed by using two-dimensional viscous analyses of the wing span-wise sections, according to strip theory, and then coupling the strip viscous forces with the forces generated by the vortex rings distributed on the wing camber surface, calculated with a fully three-dimensional vortex lifting law. The numerical results obtained with the proposed method are validated with experimental data and show good agreement in predicting both the lift and pitching moment, as well as in predicting the wing drag. The method is applied to modifying the wing of an Unmanned Aerial System to increase its aerodynamic efficiency and to calculate the drag reductions obtained by an upper surface morphing technique for an adaptable regional aircraft wing.     

A model for discrimination and prediction of mental workload of aircraft cockpit display interface

With respect to the ergonomic evaluation and optimization in the mental task design of the aircraft cockpit display interface, the experimental measurement and theoretical modeling of mental workload were carried out under flight simulation task conditions using the performance evaluation, subjective evaluation and physiological measurement methods. The experimental results show that with an increased mental workload, the detection accuracy of flight operation significantly reduced and the reaction time was significantly prolonged; the standard deviation of R-R intervals（SDNN） significantly decreased, while the mean heart rate exhibited little change; the score of NASA_TLX scale significantly increased. On this basis, the indexes sensitive to mental workload were screened, and an integrated model for the discrimination and prediction of mental workload of aircraft cockpit display interface was established based on the Bayesian Fisher discrimination and classification method. The original validation and cross-validation methods were employed to test the accuracy of the results of discrimination and prediction of the integrated model, and the average prediction accuracies determined by these two methods are both higher than 85%. Meanwhile, the integrated model shows a higher accuracy in discrimination and prediction of mental workload compared with single indexes. The model proposed in this paper exhibits a satisfactory coincidence with the measured data and could accurately reflect the variation characteristics of the mental workload of aircraft cockpit display interface, thus providing a basis for the ergonomic evaluation and optimization design of the aircraft cockpit display interface in the future.     

Static aeroelastic analysis of very flexible wings based on non-planar vortex lattice method

A rapid and efficient method for static aeroelastic analysis of a flexible slender wing when considering the structural geometric nonlinearity has been developed in this paper. A non-planar vortex lattice method herein is used to compute the non-planar aerodynamics of flexible wings with large deformation. The finite element method is introduced for structural nonlinear statics analysis. The surface spline method is used for structure/aerodynamics coupling. The static aeroelastic characteristics of the wind tunnel model of a flexible wing are studied by the nonlinear method presented, and the nonlinear method is also evaluated by comparing the results with those obtained from two other methods and the wind tunnel test. The results indicate that the traditional linear method of static aeroelastic analysis is not applicable for cases with large deformation because it produces results that are not realistic. However, the nonlinear methodology, which involves combining the structure finite element method with the non-planar vortex lattice method, could be used to solve the aeroelastic deformation with considerable accuracy, which is in fair agreement with the test results. Moreover, the nonlinear finite element method could consider complex structures. The non-planar vortex lattice method has advantages in both the computational accuracy and efficiency. Consequently, the nonlinear method presented is suitable for the rapid and efficient analysis requirements of engineering practice. It could be used in the preliminary stage and also in the detailed stage of aircraft design.     

Non-fragile switched H_∞ control for morphing aircraft with asynchronous switching

This paper deals with the problem of non-fragile linear parameter-varying(LPV) H_∞ control for morphing aircraft with asynchronous switching.The switched LPV model of morphing aircraft is established by Jacobian linearization approach according to the nonlinear model.The data missing is taken into account in the link from sensors to controllers and the link from controllers to actuators,which satisfies Bernoulli distribution.The non-fragile switched LPV controllers are constructed with consideration of the uncertainties of controllers and asynchronous switching phenomenon.The parameter-dependent Lyapunov functional method and mode-dependent average dwell time(MDADT) method are combined to guarantee the stability and prescribed performance of the system.The sufficient conditions on the solvability of the problem are derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities(LMI).In order to achieve higher efficiency of the designing process,an algorithm is applied to divide the whole set into subsets automatically.Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the method in the paper.     

Bifurcation in a 3-DOF Airfoil with Cubic Structural Nonlinearity

Limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) as well as nonlinear aeroelastic analysis of a 3-DOF aeroelastic airfoil motion with cubic restoring moments in the pitch degree of freedom are investigated.Aeroelastic equations of an airfoil with control surface in an incompressible potential flow are presented in the time domain.The harmonic balance (HB) method is utilized to calculate the LCO frequency and amplitude for the airfoil.Also the semi-analytical method has revealed the presence of stable and unstable limit cycles,along with stability reversal in the neighborhood of a Hopf bifurcation.The system response is determined by numerically integrating the governing equations using a standard Runge-Kutta algorithm and the obtained results are compared with the HB method.Also the results by the third order HB (HB3) method for control surface are consistent with the other numerical solution.Finally,by combining the numerical and the HB methods,types of bifurcation,be it supercritical,subcritical,or divergent flutter area are identified.     

A hybrid original approach for prediction of the aerodynamic coe?cients of an ATR-42 scaled wing model

A new approach for the prediction of lift, drag, and moment coefficients is presented. This approach is based on the support vector machines (SVMs) methodology and an optimization meta-heuristic algorithm called extended great deluge (EGD). The novelty of this approach is the hybridization between the SVM and the EGD algorithm. The EGD is used to optimize the SVM parameters. The training and validation of this new identification approach is realized using the aerodynamic coefficients of an ATR-42 wing model. The aerodynamic coefficients data are obtained with the XFoil software and experimental tests using the Price–Pa?doussis wind tunnel. The predicted results with our approach are compared with those from the XFoil software and experimental results for different flight cases of angles of attack and Mach numbers. The main pur-pose of this methodology is to rapidly predict aircraft aerodynamic coefficients.     

Experimental validation of a new morphing trailing edge system using Price – Païdoussis wind tunnel tests

This paper presents the design and manufacturing of a new morphing wing system carried out at the Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity(LARCASE) at the ETS in Montréal. This first version of a morphing wing allows the deformation of its trailing edge, denote by Morphing Trailing Edge(MTE). In order to characterize the technical impact of this deformation, we compare its performance with that of a rigid aileron by testing in the LARCASE's price-Pa?doussis subsonic wind tunnel. The first set of results shows that it is possible to replace an aileron by a MTE on a wing, as an improvement was observed for the MTE aerodynamic performances with respect to the aileron aerodynamic performances.The improvement consisted in the fact that the drag coefficient was smaller, and the lift-to-drag ratio was higher for the same lift coefficient.     

Uncertainty analysis and design optimization of hybrid rocket motor powered vehicle for suborbital flight

In this paper, we propose an uncertainty analysis and design optimization method and its applications on a hybrid rocket motor(HRM) powered vehicle. The multidisciplinary design model of the rocket system is established and the design uncertainties are quantified. The sensitivity analysis of the uncertainties shows that the uncertainty generated from the error of fuel regression rate model has the most significant effect on the system performances. Then the differences between deterministic design optimization(DDO) and uncertainty-based design optimization(UDO) are discussed. Two newly formed uncertainty analysis methods, including the Kriging-based Monte Carlo simulation(KMCS) and Kriging-based Taylor series approximation(KTSA), are carried out using a global approximation Kriging modeling method. Based on the system design model and the results of design uncertainty analysis, the design optimization of an HRM powered vehicle for suborbital flight is implemented using three design optimization methods: DDO, KMCS and KTSA. The comparisons indicate that the two UDO methods can enhance the design reliability and robustness. The researches and methods proposed in this paper can provide a better way for the general design of HRM powered vehicles.In this paper,we propose an uncertainty analysis and design optimization method and its applications on a hybrid rocket motor(HRM)powered vehicle.The multidisciplinary design model of the rocket system is established and the design uncertainties are quantified.The sensitivity analysis of the uncertainties shows that the uncertainty generated from the error of fuel regression rate model has the most significant effect on the system performances.Then the differences between deterministic design optimization(DDO)and uncertainty-based design optimization(UDO)are discussed.Two newly formed uncertainty analysis methods,including the Kriging-based Monte Carlo simulation(KMCS)and Kriging-based Taylor series approximation(KTSA),are carried out using a global approximation Kriging modeling method.Based on the system design model and the results of design uncertainty analysis,the design optimization of an HRM powered vehicle for suborbital flight is implemented using three design optimization methods:DDO,KMCS and KTSA.The comparisons indicate that the two UDO methods can enhance the design reliability and robustness.The researches and methods proposed in this paper can provide a better way for the general design of HRM powered vehicles.     

Aerodynamic optimization design of general parameters for cycloidal propeller in hover based on surrogate model

A surrogate-model-based aerodynamic optimization design method for cycloidal propeller in hover was proposed, in order to improve its aerodynamic efficiency, and analyze the basic criteria for its aerodynamic optimization design. The reliability and applicability of overset mesh method were verified. An optimization method based on Kriging surrogate model was proposed to optimize the geometric parameters for cycloidal propeller in hover with the use of genetic algorithm. The optimization results showed that the thrust coefficient was increased by 3.56%, the torque coefficient reduced by 12.05%, and the figure of merit (FM) increased by 19.93%. The optimization results verified the feasibility of this design idea. Although the optimization was only carried out at a single rotation speed, the aerodynamic efficiency was also significantly improved over a wide range of rotation speeds. The optimal configuration characteristics for micro and small-sized cycloidal propeller were: solidity of 0.2-0.22, maximum pitch angle of 25°-35°, pitch axis locating at 35%-45% of the blade chord length.      

A hybrid original approach for prediction of the aerodynamic coefficients of an ATR-42 scaled wing model

A new approach for the prediction of lift, drag, and moment coefficients is presented.This approach is based on the support vector machines(SVMs) methodology and an optimization meta-heuristic algorithm called extended great deluge(EGD). The novelty of this approach is the hybridization between the SVM and the EGD algorithm. The EGD is used to optimize the SVM parameters. The training and validation of this new identification approach is realized using the aerodynamic coefficients of an ATR-42 wing model. The aerodynamic coefficients data are obtained with the XFoil software and experimental tests using the Price–Pa?¨doussis wind tunnel.The predicted results with our approach are compared with those from the XFoil software and experimental results for different flight cases of angles of attack and Mach numbers. The main purpose of this methodology is to rapidly predict aircraft aerodynamic coefficients.     

Research on failure criterion of composite based on unified macro- and micro-mechanical model

A new unified macro- and micro-mechanics failure analysis method for composite structures was developed in order to take the effects of composite micro structure into consideration. In this method, the macro stress distribution of composite structure was calculated by commercial finite element analysis software. According to the macro stress distribution, the damage point was searched and the micro-stress distribution was calculated by reformulated finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics (FVDAM), which was a multi-scale finite element method for composite. The micro structure failure modes were estimated with the failure strength of constituents. A unidirectional composite plate with a circular hole in the center under two kinds of loads was analyzed with the traditional macro-mechanical failure analysis method and the unified macro- and micro-mechanics failure analysis method. The results obtained by the two methods are consistent, which show this new method’s accuracy and efficiency.     

Topology optimization of compliant adaptive wing leading edge with composite materials

An approach for designing the compliant adaptive wing leading edge with composite material is proposed based on the topology optimization. Firstly, an equivalent constitutive relationship of laminated glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite plates has been built based on the symmetric laminated plate theory. Then, an optimization objective function of compliant adaptive wing leading edge was used to minimize the least square error（LSE） between deformed curve and desired aerodynamics shape. After that, the topology structures of wing leading edge of different glass fiber ply-orientations were obtained by using the solid isotropic material with penalization（SIMP） model and sensitivity filtering technique. The desired aerodynamics shape of compliant adaptive wing leading edge was obtained based on the proposed approach. The topology structures of wing leading edge depend on the glass fiber ply-orientation. Finally, the corresponding morphing experiment of compliant wing leading edge with composite materials was implemented, which verified the morphing capability of topology structure and illustrated the feasibility for designing compliant wing leading edge. The present paper lays the basis of ply-orientation optimization for compliant adaptive wing leading edge in unmanned aerial vehicle（UAV） field.     

Test sequencing problem arising at the design stage for reducing life cycle cost

Previous test sequencing algorithms only consider the execution cost of a test at the application stage. Due to the fact that the placement cost of some tests at the design stage is considerably high compared with the execution cost, the sequential diagnosis strategy obtained by previous methods is actually not optimal from the view of life cycle. In this paper, the test sequencing problem based on life cycle cost is presented. It is formulated as an optimization problem, which is non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard). An algorithm and a strategy to improve its computational efficiency are proposed. The formulation and algorithms are tested on various simulated systems and comparisons are made with the extant test sequencing methods. Application on a pump rotational speed control (PRSC) system of a spacecraft is studied in detail. Both the simulation results and the real-world case application results suggest that the solution proposed in this paper can significantly reduce the life cycle cost of a sequential fault diagnosis strategy.     

Model optimization method and connected-pipe experiment of a liquid fuel ramjet engine

The optimization method of a mathematical model and connected-pipe experimental technique for a test in altitude test facility (ATF) of a liquid fuel ramjet engine was researched.The optimization of the simple mathematical model was divided into two steps.Firstly,using the test engine's geometry configuration size data,a preliminary adjustment was done.Secondly,using experimental test data,the components' experiential coefficients were modified appropriately.Emphasis was laid on the simulation technique of flight condition and parameters measurement method.The experimental technique was applied to a ramjet ATF test successfully.The comparison results show that the optimized-model has higher precision and the nozzle gross thrust difference drops from 12% to about 4%.      

An improved quaternion Gauss–Newton algorithm for attitude determination using magnetometer and accelerometer

For the vector attitude determination, the traditional optimal algorithms which are based on quaternion estimator(QUEST) measurement noise model are complicated for just two observations. In our application, the magnetometer and accelerometer are not two comparable kinds of sensors and both are not small field-of-view sensors as well. So in this paper a new unit measurement model is derived. According to the Wahba problem, the optimal weights for each measurement are obtained by the error variance researches. Then an improved quaternion Gauss–Newton method is presented and adopted to acquire attitude. Eventually, simulation results and experimental validation employed to test the proposed method demonstrate the usefulness of the improved algorithm.     

Topology optimization of support structure of telescope skin based on bit-matrix representation NSGA-II

Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II（NSGA-II）with multiple constraints handling is employed for multi-objective optimization of the topological structure of telescope skin,in which a bit-matrix is used as the representation of a chromosome,and genetic algorithm（GA）operators are introduced based on the matrix.Objectives including mass,in-plane performance,and out-of-plane load-bearing ability of the individuals are obtained by fnite element analysis（FEA）using ANSYS,and the matrix-based optimization algorithm is realized in MATLAB by handling multiple constraints such as structural connectivity and in-plane strain requirements.Feasible confgurations of the support structure are achieved.The results confrm that the matrix-based NSGA-II with multiple constraints handling provides an effective method for two-dimensional multi-objective topology optimization.     

The effect of inlet conditions on the flow and heat transfer in multiple rotating cavity with axial throughflow

This paper discusses experimental results from two different build configurations of a heated multiple rotating cavity test rig.Measurements of heat transfer from the discs and tangential velocities are presented.The test rig is a 70% full scale version of a high pressure compressor stack of an axial gas turbine engine.Of particular interest are the internal cylindrical cavities formed by adjacent discs and the interaction of these with a central axial throughflow of cooling air.Tests were carried out for a range of non-dimensional parameters representative of high pressure compressor internal air system flows(Re up to 5×106 and Rez up to 2×105).Two different builds have been tested.The most significant difference between these two build configurations is the size of the annular gap between the(non-rotating) drive shaft and the bores of the discs.The heat transfer data were obtained from thermocouple measurements of surface temperature and a conduction solution method.The velocity measurements were made using a two component,LDA system.The heat transfer results from the discs show differences between the two builds.This is attributed to the wider annular gap allowing more of the throughflow to penetrate into the cavity.There are also significant differences between the radial distributions of tangential velocity in the two builds of the test rig.For the narrow annular gap,there is an increase of non-dimensional tangential velocity V/Ωr with radial location to solid body rotation V/Ωr=1.For the wider annular gap,the non-dimensional velocities show a decrease with radial location to solid body rotation.      

Research of low boom and low drag supersonic aircraft design

Sonic boom reduction will be an issue of utmost importance in future supersonic transport, due to strong regulations on acoustic nuisance. The paper describes a new multi-objective optimization method for supersonic aircraft design. The method is developed by coupling Seebass–George–Darden(SGD) inverse design method and multi-objective genetic algorithm.Based on the method, different codes are developed. Using a computational architecture, a conceptual supersonic aircraft design environment(CSADE) is constructed. The architecture of CSADE includes inner optimization level and out optimization level. The low boom configuration is generated in inner optimization level by matching the target equivalent area distribution and actual equivalent area distribution. And low boom/low drag configuration is generated in outer optimization level by using NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimize the control parameters of SGD method and aircraft shape. Two objective functions, low sonic boom and low wave drag, are considered in CSADE. Physically reasonable Pareto solutions are obtained from the present optimization. Some supersonic aircraft configurations are selected from Pareto front and the optimization results indicate that the swept forward wing configuration has benefits in both sonic boom reduction and wave drag reduction. The results are validated by using computational fluid dynamics(CFD) analysis.