A lightning swept stroke model: A valuable tool to investigate the lightning strike to aircraft

In the context of lightning strike on the Dassault Falcon family of aircraft, the standard zoning of Falcon 50, 900 and 2000, inferred from FAA and EUROCAE WG31 documents [US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Advisory Circular AC 20-53A, 1985; US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Advisory Circular AC 20-53B, Draft, 1991; EUROCAE WG 31, Aircraft Lightning Zoning Standard, ED-91, 1998], has been presented. Zoning proves to be quite similar between the three types of aircraft. Thanks to the feed-back on lightning strikes to Falcon, lightning traces have been observed on the fuselage for different flight conditions and aircraft. Observations are compared with the zoning performed by Dassault. A physical model, developed by ONERA, was used to simulate the sweeping of lightning on the fuselage of a Falcon 900. The results are in good agreement with the lightning traces observed on the fuselages.     

Junocam: Juno’s Outreach Camera

Junocam is a wide-angle camera designed to capture the unique polar perspective of Jupiter offered by Juno’s polar orbit. Junocam’s four-color images include the best spatial resolution ever acquired of Jupiter’s cloudtops. Junocam will look for convective clouds and lightning in thunderstorms and derive the heights of the clouds. Junocam will support Juno’s radiometer experiment by identifying any unusual atmospheric conditions such as hotspots. Junocam is on the spacecraft explicitly to reach out to the public and share the excitement of space exploration. The public is an essential part of our virtual team: amateur astronomers will supply ground-based images for use in planning, the public will weigh in on which images to acquire, and the amateur image processing community will help process the data.     

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions Control of Earth Radiation and Latent Heat Release Budgets

Aircraft observations and model simulations show that cloud development is strongly modulated by the impact of cloud-aerosol interactions on precipitation forming processes. New insights into the mechanisms by which aerosols dominate the cloud cover of marine shallow clouds suggest that feedbacks between the cloud microstructure and cloud dynamics through precipitation processes play a major role in determining when a solid cloud cover will break up into a field of trade wind cumulus. Cloud-aerosol interactions dominate not only the dynamics of marine shallow clouds, but also the lifetime and the vertical disposition of latent heat of deep convective clouds over ocean and even more strongly over land. Recent coincident satellite measurements of aerosols and cloud properties quantify the aerosol effects on cloud cover and radiative forcing on regional and global scales. The shapes of the satellite retrieved relations between aerosols and cloud properties are consistent with the suggested ways by which aerosols affect clouds via precipitation processes, particularly by affecting the intensity of the cloud vertical air motions and its vertical development.     

An Overview of Earth’s Global Electric Circuit and Atmospheric Conductivity

The Earth’s global atmospheric electric circuit depends on the upper and lower atmospheric boundaries formed by the ionosphere and the planetary surface. Thunderstorms and electrified rain clouds drive a DC current (～1 kA) around the circuit, with the current carried by molecular cluster ions; lightning phenomena drive the AC global circuit. The Earth’s near-surface conductivity ranges from 10^?7 S?m^?1 (for poorly conducting rocks) to 10^?2 S?m^?1 (for clay or wet limestone), with a mean value of 3.2 S?m^?1 for the ocean. Air conductivity inside a thundercloud, and in fair weather regions, depends on location (especially geomagnetic latitude), aerosol pollution and height, and varies from ～10^?14 S?m^?1 just above the surface to 10^?7 S?m^?1 in the ionosphere at ～80 km altitude. Ionospheric conductivity is a tensor quantity due to the geomagnetic field, and is determined by parameters such as electron density and electron–neutral particle collision frequency. In the current source regions, point discharge (coronal) currents play an important role below electrified clouds; the solar wind-magnetosphere dynamo and the unipolar dynamo due to the terrestrial rotating dipole moment also apply atmospheric potential differences. Detailed measurements made near the Earth’s surface show that Ohm’s law relates the vertical electric field and current density to air conductivity. Stratospheric balloon measurements launched from Antarctica confirm that the downward current density is ～1 pA m^?2 under fair weather conditions. Fortuitously, a Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) event arrived at Earth during one such balloon flight, changing the observed atmospheric conductivity and electric fields markedly. Recent modelling considers lightning discharge effects on the ionosphere’s electric potential (～+250 kV with respect to the Earth’s surface) and hence on the fair weather potential gradient (typically ～130 V?m^?1 close to the Earth’s surface. We conclude that cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning discharges make only a small contribution to the ionospheric potential, and that sprites (namely, upward lightning above energetic thunderstorms) only affect the global circuit in a miniscule way. We also investigate the effects of mesoscale convective systems on the global circuit.     

Charge Structure and Dynamics in Thunderstorms

The electrical structure inside thunderstorm clouds and the changes with time of this structure are fundamental parameters for atmospheric electricity studies on Earth. This paper gives a review of the current state of knowledge about thunderstorm charge structure based primarily on in-cloud vertical profiles through different types of deep convective clouds, cirriform anvil clouds, and stratiform precipitation regions associated with mid-latitude mesoscale convective systems. Results on the dynamical evolution of the vertical charge structure during the early and decay stages from series of balloon soundings through small thunderstorms are described, along with recent findings regarding the importance of the charge structure in determining the current contribution of small and large thunderstorms to the Earth’s global electrical circuit.     

A Review of Low Frequency Electromagnetic Wave Phenomena Related to Tropospheric-Ionospheric Coupling Mechanisms

Investigation of coupling mechanisms between the troposphere and the ionosphere requires a multidisciplinary approach involving several branches of atmospheric sciences, from meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and fulminology to aeronomy, plasma physics, and space weather. In this work, we review low frequency electromagnetic wave observations in the Earth-ionosphere cavity from a troposphere-ionosphere coupling perspective. We discuss electromagnetic wave generation, propagation, and resonance phenomena, considering atmospheric, ionospheric and magnetospheric sources, from lightning and transient luminous events at low altitude to Alfvén waves and particle precipitation related to solar and magnetospheric processes. We review ionospheric processes as well as surface and space weather phenomena that drive the coupling between the troposphere and the ionosphere. Effects of aerosols, water vapor distribution, thermodynamic parameters, and cloud charge separation and electrification processes on atmospheric electricity and electromagnetic waves are reviewed. Regarding the role of the lower boundary of the cavity, we review transient surface phenomena, including seismic activity, earthquakes, volcanic processes and dust electrification. The role of surface perturbations and atmospheric gravity waves in ionospheric dynamics is also briefly addressed. We summarize analytical and numerical tools and techniques to model low frequency electromagnetic wave propagation and to solve inverse problems and outline in a final section a few challenging subjects that are important to advance our understanding of tropospheric-ionospheric coupling.     

Structure-aware fusion network for 3D scene understanding

In this paper, we propose a Structure-Aware Fusion Network(SAFNet) for 3D scene understanding. As 2D images present more detailed information while 3D point clouds convey more geometric information, fusing the two complementary data can improve the discriminative ability of the model. Fusion is a very challenging task since 2D and 3D data are essentially different and show different formats. The existing methods first extract 2D multi-view image features and then aggregate them into sparse 3D po...     

On ULF Signatures of Lightning Discharges

Recent works on magnetic signatures due to distant lightning discharges are reviewed. Emphasis is laid on magnetic signatures in the ULF range (in the old definition from less than 1 mHz up to 1 Hz), that is in the frequency range below the Schumann resonance. These signatures are known to be of importance for the excitation of the ionospheric Alfvén resonator (IAR) which works only at night time conditions. This emphasizes the difference between night and day time ULF signatures of lightning. The IAR forms a link between the atmosphere and magnetosphere. Similarities and differences of this link in the VLF (Trimpi effect) and ULF range are worked out. A search for a unique signature of sprite-associated positive cloud-to-ground (⁺CG) lightning discharges ended with a negative result. In this context, however, a new model of lightning-associated induced mesospheric currents was built. Depending on mesospheric condition it can produce magnetic signatures in the entire frequency range from VLF, ELF to ULF. In the latter case it can explain signatures known as the Ultra Slow Tail of ⁺CG lightning discharges. A current problem on the magnetic background noise intensity has been solved by taking more seriously the contribution of ⁺CG lightning discharges to the overall background noise. Their low occurrence rate is more than compensated by their large and long lasting continuing currents. By superposed epoch analysis it could be shown that the ULF response to ^?CG is one to two orders smaller that in case of ⁺CG with similar peak current values of the return stroke.     

翼型表面粗糙度对结冰的影响分析

飞机的结冰表面出现微小的凹凸不平,即形成所谓的粗糙度,对飞机气动性能产生一定的影响。在考虑表面粗糙度时,针对对流换热系数的计算建立了热力学模型,同时对只有单个粗糙微元的表面进行了流场计算和表面对流换热效果分析;然后利用边界层积分方法,对某一翼型光滑表面和不同程度的粗糙表面分别进行了流场计算、对流换热系数计算以及结冰冰形的模拟仿真。结果表明：结冰表面粗糙度很大程度增强了表面的对流换热效果,导致在翼型前缘位置结冰厚度更大、冰角突出更为明显并且距离驻点区域更近。     

CFRP层合板雷击烧蚀损伤模拟的电流加载方式分析

通过改进加载方式减小数值模拟与试验结果误差对于提高仿真准确性具有一定意义。本文探究复合材料层合板在不同形式雷击电流下的烧蚀损伤特性，改进Braginskii 电弧半径扩展公式，建立适用于雷击过程的电弧扩展半径数值模型；基于ABAQUS 建立CFRP 层合板有限元模型，分析不同电流加载方式下的烧蚀损伤情况。结果表明：建立的有限元模型能够模拟CFRP 层合板雷击烧蚀损伤；扩展移动加载造成的损伤面积、损伤深度和损伤体积与试验结果对比误差均约为7%，较其他加载方式仿真结果与试验结果对比具有良好的一致性，模拟复合材料雷击烧蚀损伤时应同时考虑电流扩展和移动的影响。     

碳纤维复合材料电导率改性与抗雷击性能

传统碳纤维复合材料(CFRP)中的树脂基体电阻率大,在强电流下会产生大量阻性热从而造成损伤,增强其电导率能够有效提高CFRP的雷击防护性能。在树脂基体中添加银粉颗粒进行电导率改性,通过有限元仿真分析银粉含量对雷击防护性能影响,确定CFRP基体中的最佳银粉含量为38%。沿厚度方向电导率的改性效果最佳,提高了217.3倍。使用不同峰值的D波形雷电流对改性CFRP层压板进行模拟雷击实验,并对未改性以及表面铺设铜网的层压板进行相同能级的对照实验,通过目视损伤观察和透视超声扫描比较损伤特征和损伤面积,评估基体改性CFRP的抗雷击性能。结果表明:基体改性可以阻碍表面铺层被击穿,降低纤维断裂翘曲以及分层损伤;峰值电流20 kA、40 kA和60 kA下,铜网防护能使雷击透视损伤面积分别下降100%、86.61%和37.46%,基体改性整体防护能使雷击透视损伤面积分别下降84.02%、81.03%和40.91%。     

不同喷铝参数对复合材料雷击防护性能模拟

为了研究复合材料不同的雷击防护(lightning strike protection,LSP)系统在雷电流作用下的损伤规律,对雷击损伤过程和烧蚀机理进行分析,建立复合材料层合板雷击防护的能量平衡数学模型。在此基础上,在ABAQUS中建立复合材料基准件、全喷铝和局部喷铝防护系统的碳纤维增强复合材料(carbon fiber reinforced polymer,CFRP)层合板电-热耦合有限元模型,和实验结果对比验证模型的有效性,对雷击烧蚀损伤特征进行分析,并引入雷击烧蚀损伤指数DI,得出三种不同模型在不同铝涂层厚度、不同峰值雷电流作用下的烧蚀损伤规律,并对两种不同的局部喷铝防护系统下复合材料的损伤特征进行对比分析。结果表明:雷击防护系统下复合材料的烧蚀损伤面积和铝涂层厚度关系进行函数拟合,两者均满足幂函数关系。     

分形树状通道换热器内的流动换热特性

建立了分形树状通道换热器中层流流动与传热的三维稳态模型,采用流固耦合计算方法对入口水力直径为4mm的矩形截面树状通道内流动换热进行了数值模拟,重点研究了分叉效应对传热的强化机理和换热器受热面的温度分布。研究结果表明:分叉处形成的二次流能有效地强化换热;与传统的蛇形通道相比,分形树状通道换热器具有温度均匀性好、压降小的明显优势。在相同入口雷诺数时,分形树状通道换热器受热面的最大温差远小于蛇形通道换热器,另外,分形树状通道的层流流动压降较之蛇形流道可减小50%以上。同时,加工了分形树状通道换热器及蛇形通道换热器各一套,对数值模拟结果进行了实验验证。实验值与模拟值能较好地吻合,证明了所建流动换热三维数值模型正确可信。     

A point cloud deep neural network metamodel method for aerodynamic prediction

Aiming to reduce the high expense of 3-Dimensional (3D) aerodynamics numerical simulations and overcome the limitations of the traditional parametric learning methods, a point cloud deep learning non-parametric metamodel method is proposed in this paper. The 3D geometric data, corresponding to the object boundaries, are chosen as point clouds and a deep learning neural network metamodel fed by the point clouds is further established based on the PointNet architecture. This network can learn an end-to-end mapping between spatial positions of the object surface and CFD numerical quantities. With the proposed aerodynamic metamodel approach, the point clouds are constructed by collecting the coordinates of grid vertices on the object surface in a CFD domain, which can maintain the boundary smoothness and allow the network to detect small changes between geometries. Moreover, the point clouds are easily accessible from 3D sensors. The point cloud deep learning neural network, which employs re-sampling technique, the spatial transformer network and the fully connected layer, is developed to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of 3D geometry. The effectiveness of the proposed metamodel method is further verified by aerodynamic prediction and robust shape optimization of the ONERA M6 wing. The results show that the proposed method can achieve more satisfactory agreement with the experimental measurements compared to the parametric-learning-based deep neural network.     

Thermal damage analysis of aircraft composite laminate suffered from lightning swept stroke and arc propagation

Lightning strike is a complicated process involving multi-field coupling. In order to investigate the thermal damage mechanism of carbon fiber reinforced composites subject to lightning swept stroke, a complete numerical method is presented. Numerical model of lightning discharge is established based on Magneto Hydro Dynamics (MHD) and calculated by FLUENT secondary development technology. Considering aerodynamic flow effect, channel formation and evolution process during lightning discharge is analyzed for lightning current waveform A. Thermal-electric Coupling model is presented according to Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation theory, which is implemented by compiling program to make lightning current and heat energy inject into composite laminate. Consequently, damage mechanism of composite laminate under lightning swept stroke is studied based on the coupled numerical model and element deletion method. Ablation damage morphology of composite laminate is analyzed to understand plasma expansion and reattachment in arc root. The results show that aerodynamic flow makes the lightning channel move fast and composite laminate is deteriorated due to thermal damage.     

三维超声速混合层内标量混合的大涡模拟

对三维对流马赫数0.62的超声速混合层流动的标量混合进行大涡模拟, 控制方程对流项采用五阶精度的WENO格式求解, 小尺度涡的作用采用一方程LDKM亚格子模型处理, 过滤后的组分方程中的亚格子组分对流通量采用梯度扩散模化.模拟得到了混合层流场大尺度拟序结构以及标量场的演化过程, 研究表明标量混合过程受混合层内涡系演化所控制, 标量场具有明显的三维特征.模拟得到的速度、组分及其脉动的统计时均结果和实验结果相符较好.      

Isotopic Fractionation by Ion-Molecule Reactions

Isotopic fractionation in interstellar clouds can occur by ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures. The major effect is not kinetic but thermodynamic in origin in that it arises from the difference in rate coefficients between forward and backward directions in reactions which exchange isotopic atoms. In this article, we concentrate on deuterium fractionation in interstellar clouds; this effect enhances the relative abundances of deuterated isotopomers to their normal counterparts by up to four orders of magnitude as compared with the basic D/H elemental abundance ratio. We also discuss the fractionation of ¹⁵N and ¹³C. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

基于热力耦合层合板雷击损伤特性分析

为研究复合材料层合板在雷电流作用下的烧蚀损伤力学特性,建立复合材料雷击热力耦合有限元分析模型,与文献实验结果对比验证模型的有效性。根据Hashin三维失效准则编写用户材料子程序,分别得出层合板雷击烧蚀区域周围出现的力学损伤、各层力学损伤分布以及首层在不同方向上的应力分布,分析得出层合板的烧蚀损伤随雷电流持续时间的变化规律。结果表明:由于存在较高的温度梯度,导致层合板出现较大的热膨胀应力,进而导致层合板内部产生各种力学损伤,即基体开裂、分层及纤维断裂;雷击电流施加时间、峰值电流与温度场均对层合板烧蚀面积产生较大的影响。