Ionospheric gas dynamics of satellites and diagnostic probes

The gas dynamics of interactions of a tenuous ionosphere with moving satellites and probes that have bearings on the diagnostics of the ionosphere are discussed. Emphasis is on the cases where the body is moving at mesothermal speeds, namely intermediate between the thermal speeds of ions and electrons of the ambient ionosphere. Methods of collision-free plasma kinetics with self-consistent field are used. The development of the topics for discussion starts with stationary Langmuir probe which entails the basic mechanism of body-plasma interaction that becomes further intricated as the body moves at a higher and higher speed. Applications of the theory of plasma interaction to meteors which move in the ionosphere are also presented.     

Thoracic sonography for pneumothorax: the clinical evaluation of an operational space medicine spin-off

The recent interest in the use of ultrasound (US) to detect pneumothoraces after acute trauma in North America was initially driven by an operational space medicine concern. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are at risk for pneumothoraces, and US is the only potential medical imaging available. Pneumothoraces are common following trauma, and are a preventable cause of death, as most are treatable with relatively simple interventions. While pneumothoraces are optimally diagnosed clinically, they are more often inapparent even on supine chest radiographs (CXR) with recent series reporting a greater than 50% rate of occult pneumothoraces. In the course of basic scientific investigations in a conventional and parabolic flight laboratory, investigators familiarized themselves with the sonographic features of both pneumothoraces and normal pulmonary ventilation. By examining the visceral–parietal pleural interface (VPPI) with US, investigators became confident in diagnosing pneumothoraces. This knowledge was subsequently translated into practice at an American and a Canadian trauma center. The sonographic examination was found to be more accurate and sensitive than CXR (US 96% and 100% versus US 74% and 36%) in specific circumstances. Initial studies have also suggested that detecting the US features of pleural pulmonary ventilation in the left lung field may offer the ability to exclude serious endotracheal tube malpositions such as right mainstem and esophageal intubations. Applied thoracic US is an example of a clinically useful space medicine spin-off that is improving health care on earth.     

一般层合板矩形单元的几何刚度矩阵

本文简述了求解结构稳定性问题的有限元理论基础。用张量的形式指导了一般层合板矩形单元的节点力和节点位移关系方程，详细推导了一般层合板四节点矩形单元的几何刚度矩阵的公式及其显式。     

超声速燃烧实验研究(Ⅱ)

用电弧加热空气,对带有突扩台阶后扩张形,入口M_a=2.1和3.0的超声速燃烧室进行了实验研究,并对两种不同燃烧室长度、煤油和氢气在垂直和平行喷射下的燃烧状况作了比较。     

三级旋流头部装置末级文氏管喉道面积对出口流场的影响试验研究

文氏管对涡流器具有重要的引流作用.通过改变第III级文氏管的喉道面积大小,探究了其对三级涡流器出口流场的影响.应用粒子图像测速仪(PIV)对三头部试验件的涡流器出口流场进行分析,发现中间涡流器的两个漩涡中心的径向距离随着第III级文氏管喉道面积的增加呈现先减小后增大的趋势.相邻三级涡流器出口流场会叠加,致使中间涡流器的...     

Backstepping sliding-mode control of stratospheric airships using disturbance-observer

In the presence of unknown disturbances and model parameter uncertainties, this paper develop a nonlinear backstepping sliding-mode controller (BSMC) for trajectory tracking control of a stratospheric airship using a disturbance-observer (DO). Compared with the conventional sliding mode surface (SMS) constructed by a linear combination of the errors, the new SMS manifold is selected as the last back-step error to improve independence of the adjustment of the controller gains. Furthermore, a nonlinear disturbance-observer is designed to process unknown disturbance inputs and improve the BSMC performances. The closed-loop system of trajectory tracking control plant is proved to be globally asymptotically stable by using Lyapunov theory. By comparing with traditional backstepping control and SMC design, the results obtained demonstrate the capacity of the airship to execute a realistic trajectory tracking mission, even in the presence of unknown disturbances, and aerodynamic coefficient uncertainties.     

Quantitative Rectangular Notch Detection of Laser-induced Lamb Waves in Aluminium Plates with Wavenumber Analysis

It is difficult to quantitatively detect defects by using the time domain or frequency domain features of Lamb wave signals due to their dispersion and multimodal characteristics.Therefore,it is important to discover an intrinsical parameter of Lamb waves that could be used as a damage sensitive feature.In this paper,quantitative defect detection in aluminium plates is carried out by means of wavenumber analysis approach.The wavenumber of excited Lamb wave mode is a fixed value,given a frequency,a thickness and material properties of the target plate.When Lamb waves propagate to the structural discontinuity,new wavenumber components are created by abrupt wavefield change.The new wavenumber components can be identified in the frequency-wavenumber domain.To estimate spatially dependent wavenumber values,a short-space two-dimensional Fourier transform(FT)method is presented for processing wavefield data of Lamb waves.The results can be used to determine the location,size and depth of rectangular notch.The analysis techniques are demonstrated using simulation examples of an aluminium plate with a rectangular notch.Then,the wavenumber analysis method is applied to simulation data that are obtained through a range of notch depths and widths.The results are analyzed and rules of the technique with regards to estimating notch depth are determined.Based on simulation results,guidelines for using the technique are developed.Finally,experimental wavefield data are obtained in aluminium plates with rectangular notches by a full noncontact transceiving method,i.e.,laser-laser method.Band-pass filtering combined with continuous wavelet transform is used to extract a certain frequency component from the full laser-induced wavefield with wide band.Shortspace two-dimensional FT method is used for further processing full wavefield data at a certain frequency to estimate spatially dependent wavenumber values.The consistency of simulation and experimental results shows the effectiveness of proposed wavenumber method for quantitative rectangular notch detection.     

Analysis on Output Power for Multi-direction Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvester

To predict the performance of multi-direction piezoelectric vibration energy harvester,an equation for calculating its output power is obtained based on elastic mechanics theory and piezoelectricity theory.Experiments are performed to verify theoretical analysis.When the excitation direction is along Y direction,a maximal output power about 0.139 mW can be harvested at a resistive load of 65kΩ and an excitation frequency of 136 Hz.Theoretical analysis agrees well with experimental results.Furthermore,the performance of multi-direction vibration energy harvester is experimentally tested.The results show that the multi-direction vibration energy harvester can harvest perfect energy as the excitation direction changes in XY plane,YZ plane,XZ plane and body diagonal plane of the harvester.