Modeling the moisture effects of solid ingredients on composite propellant properties

Solid raw materials for AP composite propellants were dried at different conditions and moisture contents were measured. Propellant mechanical properties increase by decreasing the moisture in solid raw materials, particularly for ammonium oxalate. Propellant stress and modulus increase by decreasing the solid fillers moisture. Long time drying of solid raw materials has an adverse effect on propellant mechanical properties.     

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on-board Chandrayaan-2 rover

Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) payload configuration for Chandrayaan-2 rover has been completed recently and fabrication of mechanical assembly, PCB layout design and fabrication are in progress. Here we present the design and performance evaluation of various subsystems developed for APXS payload. The low energy threshold of <1 keV and the energy resolution of ∼150 eV at 5.9 keV, for the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD), as measured from the developed APXS electronics is comparable to the standard spectrometers available off-the-shelf. We have also carried out experiments for measuring fluorescent X-ray spectrum from various standard samples from the USGS catalog irradiated by the laboratory X-ray source ²⁴¹Am with 1 mCi activity. It is shown that intensities of various characteristic X-ray lines are well correlated with the respective elemental concentrations.     

Structural optimization of elliptical-tip star propellant grain using sub-problem approximation

A method is presented here for structural optimization of elliptical-tip star grain.The grain structural integrity was improved by minimizing the most critical area of inner bore hoop strain during cool down.Optimization was done by sub-problem approximation method in conjunction with finite element analysis.Both radii of the ellipse were varied during optimization to find the optimal ellipse.The optimization resulted in grain geometry having minimum level of Inner bore hoop strain without violating the preset limits of burning perimeter.The von mises strain at grain inner bore was also reduced in resultant grain.      

Fuzzy Optimal Control Design for Ship Steering

This paper presents a method to design a control scheme for nonlinear systems using fuzzy optimal control.In the design process,the nonlinear system is first converted into local subsystems using sector non-linearity approach of Takagi-Sugeno(T-S) fuzzy modeling. For each local subsystem,an optimal control is designed. Then,the parameters of local controllers are defuzzified to construct a global optimal controller. To prove the effectiveness of this control scheme,simulations are performed using the mathematical model of Esso Osaka tanker ship for set-point regulation with and without disturbance and reference tracking. In addition,the simulation results are compared with that of a PID controller for further verification and validation. It has been shown that the proposed optimal controller can be used for the nonlinear ship steering with good rise time,zero steady state error and fast settling time.     

基于仿射变换的机载凝视红外告警器图像配准

提出了一种用于机载凝视红外图像序列的配准算法.分析凝视红外图像的特点,建立二维仿射变换模型描述三维空间.以帧间均方差最小作为评价标准拟合4个最优配准参数,通过参数步长控制配准算法精度.通过实测空中红外小飞机图像序列,证明了该算法配准精度可达到象素级,并可有效屏蔽背景杂波干扰.     

Impact of reduced frequency on the time lag in pressure distribution over a supercritical airfoil in a pitch-pause-return motion

Effects of reduced frequency, stop angle, and pause duration have been studied on a thin supercritical airfoil undergoing a pitch-pause-return motion, which is one of the classic maneuvers introduced by the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee. Experiments were conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel at both a constant mean angle of attack and an oscillation amplitude with a reduced frequency ranging from 0.01 to 0.12. The desired stop angles of the airfoil were set to occur during the upstroke motion. The unsteady pressure distribution on the airfoil was measured for below, near, and beyond static stall conditions. Results showed that the reduced frequency and stop angle were the dominant contributors to the time lag in the flowfield. For stop angles in both below- and post-stall regions, the time for the flowfield to reach its steady state conditions, known as the time lag, decreased as the reduced frequency was increased. However, in the static-stall region and for a certain value of reduced frequency, a resonance phenomenon was observed, and a minimum time lag was achieved. The pressure distribution in this condition was shown to be highly influenced by this phenomenon.     

Pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies before three major earthquakes by GPS-TEC and GIM-TEC data during 2015–2017

The dual-frequency satellite-based measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS) may provide feasible ways of studying and potentially detecting of earthquake (EQ) related anomalies in the ionosphere. In this paper, GPS based Total Electron Content (TEC) data are studied for three major M?>?7.0 EQs in Nepal and Iran-Iraq border during 2015–2017 by implementing statistical procedures on temporal and spatial scale. Previous studies presented different time interval of pre-seismic ionospheric anomalies, however, this study showed that EQs ionospheric precursors may occur within 10?days. Furthermore, the ionospheric anomalies on the suspected day occurred during UT?=?08:00–12:00?h before the main shock. The Global Ionospheric Map TEC (GIM-TEC) data retrieved over the epicenter of M7.8 (Nepal EQ) showed a significant increase of 6 TECU on April 24, 2015 (one day before the main shock), which is recorded by the ground GPS station data of Islamabad (station lies within the EQ preparation zone). Furthermore, the spatial GIM-TEC result imply significant anomalies over the epicenter during the time interval between UT?=?08:00–12:00?h (LT?=?13:00–17:00). For M7.3 (Nepal EQ), the TEC anomalies were detected on May 10, 2015 (2?days before the event) in the temporal data. The spatial TEC data imply the huge clouds over the epicenter at about UT?=?08:00–12:00?h on May 10, 2015, that may be associated with this EQ in the quiet geomagnetic storm conditions. Similarly, temporal and spatial TEC showed anomaly on November 3, 2017, during UT?=?08:00–12:00 (9?days before the Iran-Iraq border EQ) after implementing the statistical method on it. Conversely, there exists a short-term but low magnitude TEC anomaly synchronized with a geomagnetic storm on November 7–8, 2017 (4 to 5?days prior to M7.3 Iran-Iraq border EQ). The diurnal and hourly GIM-TEC and VTEC data also imply the execution of ionospheric anomalies within 10?days prior to all events. All these positive anomalies in TEC may be due to the existence of a huge energy from the epicenter during the EQ preparation period.     

Impacts of the PAH size and the radiation intensity on the IR features of illuminated dust within the reflection nebulae

Interstellar dust grains are illuminated in the reflection nebulae. Under conditions of the PAH size and the intensity of the interstellar radiation field, we follow their impact on the PAH aromatic infrared bands using the numerical DustEM code. For a dust model consisting of PAH, amorphous C and amorphous silicate, the PAH size varies in a range from 0.31 to 4.9 nm while the radiation intensity varies by a scale factor from 0.1 to 10⁴. Various trends of the results show the effect of varying both the PAH size and the radiation intensity on the strength of the aromatic mid-IR bands. Through small PAH sizes less than 0.7 nm, the grain temperature distribution of PAHs shows a small variation within 2–3 K at low radiation intensity while it increases to 15 and 8 K for PAH⁰ and PAH⁺, respectively, at higher radiation intensity. In final the variability in these results reveals the evolution of the dust grains under the physical space conditions of the reflection nebulae. In the mid-IR region, the contributions of PAH⁰ and PAH⁺ in the total SED intensity agree with the proportions of these PAHs observed in some reflection nebulae having higher radiation intensities.     

可靠性灵敏度分析的一种偏倚蒙特卡罗方法

根据可靠性灵敏度分析的需求和特点,选择似然比方法作为基础的导数/梯度估计方法.立足经典可靠性系统和基于元件的蒙特卡罗方法,推导了原始蒙特卡罗仿真环境下的似然比导数估计方法.为加速仿真,进一步提出了一种偏倚技巧,该技巧在系统结构函数的基础上定义一个应用重要抽样的无偏估计量,并通过最小化该估计量的方差来获得最优偏倚参数值.该估计量拥有的一个重要优势是其方差优化任务可以分解到单个元件的层次上进行,从而避免了高维优化的难题.通过一个可解析求解的简单实例验证了似然比导数估计方法应用于可靠性灵敏度分析的有效性,以及所提出的偏倚技巧对于降低导数估计方差的有效性.对于所考虑的实例系统,提出的偏倚蒙特卡罗方法对各个感兴趣的量都给出了很好的估计,与原始蒙特卡罗方法相比,各个估计量的方差均降低了至少6个数量级.     

Intelligent Transportation Systems in Transitional and Developing Countries

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are state-of-the-art approaches based on information, communication and satellite technologies in mitigating traffic congestion, enhancing safety, and improving quality of environment. ITS are being used in many industrialized and emerging economies for the last two decades to facilitate traffic managers in tackling surface mobility problems. In the case of many developing countries, policy makers and practitioners have neglected this "non-conventional" approach on the pretext inter alia, "technological sophistication," cost and institutional ill-preparedness. This aims to underscore the importance and relevance of ITS for developing countries as a complementary tool in the 21^st century. In so doing, the intention is to bestow some fresh thinking into the transport debate that will serve as a catalyst for resolving mobility problems in developing countries still dwelling on conventional options.