An aero-engine life-cycle maintenance policy optimization algorithm: Reinforcement learning approach

An aero-engine maintenance policy plays a crucial role in reasonably reducing maintenance cost. An aero-engine is a type of complex equipment with long service-life. In engineering,a hybrid maintenance strategy is adopted to improve the aero-engine operational reliability. Thus,the long service-life and the hybrid maintenance strategy should be considered synchronously in aero-engine maintenance policy optimization. This paper proposes an aero-engine life-cycle maintenance policy optimization algorithm that synchronously considers the long service-life and the hybrid maintenance strategy. The reinforcement learning approach was adopted to illustrate the optimization framework, in which maintenance policy optimization was formulated as a Markov decision process. In the reinforcement learning framework, the Gauss–Seidel value iteration algorithm was adopted to optimize the maintenance policy. Compared with traditional aero-engine maintenance policy optimization methods, the long service-life and the hybrid maintenance strategy could be addressed synchronously by the proposed algorithm. Two numerical experiments and algorithm analyses were performed to illustrate the optimization algorithm in detail.     

Experimental study of rotating gliding arc discharge plasma-assisted combustion in an aero-engine combustion chamber

The combustion chamber is the core component of an aero-engine, and affects its reliability and security operation, even the performance of the aircraft. In this work, a Plasma-Assisted Combustion(PAC) test platform was developed to validate the feasibility of using PAC actuators to enhance annular combustor performance. Two plans of PAC(rotating gliding arc discharge plasma) were designed, Assisted Combustion from Primary Holes(ACPH) and Assisted Combustion from Dilution Holes(ACDH). Comparative experiments and analysis between conventional combustion and PAC were conducted to study the effects of ACPH and ACDH on the performances including average outlet temperature, combustion efficiency, pattern factor under four different excessive air coefficients(0.8, 1, 2, and 4), and lean blowout performance at different inlet airflow velocities. Experimental results show that the combustion efficiency is improved after PAC compared with that in normal conditions, and the combustion efficiency of ACPH increases2.45%, 1.49%, 1.04%, and 0.47%, while it increases 2.75%, 1.67%, 1.36%, and 0.36% under ACDH conditions. The uniformity of the outlet temperature field and the lean blowout performance are improved after PAC. Especially for ACPH, the widening of the lean blowout limit is8.3%, 12.4%, 12.8%, and 25% respectively when the inlet velocity ranges from 60 m/s to120 m/s. These results offer new perspectives for using PAC devices to enhance aero-engine combustors' performances.     

A multi-rate sensor fusion approach using information filters for estimating aero-engine performance degradation

Gas-path performance estimation plays an important role in aero-engine health management, and Kalman Filter(KF) is a well-known technique to estimate performance degradation. In previous studies, it is assumed that different kinds of sensors are with the same sampling rate, and they are used for state estimation by the KF simultaneously. However, it is hard to achieve state estimation using various kinds of sensor measurements at the same sampling rate due to a complex network and physical characteristic differences between sensors, especially in an advanced multisensor architecture. For this purpose, a multi-rate sensor fusion using the information filtering approach is proposed based on the square-root cubature rule, which is called Multi-rate Squareroot Cubature Information Filter(MSCIF) to track engine performance degradation. Soft measurement synchronization of the MSCIF is designed to provide a sensor fusion condition for multiple sampling rates of measurement, and a fault sensor is isolated by maximum likelihood validation before state estimation. The contribution of this paper is to supply a novel multi-rate informationfilter approach for sensor fault tolerant health estimation of an aero-engine in a multi-sensor system. Tests are conducted for aero-engine performance degradation estimation with multiple sampling rates of sensor measurement on both digital simulation and semi-physical experiment.Experimental results illustrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm in terms of degradation estimation accuracy and robustness to sensor failure in a multi-sensor system.     

航空发动机分布式控制系统指数稳定性分析

建立具有时延与数据包丢失的航空发动机分布式控制系统模型,模型为一类异步动态系统,基于Lyapunov第二法和线性矩阵不等式方法推导了系统的指数稳定性判定定理,根据该判据可以得到分布式控制系统的指数稳定意义下的状态反馈控制律,数字仿真说明了该判据的有效性.      

航空发动机整机空气系统流动与传热数值模拟

为了研究航空发动机整机空气系统内流动与传热特性,本文以涡扇发动机整机空气系统为对象,主要包括压气机盘腔、涡轮盘腔、低压轴前后腔、前后轴承腔等旋转盘腔和大量的流阻换热单元以及相邻的结构部件。所研究的是一个多腔相连,多进口,多出口,流固耦合传热的复杂问题,分析了发动机真实状况下空气系统内的流动与传热特性。采用Mixture多相流模型进行数值计算得到了该系统的速度场、压力场和温度场。结果表明：该系统内的流场是复杂的多涡流场,多个出口出现燃气倒灌;整个系统的腔压大致从前到后逐渐升高;由于主流通道燃气的入侵,导致高、低压涡轮盘的温度较高,后轴承腔内滑油的冷却作用较为明显。本文的工作使得对发动机整机空气系统的研究不再局限于一维计算,为空气系统的设计提供了理论依据。     

弹性环式挤压油膜阻尼器减振实验研究

为研究弹性环式挤压油膜阻尼器（ERSFD）的减振效果,建立了可更换不同参数弹性环的转子实验系统,开展了ERSFD的减振效果验证实验,并对实验结果进行了对比和分析。研究结果表明：ERSFD对转子具有较明显的减振作用。供油前后转子系统的各阶临界转速相对变化不超过4.63%,说明ERSFD的油膜不会明显改变转子系统模态。ERSFD的减振效果随着ERSFD的参数变化而变化,并且对转子不同阶模态,减振效果也不同。影响ERSFD减振效果的参数较多,需要进行ERSFD与转子系统的参数优化设计。     

回热式工质驱动分布式推进系统参数研究

为研究以回热后的压气机引气驱动推进器风扇的工质驱动分布式推进系统（Recuperated Gas-Driven Distributed Propulsion,RGDDP）,对其热力循环过程和能量流动展开研究。基于部件法建立了推进系统的设计点计算模型,分析了引气参数和推进器风扇压比对推进系统耗油率的影响,在此基础上,分析了推进系统耗油率对部件效率的敏感性。在不同循环参数下与涡轮电分布式推进系统（Turbo-electric Distributed Propulsion,TeDP）的耗油率进行了对比,得到了RGDDP的热力循环特征。结果表明,引气参数存在最优组合使得推进系统的耗油率最低,同时耗油率对能量传输相关的部件效率敏感性最高;与TeDP相比,涡轮前温度对推进系统的耗油率影响更大,而总压比的影响较小;总涵道比为20时,相对于TeDP,RGDDP具有一定耗油率收益,随着总压比的升高收益降低,总压比为66时仍有3%左右的收益。提高RGDDP总体效率的关键在于降低能量传输过程中的损失并提高换热效率。     

中心分级燃烧室进场工况燃油分级方式试验研究

设计了一种贫头部中心分级燃烧室,在大推力发动机进场工况参数下,采用单头部矩形试验件,进行了污染排放测试试验,对比了预燃级单独供油、主预两级共同供油、全环主燃级周向分级三种方式的燃烧效率、氮氧化物(NO x)和冒烟(Smoke)排放。试验结果表明,进场工况下,设计的中心分级燃烧室采用预燃级单独供油方式时具有较高的燃烧效率,但NO x排放指数也较高,超过了指标要求;主预两级共同供油方式可获得较低的NO x排放,但燃烧效率难以达到指标;在合理的燃油分配比例下,全环主燃级周向分级方式燃烧效率和NO x排放能够同时满足指标要求;3种燃油分级方式下,冒烟数都远低于指标要求。     

Active generalized predictive control of turbine tip clearance for aero-engines

Active control of turbine blade tip clearance continues to be a concern in design and control of gas turbines. Ever increasing demands for improved efficiency and higher operating temperatures require more stringent tolerances on turbine tip clearance. In this paper, a turbine tip clearance control apparatus and a model of turbine tip clearance are proposed; an implicit active generalized predictive control （GPC）, with auto-regressive （AR） error modification and fuzzy adjustment on control horizon, is presented, as well as a quantitative analysis method of robust per- turbation radius of the system. The active clearance control （ACC） of aero-engine turbine tip clear- ance is evaluated in a lapse-rate take-off transient, along with the comparative and quantitative analysis of the stability and robustness of the active tip clearance control system. The results show that the resultant active tip clearance control system with the improved GPC has favorable steadystate and dynamic performance and benefits of increased efficiency, reduced specific fuel consump- tion, and additional service life.     

航空发动机构件先进热处理技术

热处理技术是发动机制造领域的基础、共性技术,是构件获得服役性能的关键因素.结合近些年的研究和实践,综述了先进热处理技术的发展现状,对真空热处理、化学热处理、特种热处理技术在叶片、涡轮盘、齿轮、轴承、转子等关键构件制造中的应用进行重点讨论,并对未来我国航空发动机热处理技术的研究工作进行了展望.