可变形翼导弹动态气动特性的仿真研究

导弹发射后,飞行高度从近地面到高空域,气压、温度变化巨大,同时飞行马赫数也从低速到超声速、高超声速。在不同飞行阶段稳定性能和升阻比需求不同,对导弹气动性能要求不同。固定外形导弹的气动性能难以适用于不同的飞行任务,而可变形翼导弹通过改变翼面的形状,实现外形上的变化,从而适应不同的作战环境。通过分析可变形收缩弹翼不同收缩速度(快速、中速、慢速3种状态)的气动性能,研究了导弹气动性能随弹翼收缩速度变化的规律,揭示了升力系数和阻力系数随弹翼的收缩速率的线性变化特征。同时还分析了变形前后导弹附近流场的压强、速度和温度的变化,以及这些物理量对导弹的影响。结果表明,伸缩翼改变了翼面面积和展弦比,弹翼伸长时具有高升阻力,适合亚声速巡航,弹翼收缩可以减小高马赫数飞行时阻力,提高导弹射程。     

Quasi-periodicities in cosmic rays recorded by the KACST muon detector during 2002–2012

In this study, daily cosmic ray data obtained with the KACST muon detector for the period 2002–2012 were analyzed for quasi-periodicities. Power-spectrum analysis was carried out and several periodicities were identified. The results reveal several periodicities at different frequency scales: 817 days (~2.19 years), 617 days (~1.7 years), 475 days (~1.3 years), 421 days (1.15 years), 290 days (~0.8 years), 227 days (~0.62 years), 185 days (~0.52 years), 153 days, 135 days, 120 days, 93 days, 84 days, 73 days, 65 days, 53–45 days, 38 days, 31 days, 25–27 days, 21 days and 13 days. The obtained periodicities are in an agreement with those previously reported by several investigators.The identified periodicities have strong relevance to solar activity parameters such as variations in the interplanetary magnetic field.In comparison, the data from two neutron monitors (NMs), Lomnický ?tít and Oulu NMs, for the same period were used and their power spectra were correspondingly obtained. Similarities and differences in the position of the cosmic-ray peaks measured by the KACST muon detector and by the two NMs have been presented and discussed. While most of the periodicities reported by the muon detector are also found in the NM data, the ~1.7-yr variation is not found. Instead, a shift of 1.6–1.8 years in the NM data is observed which may be due to the limited epoch considered in this study.     

Pressure distribution guided supercritical wing optimization

Pressure distribution is important information for engineers during an aerodynamic design process. Pressure Distribution Oriented (PDO) optimization design has been proposed to introduce pressure distribution manipulation into traditional performance dominated optimization. In previous PDO approaches, constraints or manual manipulation have been used to obtain a desirable pressure distribution. In the present paper, a new Pressure Distribution Guided (PDG) method is developed to enable better pressure distribution manipulation while maintaining optimization efficiency. Based on the RBF-Assisted Differential Evolution (RADE) algorithm, a surrogate model is built for target pressure distribution features. By introducing individuals suggested by sub-optimization on the surrogate model into the population, the direction of optimal searching can be guided. Pressure distribution expectation and aerodynamic performance improvement can be achieved at the same time. The improvements of the PDG method are illustrated by comparing its design results and efficiency on airfoil optimization test cases with those obtained using other methods. Then the PDG method is applied on a dual-aisle airplane’s inner-board wing design. A total drag reduction of 8 drag counts is achieved.     

Optimal spacecraft rendezvous using the combination of aerodynamic force and Lorentz force

This paper presents a propellantless spacecraft rendezvous method by using the optimal combination of aerodynamic force and Lorentz force. Aerodynamic force is provided by the rotations of the plates attached to the spacecraft, and Lorentz force is achieved by modulating spacecraft's electrostatic charge. Considering the limitation of the charging level of the spacecraft and physical constraints of the plates system, an optimal open-loop rendezvous trajectory is designed, which aims to minimize the energy consumed to actuate the hybrid system. The rotation rates of the plates and the electrostatic charge are constrained in the optimization problem, which is solved via the Gauss pseudospectral method. To track the open-loop trajectory in the presence of external perturbations, a novel adaptive nonsingular terminal sliding mode controller is designed. The stability of the closed-loop system is proved by the Lyapunov-based method. Several numerical examples are conducted to verify the validity of both the open-loop and closed-loop control strategy.     

High-fidelity geometry models for improving the consistency of CHAMP,GRACE, GOCE and Swarm thermospheric density data sets

During the last two decades, accelerometers on board of the CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE and Swarm satellites have provided high-resolution thermosphere density data to improve our knowledge on atmospheric dynamics and coupling processes in the thermosphere-ionosphere region. Most users of the data have focused on relative density variations. Scale differences between datasets and models have been largely neglected or removed using ad hoc scale factors. The origin of these scale differences arises from errors in the aerodynamic modelling, specifically in the modelling of the satellite outer surface geometry and of the gas-surface interactions. Therefore, the first step to remove the scale differences is to enhance the geometry modelling. This work forms the foundation for the future improvement of characterization of satellite aerodynamics and gas-surface interactions models at TU Delft, as well as for extending the use of sideways and angular accelerations in the aerodynamic analysis of accelerations and derivation of thermosphere datasets. Although work to improve geometry and aerodynamic force models by other authors has focused on CHAMP and GRACE, this paper includes the GOCE and Swarm satellites as well. In addition, it uses a density determination algorithm that is valid for arbitrary attitude orientations, enabling a validation making use of attitude manoeuvres. The results show an improvement in the consistency of density data between these four missions, and of data obtained before, during and after attitude manoeuvres of CHAMP and Swarm. The new models result in larger densities, compared to the previously used panel method. The largest average rescaling of density, by switching to the new geometry models is reached for Swarm at 32%, the smallest for GRACE at 5%. For CHAMP and GOCE, mean differences of 11% and 9% are obtained respectively. In this paper, an overview of the improvements and comparisons of data sets is provided together with an introduction to the next research phase on the gas-surface interactions.     

Aerodynamic characteristics of unsymmetrical aerofoil at various turbulence intensities

A series of wind tunnel tests were performed to investigate the effect of turbulent inflows on the aerodynamic characteristics of the unsymmetrical airfoil at various turbulence intensities and Reynolds number. To assess the aerodynamic characteristics, surface pressure measurements were made over the unsymmetrical airfoil surface by using a simultaneous pressure scanner MPS4264 of Scanivalve make. Self-generated passive grids made of parallel arrays of round bars were placed at four different locations to generate various Turbulence Intensities (TI) in the wind tunnel. The location of the passive grid has been normalized in terms of considering the distance between the entry of the test section and the leading edge of the model. Based on the wind tunnel results, by comparing the baseline without grid low turbulence case TI = 0.51% with other turbulence generated cases like TI = 4.68%, 4.73%, 6.04% and 8.46% at different Reynolds number, it is found that the coefficient of lift increases with the increase in the turbulence intensity. Results also reveal that the flow featuring turbulence can effectively delay the stall characteristics of an airfoil by attaching the flow over the airfoil for an extended region. Additionally, attempts were made to understand the influence of turbulence on the aerodynamic hysteresis.     

Neural network-based sliding mode control for atmospheric-actuated spacecraft formation using switching strategy

This paper presents an adaptive neural networks-based control method for spacecraft formation with coupled translational and rotational dynamics using only aerodynamic forces. It is assumed that each spacecraft is equipped with several large flat plates. A coupled orbit-attitude dynamic model is considered based on the specific configuration of atmospheric-based actuators. For this model, a neural network-based adaptive sliding mode controller is implemented, accounting for system uncertainties and external perturbations. To avoid invalidation of the neural networks destroying stability of the system, a switching control strategy is proposed which combines an adaptive neural networks controller dominating in its active region and an adaptive sliding mode controller outside the neural active region. An optimal process is developed to determine the control commands for the plates system. The stability of the closed-loop system is proved by a Lyapunov-based method. Comparative results through numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of executing attitude control while maintaining the relative motion, and higher control accuracy can be achieved by using the proposed neural-based switching control scheme than using only adaptive sliding mode controller.     

Numerical study of a supercritical airfoil/wing with variable-camber technology

Variable-camber technology is considered an effective way to adaptively improve the aerodynamic performance of aircraft under various flight conditions. This paper studies the aerodynamic characteristics of the trailing-edge variable-camber technology by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and a drag decomposition method. Trailing-edge variable-camber technology can be simply realized by the continuous deflection of the flaps and ailerons of a wing. A supercritical airfoil is used to study the two-dimensional effect of variable-camber technology, and a wide-body airplane model is used to validate the three-dimensional improvement in the wing's airfoil made by variable-camber technology. An optimization strategy for airfoil that incorporates variable-camber technology is proposed. The optimization results demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain better results than the traditional segregated shape optimization.     

Numerical investigation of co-flow jet airfoil with parabolic flap

Both the Active Flow Control (AFC) and the variable-camber technology are considered as efficient ways to enhance the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft. The present study investigated the feasibility of the combination of a Co-Flow Jet (CFJ) airfoil and a parabolic flap, where the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the Spalart-Allmaras (S-A) turbulence model were exploited for the numerical simulation. Several significant geometric parameters, including the injection slot location, the suction slot location, the injection slot angle, the suction slot angle and the airfoil Suction Surface Translation (SST), were selected to study their effects on the aerodynamics of the proposed configuration. Then, an optimized design was created and compared with the baseline airfoil. The results show that the CFJ airfoil combined with the parabolic flap is more beneficial to the aerodynamic performance enhancement at small angles of attack. It is preferable to locate the injection slot at a 2% chord-wise location and the suction slot at a 75% chord-wise location. Both the decrease of the injection slot angle and the augmentation of the suction slot angle could reduce the drag. Furthermore, the SST of 0.5% chord is selected due to its high gain in the corrected aerodynamic efficiency at small angles of attack. Compared with the baseline, the optimized design could increase the lift coefficient and the corrected lift-to-drag ratio by 32.1% and 93.8% respectively at the angle of attack α = 4°.