Redefining safety in commercial space: Understanding debates over the safety of private human spaceflight initiatives in the United States

In 2009 President Obama proposed a budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that canceled the Constellation program and included the development of commercial crew transportation systems into low Earth orbit. This significant move to shift human spaceflight into the private sector sparked political debate, but much of the discourse has focused on impacts to “safety.” Although no one disputes the importance of keeping astronauts safe, strategies for defining safety reveal contrasting visions for the space program and opposing values regarding the privatization of U.S. space exploration. In other words, the debate over commercial control has largely become encoded in arguments over safety. Specifically, proponents of using commercial options for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) argue that commercial vehicles would be safe for astronauts, while proponents of NASA control argue that commercial vehicles would be unsafe, or at least not as safe as NASA vehicles. The cost of the spaceflight program, the technical requirements for designing a vehicle, the track record of the launch vehicle, and the experience of the launch provider are all incorporated into what defines safety in human spaceflight. This paper analyzes these contested criteria through conceptual lenses provided by fields of science and technology policy (STP) and science, technology, and society (STS). We ultimately contend that these differences in definition result not merely from ambiguous understandings of safety, but from intentional and strategic choices guided by normative positions on the commercialization of human spaceflight. The debate over safety is better considered a proxy debate for the partisan preferences embedded within the dispute over public or private spaceflight.     

冲压叶栅边界层抽吸处理分析

为了提高冲压转子叶片的性能,通过数值模拟的方法研究了边界层抽吸技术在内压式冲压叶栅上的应用,结果表明,与未抽吸的工况相比,采取抽吸措施可以提高冲压叶栅的增压能力,且其增压能力随着抽吸流量的增加而提高。在喉口位置之前抽吸会增强抽吸缝后的激波强度;而在喉口以及喉口之后的亚声区进行抽吸可以增大叶栅扩张段的气动流通面积,这会使结尾激波向叶栅出口移动,有利于提高冲压叶栅的压比;在结尾激波之后的低能流体聚集区抽吸更有利于冲压叶栅总压恢复系数的提高。在喉口之后抽吸时,对于某一确定抽吸位置的工况,存在着使总压恢复系数最大的最佳抽吸流量;研究结果还表明,当抽吸流量固定时,在喉口位置抽吸比在其它位置抽吸更能提高冲压叶栅的增压能力。     

温敏漆技术及其在边界层转捩测量中的应用

A temperature sensitive paint (TSP) technique is developed for the request of boundary layer transition measurement, and a test of hypersonic boundary layer measurement of a flat plate is done in CARDC 0.6m shock tunnel. By use of the TSP technique, the measurement of the hypersonic boundary layer transition of slab has been done in the shock tunnel. The test nominal Mach numbers are 8 and 10, the unit Reynolds numbers are 2.45×10 7/m and 4.48× 10 6/m respectively, and the yaw angle is 20°. The data of heat transfer and transition position obtained by the TSP and measurement results of the thin film heat transfer sensor match well. The results illustrate that the TSP technique has the ability to measure the hypersonic boundary layer transition of simple model qualitatively and quantitatively in shock tunnel.     

Feedback control of boundary layer Tollmien-Schlichting waves using a simple model-based controller

The attenuation of spatially evolving instability Tollmien-Schlichting (T-S) waves in the boundary layer of a flat plate with zero pressure gradients using an active feedback control scheme is theoretically and numerically investigated. The boundary layer is excited artificially by various perturbations to create a three-dimensional field of instability waves. Arrays of actuators and sensors are distributed locally at the wall surface and connected together via a feedback controller. The key elements of this feedback control are the determination of the dynamic model of the flat plate boundary layer between the actuators and the sensors, and the design of the model-based feedback controller. The dynamic model is established based on the linear stability calculation which simulates the three-dimensional input-output behaviour of the boundary layer. To simplify the control problem, an uncoupled control mode of the dynamic model is made to capture only those dynamics that have greatest influences on the input-output behaviour. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller, i.e. a lead-lag compensator, combining with a standard Smith predictor is designed based on the system stability criterion and the specifications using frequency-response methods. Good performance of the feedback control with the uncoupled control mode is demonstrated by the large reduction of the three-dimensional disturbances in the boundary layer. This simple feedback control is realistic and competitive in a practical implementation of T-S wave cancellation using a limited number of localised sensors and actuators.     

Oscillatory thermocapillary flows in simulated floating-zones with time-dependent temperature boundary conditions

This study deals with numerical simulations of the Maxus sounding rocket experiment on oscillatory Marangoni convection in liquid bridges. The problem is investigated through direct numerical solution of the non-linear, time-dependent, three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, a liquid bridge of silicon oil 2[cs] with a length L = 20 [mm] and a diameter D = 20 (mm) is considered. A temperature difference ΔT = 30 [K] is imposed between the supporting disks, by heating the top disk and cooling the bottom one with different rates of ramping. The results show that the oscillatory flow starts as an ‘axially running wave’, but after a transient time the instability is described by the dynamic model of a ‘standing wave’, with an azimuthal spatial distribution corresponding to m = 1 (where m is the critical wave number). After the transition, the disturbances become larger and the azimuthal velocity plays a more important role and the oscillatory field is characterized by a travelling wave. The characteristic times for the onset of the different flow regimes are computed for different rates of ramping.     

用CTS试件及不连续位移法研究复合材料板裂纹

用ＣＴＳ试件研究了带裂纹的Ｆ１２有机纤维／环氧基体复合材料板裂纹法端附近的应力，介绍了该方法的原理、试验手续、加载方式数据处理；用不连续位移法对该 年进行了数值分析，试验和数值分析计算结果相近。     

半埋入式S弯进气道主动流动控制研究

为了改善半埋入式亚声速S弯进气道出口气流品质,本文采用吹、吸气方式对其进行了主动流动控制数值研究。结果表明:吸气位置、吸气量变化显著影响进气道气动性能,最佳吸气位置位于唇口附近,当唇口吸气量为进气道流量的1.9%时,总压畸变指数降低约45.7%,总压恢复系数和增压比略有提高;而附面层吹气时进气道的性能仅在吹气量较小时有所改善;附面层吹、吸组合控制对流场的改善程度介于上述方案之间,而非单独吹、吸气方案效果的简单叠加。     

正攻角状态下尾迹对低压涡轮附面层的渗透及转捩的影响

为研究正攻角状态下尾迹对低压涡轮附面层的渗透以及转捩过程的影响,分别在设计攻角和+10°攻角下,对高负荷低压涡轮叶型的吸力面附面层流动进行了数值模拟与实验。数值模拟使用CFX软件,采用大涡模拟模型。结果表明+10°攻角下,尾迹对附面层转捩过程的促进作用比设计攻角下更为显著,这是由于正攻角下的尾迹中心射流与吸力面切向的夹角更大,使得尾迹扰动渗透入附面层的深度更深,尾迹放大Klebanoff条纹强度更强,尾迹诱导转捩起始位置更靠上游。     

Physics-based model for boundary layer transition prediction in a wide speed range

A new physics-based model employing three transport equations is developed for the simulation of boundary layer transitions in a wide speed range. The laminar kinetic energy is used to represent pretransitional streamwise velocity fluctuations, taking account of different instability modes. The fluctuation velocity components normal to the streamwise direction are modeled by another transport equation. Transition is triggered automatically with the development of the pretransitional velocity fluctuations. In the fully turbulent region, the model reverts to the k-ω turbulence model. Different test cases, including subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic flows around flat plates, airfoils and straight cones, are numerically simulated to validate the performance of the model. The results demonstrate the excellent predictive capabilities of the model in different paths of transition. The model can serve as a basis for the extension of additional transition mechanisms, such as rotation and curvature effects, roughness-induced transition and crossflow-induced transition.     

Predicting near-wall turbulence with minimal flow units in compressible turbulent channel flows

Mach number effects on the near-wall turbulence in the absence of outer motions remain unclear so far. The present study extends the Minimal Flow Units (MFUs), a widely applied method to investigate near-wall turbulence free from the impact of large-scale motions in the outer region in incompressible channel flows, to compressible wall-bounded turbulence. The compressible near-wall turbulence in MFU proves accurate in replicating near-wall statistics, independent of Mach number and statistically equivalent to the universal signals extracted from the full-sized channel. It is further utilized as universal signals in the predictive models of compressible near-wall turbulence, which is capable of accurately predicting variances and joint probability density functions of velocity and temperature fluctuations.