Detection of regolith buried water stream channels on Mars with the help of synthetic aperture radar

A major theme in the study of Mars is the search for evidence that water was present in the past or is present today, either at or below the surface. Biological life is connected to water. Hence much research is focused on the detection of water stream channels, which in the past flowed on Mars. In these areas, the petrified remains of the former life on Mars may be found. These channels may be under the regolith layer; however, the radio wave penetrating ability allows for the detection of these channels under the regolith.     

The water cycle in closed ecological systems: Perspectives from the Biosphere 2 and Laboratory Biosphere systems

To achieve sustainable, healthy closed ecological systems requires solutions to challenges of closing the water cycle – recycling wastewater/irrigation water/soil medium leachate and evaporated water and supplying water of required quality as needed for different needs within the facility. Engineering Biosphere 2, the first multi-biome closed ecological system within a total airtight footprint of 12,700 m² with a combined volume of 200,000 m³ with a total water capacity of some 6 × 10⁶ L of water was especially challenging because it included human inhabitants, their agricultural and technical systems, as well as five analogue ecosystems ranging from rainforest to desert, freshwater ecologies to saltwater systems like mangrove and mini-ocean coral reef ecosystems. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere – a small (40 m³ volume) soil-based plant growth facility with a footprint of 15 m² – is a very simplified system, but with similar challenges re salinity management and provision of water quality suitable for plant growth. In Biosphere 2, water needs included supplying potable water for people and domestic animals, irrigation water for a wide variety of food crops, and recycling and recovering soil nutrients from wastewater. In the wilderness biomes, providing adequately low salinity freshwater terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining appropriate salinity and pH in aquatic/marine ecosystems were challenges. The largest reservoirs in Biosphere 2 were the ocean/marsh with some 4 × 10⁶ L, soil with 1 to 2 × 10⁶ l, primary storage tank with 0 to 8 × 10⁵ L and storage tanks for condensate and soil leachate collection and mixing tanks with a capacity of 1.6 × 10⁵ L to supply irrigation for farm and wilderness ecosystems. Other reservoirs were far smaller – humidity in the atmosphere (2 × 10³ L), streams in the rainforest and savannah, and seasonal pools in the desert were orders of magnitude smaller (8 × 10⁴ L). Key technologies included condensation from humidity in the air handlers and from the glass space frame to produce high quality freshwater, wastewater treatment with constructed wetlands and desalination through reverse osmosis and flash evaporation were key to recycling water with appropriate quality throughout the Biosphere 2 facility. Wastewater from all human uses and the domestic animals in Biosphere 2 was treated and recycled through a series of constructed wetlands, which had hydraulic loading of 0.9–1.1 m³ day⁻¹ (240–290 gal d⁻¹). Plant production in the wetland treatment system produced 1210 kg dry weight of emergent and floating aquatic plant wetland which was used as fodder for the domestic animals while remaining nutrients/water was reused as part of the agricultural irrigation supply. There were pools of water with recycling times of days to weeks and others with far longer cycling times within Biosphere 2. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere with a total water reservoir of less than 500 L has far quicker cycling rapidity: for example, atmospheric residence time for water vapor was 5–20 min in the Laboratory Biosphere vs. 1–4 h in Biosphere 2, as compared with 9 days in the Earth’s biosphere. Just as in Biosphere 2, humidity in the Laboratory Biosphere amounts to a very small reservoir of water. The amount of water passing through the air in the course of a 12-h operational day is two orders of magnitude greater than the amount stored in the air. Thus, evaporation and condensation collection are vital parts of the recycle system just as in Biosphere 2. The water cycle and sustainable water recycling in closed ecological systems presents problems requiring further research – such as how to control buildup of salinity in materially closed ecosystems and effective ways to retain nutrients in optimal quantity and useable form for plant growth. These issues are common to all closed ecological systems of whatever size, including planet Earth’s biosphere and are relevant to a global environment facing increasing water shortages while maintaining water quality for human and ecosystem health. Modular biospheres offer a test bed where technical methods of resolving these problems can be tested for feasibility.     

基于MCMC的PLP未来强度的Bayesian预测分析

在无信息先验分布下，将Gibbs抽样与Metropolis-Hastings算法相结合的方法应用于幂律过程的未来强度的Bayesian预测。该预测方法能将时间截尾数据和失效截尾数据统一分析，并给出在未来某一时刻处强度函数的MCMC样本，利用该样本可以方便地获得关于未来某一时处刻强度函数及其函数的各种后验分析。一个经典工程数值算例说明了预测方法的可行性、合理性与有效性。     

A new approach to solar cycle forecasting

We describe a novel approach for determining the timing of the solar cycle and tracking its evolution relative to other cycles. This method also has predictive capability for forecasting the cycle “onset.” Based on current trends, we expect that Cycle 23 will be about 1 year longer than the previous two cycles.     

硅酸盐无机胶粘剂的研究

论述了一种硅酸盐胶粘剂，它具有强度高、耐水性和抗热震性好及固化温度低的特点。实验发现，金属Ａｌ粉的加入，可以有效地改善胶粘剂的强度和抗热震性，但使得用温度有所下降。而防水剂则可以有效抑制体系中碱金属离子的游离。     

Using PoF models to predict system reliability considering failure collaboration

Existing Physics-of-Failure-based (PoF-based) system reliability prediction methods are grounded on the independence assumption, which overlooks the dependency among the compo-nents. In this paper, a new type of dependency, referred to as failure collaboration, is introduced and considered in reliability predictions. A PoF-based model is developed to describe the failure behavior of systems subject to failure collaboration. Based on the developed model, the Bisection-based Reliability Analysis Method (BRAM) is exploited to calculate the system reliabil-ity. The developed methods are applied to predicting the reliability of a Hydraulic Servo Actuator (HSA). The results demonstrate that the developed methods outperform the traditional PoF-based reliability prediction methods when applied to systems subject to failure collaboration.     

圆柱体落水过程多相流体动力特性数值分析

针对圆柱体大角度落水过程多相流动问题,采用VOF多相流模型和重叠网格技术分析了低弗劳德数条件下圆柱体落水过程空泡演化、水动力特性以及尺度效应的影响。结果表明:不同直径的圆柱体落水空泡均发生拉断闭合,且空泡闭合时间随弗劳德数增加而线性增大。除落水抨击和空泡闭合阶段外,升力系数在空泡闭合前的平均增长率比空泡闭合后快。阻力系数从落水撞击至空泡闭合阶段变化一致,但是在空泡闭合后出现分化现象。     

舰载机理想着舰点垂直运动的预估与补偿

理想着舰点的垂直运动是影响着舰精度和安全的一个主要因素,因此必须加强舰载机对理想着舰点垂直运动的同步跟踪能力.为此,提出对理想着舰点垂直运动的位置和速度信号进行预估和补偿的方法,将垂直运动的位置和速度信号经过预估和补偿后分别引入到纵向自动着舰引导系统和飞控系统的垂向速度通道中,使得舰载机可以准确跟踪理想着舰点的垂直运动,以减小甲板运动对着舰的影响.针对不同海况条件,对设计的补偿器和预估器进行仿真验证,并与其他方法进行比较.结果表明本文提出的理想着舰点垂直运动预估与补偿方法可有效地补偿由甲板运动引起的着舰误差,显著提高了着舰的安全性和精确性.     

CFD predictions of LBO limits for aero-engine combustors using fuel iterative approximation

Lean blow-out (LBO) is critical to operational performance of combustion systems in propulsion and power generation. Current predictive tools for LBO limits are based on decadesold empirical correlations that have limited applicability for modern combustor designs. According to the Lefebvre’s model for LBO and classical perfect stirred reactor (PSR) concept, a load parameter (LP) is proposed for LBO analysis of aero-engine combustors in this paper. The parameters contained in load parameter are all estimated from the non-reacting flow field of a combustor that is obtained by numerical simulation. Additionally, based on the load parameter, a method of fuel iterative approximation (FIA) is proposed to predict the LBO limit of the combustor. Compared with experimental data for 19 combustors, it is found that load parameter can represent the actual combustion load of the combustor near LBO and have good relativity with LBO fuel/air ratio (FAR). The LBO FAR obtained by FIA shows good agreement with experimental data, the maximum prediction uncertainty of FIA is about ±17.5%. Because only the non-reacting flow is simulated, the time cost of the LBO limit prediction using FIA is relatively low (about 6 h for one combustor with computer equipment of CPU 2.66 GHz · 4 and 4 GB memory), showing that FIA is reliable and efficient to be used for practical applications.     

热水火箭发动机实验研究

为了解热水火箭发动机的内弹道性能,分别在不同初始压强、不同啧喉直径、不同加水量的情况下进行了实验.获得了不同情况下发动机工作的数据.通过数据的分析,总结提出了发动机工作的四个阶段:初始段、过渡段、近似线性段和拖尾段;得出初始压强、喷喉直径、加水量对发动机内弹道性能的影响规律,同时发现了在发动机工作工程中,其压强曲线都是经历一个先急剧下降后缓慢下降的过程,但是当初始压强较低时,压强曲线在过渡段会出现一个短暂的先升后降的波动.分析得出:热水火箭发动机的比冲受初始压强值的影响较大,而与喷喉直径或者加水质量无关;常规火箭发动机的推力计算公式并不适用于热水火箭发动机.