Hardware qualification for scientific ballooning missions

The European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO) initiative aims at simplifying the access to stratospheric balloon missions. We plan to provide platforms and support with instrument design in order to support scientists. During the design process, the inevitable question of qualification for the harsh flight conditions arises. Unfortunately, there is no existing standard for qualification of stratospheric ballooning hardware. Thus, we developed a qualification procedure for use within ESBO and similar projects.In this paper, we present our analysis of the environmental conditions in the stratosphere. While conditions at typical balloon float altitudes are similar to the space environment, there are also some relevant differences. For example, the thermal environment is dominated by radiation and thermal conduction, but the remaining atmosphere still supports a certain amount of convection. The remaining atmospheric pressure in the stratosphere also leads to reduced arcing distances. Vibrational loads are far less than for space missions, but quasi-static or shock loads may occur. The criticality of radiation increases with mission duration.Based on the environmental conditions, we present the qualification procedures for ESBO, which are based on the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) standards for space systems. Overtesting against too high requirements leads to overengineering, driving mission cost and mitigating the advantages of balloons over space missions. Therefore, we modified the ECSS standards to fit typical scientific ballooning missions over several days at altitudes up to 40 km. Furthermore, we analyzed design rules for space systems with regard to their relevance for scientific ballooning, including material and component selection. We present the experience from the hardware qualification process for the ESBO prototype STUDIO (Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory). Even though boundary conditions are different for each individual mission, we aimed for a broader approach: We investigated more general requirements for scientific ballooning missions to support future flights.     

Collaborative manufacturing technologies of structure shape and surface integrity for complex thin-walled components of aero-engine: Status,challenge and tendency

Presently, the service performance of new-generation high-tech equipment is directly affected by the manufacturing quality of complex thin-walled components. A high-efficiency and quality manufacturing of these complex thin-walled components creates a bottleneck that needs to be solved urgently in machinery manufacturing. To address this problem, the collaborative manufacturing of structure shape and surface integrity has emerged as a new process that can shorten processing cycles, improve machining qualities, and reduce costs. This paper summarises the research status on the material removal mechanism, precision control of structure shape, machined surface integrity control and intelligent process control technology of complex thin-walled components. Numerous solutions and technical approaches are then put forward to solve the critical problems in the high-performance manufacturing of complex thin-wall components. The development status, challenge and tendency of collaborative manufacturing technologies in the high-efficiency and quality manufacturing of complex thin-wall components is also discussed.     

Macro-phenomenological high-strain-rate elastic fracture model for ice-impact simulations

The ice impact can cause a severe damage to an aircraft’s exposed structure, thus, requiring its prevention. The numerical simulation represents an effective method to overcome this challenge. The establishment of the ice material model is critical. However, ice is not a common structural material and exhibits an extremely complex material behavior. The material models of ice reported so far are not able to accurately simulate the ice behavior at high strain rates. This study proposes a novel high-precision macro-phenomenological elastic fracture model based on the brittle behavior of ice at high strain rates. The developed model has been compared with five reported models by using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method so as to simulate the ice-impact process with respect to the impact speeds and ice shapes. The important metrics and phenomena (impact force history, deformation and fragmentation of the ice projectile and deflection of the target) were compared with the experimental data reported in the literature. The findings obtained from the developed model are observed to be most consistent with the experimental data, which demonstrates that the model represents the basic physics and phenomena governing the ice impact at high strain rates. The developed model includes a relatively fewer number of material parameters. Further, the used parameters have a clear physical meaning and can be directly obtained through experiments. Moreover, no adjustment of any material parameter is needed, and the consumption duration is also acceptable. These advantages indicate that the developed model is suitable for simulating the ice-impact process and can be applied for the anti-ice impact design in aviation.     

Optimum alternate material selection methodology for an aircraft skin

Weight penalty has been a challenge for design engineers of aerospace vehicles. Today’s high-efficiency combat aircraft undergoes intense stress and strain during flying missions, which require stronger and stiffer materials to retain structural integrity. Though metallic materials have been successfully used for the construction of aircraft structures and components, metals still have a low strength-to-weight ratio. This paper aims to develop an alternate optimised material selection methodolog...