Detailed modeling of aluminum particle combustion——From single particles to cloud combustion in Bunsen flames

A numerical model for aluminum cloud combustion which includes the effects of interphase heat transfer, phase change, heterogeneous surface reactions, homogeneous combustion,oxide cap growth and radiation within the Euler–Lagrange framework is proposed. The model is validated in single particle configurations with varying particle diameters. The combustion process of a single aluminum particle is analyzed in detail and the particle consumption rates as well as the heat release rates due to the v...     

Dynamic neighborhood genetic learning particle swarm optimization for high-power-density electric propulsion motor

To maximize the power density of the electric propulsion motor in aerospace application, this paper proposes a novel Dynamic Neighborhood Genetic Learning Particle Swarm Optimization (DNGL-PSO) for the motor design, which can deal with the insufficient population diversity and non-global optimal solution issues. The DNGL-PSO framework is composed of the dynamic neighborhood module and the particle update module. To improve the population diversity, the dynamic neighborhood strategy is first proposed, which combines the local neighborhood exemplar generation mechanism and the shuffling mechanism. The local neighborhood exemplar generation mechanism enlarges the search range of the algorithm in the solution space, thus obtaining high-quality exemplars. Meanwhile, when the global optimal solution cannot update its fitness value, the shuffling mechanism module is triggered to dynamically change the local neighborhood members. The roulette wheel selection operator is introduced into the shuffling mechanism to ensure that particles with larger fitness value are selected with a higher probability and remain in the local neighborhood. Then, the global learning based particle update approach is proposed, which can achieve a good balance between the expansion of the search range in the early stage and the acceleration of local convergence in the later stage. Finally, the optimization design of the electric propulsion motor is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed DNGL-PSO. The simulation results show that the proposed DNGL-PSO has excellent adaptability, optimization efficiency and global optimization capability, while the optimized electric propulsion motor has a high power density of 5.207 kW/kg with the efficiency of 96.12%.     

An intelligent approach for flight risk prediction under icing conditions

Flight risk prediction is significant in improving the flight crew’s situational awareness because it allows them to adopt appropriate operation strategies to prevent risk expansion caused by abnormal conditions, especially aircraft icing conditions. The flight risk space representing the nonlinear mapping relations between risk degree and the three-dimensional commanded vector(commanded airspeed, commanded bank angle, and commanded vertical velocity) is developed to provide the crew with practi...     

高压涡轮工作叶片内部流场特性试验研究

为研究变工况特性下涡轮叶片内部通道流场特性，选取高压涡轮二级工作叶片内部通道作为研究对象，在5种不同的进口雷诺数（Re）工况下，利用TRPIV（时序PIV）技术对通道内的流场特性进行了试验研究。Re变化为32426～64700，模拟了飞行循环过程中的若干典型工况。在先进加工技术的辅助下，保留了真实叶型约束下的完整内冷三通道带肋结构，捕捉到一些不同于常规截面两通道模型等简化模型中的流动现象，包括：弯头区域不对称主流分离结构和非对称二次涡系。通过数据分析，明确了高、低雷诺数下流动特性的差异。在高Re工况条件下，弯头出口附近的冲击区域增大；对于第一通道内的二次流，在接近弯头位置处，横向速度分量会导致纵向涡对的强度被削弱，高Re工况下拥有更加剧烈的影响，极有可能削弱吸力面的换热强度。     

Improving aircraft aerodynamic performance with bionic wing obtained by ice shape modulation

For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with limited electrical power to achieve effectively anti-/de-icing at the leading edge of the wing, a strategy of ice shape modulation was proposed. Isolated simulated ice shape pieces printed by 3D printing technology are mounted on a NACA0012 finite wing model, and its lift/drag coefficients and suction-side velocity fields are measured by the six-component force balance and the Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV), respectively. The ratio of the spanwise length of a single ice shape piece to chord length and the spanwise length of the non-icing area between the two adjacent single ice shape pieces are defined as dimensionless ice shape length (w/c) and dimensionless modulation ratio (w/λ), respectively. The results indicate that for a fixed w/λ, the wing lift coefficient first increases and then drops with increasing w/c, and a peak value exists when w/c is between 0.1 and 0.2. The lower the w/λ is, the higher the wing lift coefficient will be. The periodical variation of the flow separation area along the spanwise direction is attributed on the one hand to the acceleration effect of the flow field in the non-icing area which reduces the separation area, and on the other hand to the cross-flow caused by the streamwise vortices from the non-icing area to the icing area which promotes the mixing of the flow field (similar to vortex generators). The obtained modulation law is verified through flight tests and provides guidance for the use of ice shape modulation scheme for UAVs that cannot be completely anti-/de-icing under severe weather conditions.     

Method for utilizing PIV to investigate high curvature and acceleration boundary layer flows around the compressor blade leading edge

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a well-developed and contactless technique in experimental fluid mechanics, but the strong velocity gradient and streamline curvature near the wall substantially limits its accuracy improvement. This paper presents a data processing procedure combining conventional PIV and newly developed Mirror Interchange (MI) based Interface-PIV for the measurement of the boundary layer parameter development in the blade leading edge region. The synthetic particle images are used to analyze the measurement errors in the entire procedure. Overall, three types of errors, namely the errors caused by the Window Deformation Iterative Multigrid (WIDIM) algorithm, the discrete data interpolation and integration, and the wall offset uncertainty, comprise the main measurement error. Specifically, the errors due to the discrete data interpolation and integration and the WIDIM algorithm comprise the mean bias, which can be corrected through the error analysis method proposed in the present work. Meanwhile, the errors due to the WIDIM algorithm and the wall offset uncertainty contribute to the measurement uncertainty. Computational fluid dynamics-based synthetic particle flows were generated to verify the newly developed PIV data processing procedure and the corresponding error analysis method. Results showed that the data processing method could improve the accuracy of PIV measurements for boundary layer flows with high curvature and acceleration and even with significant flow separation bubbles. Finally, the data processing method is also applied in a PIV experiment to investigate the boundary layer flows around a compressor blade leading edge, and several credible boundary flow parameters were obtained.     

Measurement-driven Gauss-Hermite particle filter with soft spatiotemporal constraints for multi-optical theodolites target tracking

Multi-Optical Theodolite Tracking systems (MOTTs) can stealthily extract the target’s status information from bearings only through non-contact measurement. The constrained MOTTs are partially compatible, yet many existing research works and results are based on the known model, ignoring its discrimination with the target maneuvering behavior pattern. To compensate for these mismatches, this paper develops a Measurement-driven Gauss-Hermite Particle Filter (MGHPF), which elegantly fuses the spatiotemporal constraints and its soft form to perform MOTT missions. Specifically, the target dynamic model and tracking algorithm are based on the target behavior pattern with the adaptive turn rate, fully exploiting the spatial epipolar geometry characteristics for each intersection measurement by a minimax strategy. Then, the center of the feasible area is approximated via the analytic coordinate transformation, and the latent samples are updated via the deterministic Gauss-Hermite integral method with the target’s predictive turn rate. Simultaneously, the effects of truncation correction and compensation feedback from the current measurement and historical estimation data are adaptively incorporated into the PF’s importance distribution to cover the mixture likelihood. Besides, an effective causality-invariant updating rule is provided to estimate the parameters of these soft spatiotemporal constrained MOTTs with convergence guarantees. Simulated and measured results show good agreement; compared with the state-of-the-art Multi-Model Rao-Blackwell Particle Filter (MMRBPF), the proposed MGHPF improves the filtering accuracy by 7.4%-34.7% and significantly reduces the computational load.     

Evolution of turbulent boundary layer over a three-dimensional bump

A bump is typically used in the inlet system of an aircraft engine to compress the incoming airflow and to reduce boundary layer thickness developed over fuselage. In this work, the turbulent flow over a three-dimensional bump is experimentally studied. The bump model is mounted in a closed return wind tunnel operated at the nominal velocity 10 m/s, corresponding to a friction Reynolds number of 2300. The flow field upstream the bump, along the bump centerline and at two different spanwise plane...     

Numerical simulations of a continuously injected relativistic electron beam relaxation into a plasma with large-scale density gradients

In this paper the influence of large-scale decreasing and increasing gradients of the density of magnetized plasma on the relaxation process of a continuously injected relativistic electron beam with an energy of 660 keV ($v_b=0.9c$) and a pitch-angle distribution is studied using particle-in-cell numerical simulations. It is found that for the selected parameters in the case of a smoothly decreasing gradient and in a homogeneous plasma the formation of spatially limited plasma oscillations of large amplitude occurs. In such cases, modulation instability develops and a long-wave longitudinal modulation of the ion density is formed. In addition, the large amplitude of plasma waves accelerates plasma electrons to energies on the order of the beam energy. In the case of increasing and sharply decreasing gradients, a significant decrease in the amplitude of plasma oscillations and the formation of a turbulent ion density spectrum are observed. The possibility of acceleration of beam electrons to energies more than 2 times higher than the initial energy of the beam particles is also demonstrated. This process takes place not only during beam propagation in growing plasma density, but also in homogeneous plasma due to interaction of beam particles with plasma oscillations of large amplitude.     

System-level prognostics approach for failure prediction of reaction wheel motor in satellites

The reaction wheels actuated by motors are widely used for advanced attitude control of satellites. During the satellite operation, the performance of reaction wheel motor degrades and results in unexpected failures. To guarantee the reliability and safety of satellites, it is important to predict its remaining useful life while it is in operation. To address this issue, this study presents a system-level prognostics approach for the reaction wheel motor, by regarding it as a system composed of multiple components. The approach is demonstrated by using the motor operation data obtained during the accelerated-life tests on ground for 3 years. Health degradation of each components of the motor are estimated using the adaptive extended Kalman filter. Failure threshold of the motor performance is established by the design requirement on characteristic curve. The anomaly detection and failure prediction are performed using the shifting kernel particle filter.