Non-reflective boundary conditions for non-uniform mean velocity inlet and outlet flows

The numerical solution of problems in unbounded physical space requires a truncation of the computational domain to a reasonable size. As a result, the conditions on the artificial boundaries are generally unknown. Assumptions like constant pressure or velocities are only valid in the far field and lead to spurious reflections if applied on the boundaries of the truncated domain. A number of attempts have been made over the past decades to design conditions that prevent such reflections. One approach is based on characteristics. The standard analysis assumes a spatially uniform mean flow field but this is often impractical. In the present paper we show how to extend the formulation to the more general case of a non-uniform mean velocity field. A number of test cases are provided and our results compare favourably with other boundary conditions. In principle the present approach can be extended to include non-uniformities in all variables.

Can fundamental shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction research be relevant to inlet aerodynamics?

The important influence of shock waves on supersonic inlet performance has led to much time and effort being expended in the area of shock wave/boundary layer interaction research (SWBLI) and SWBLI control. In this short review, the impact of SWBLIs on supersonic inlet aerodynamic research is discussed and is contrasted with fundamental SWBLI research. Inlet research focussed on internal flow performance is reviewed, based on the salient results, conclusions, and the limitations of such work. The role of fundamental SWBLI research in relation to supersonic inlet research is considered, and the possible positive impact of improving the link between fundamental SWBLI research and inlet design is considered. A simple flow-field is discussed which is thought to be able to simulate at least some more of the flow physics found in a typical inlet. A brief review of real inlet parameters is then given to help determine appropriate fundamental experimental parameters such as incoming Mach number, incoming boundary-layer thickness and subsonic difiuser angle. Copyright © 2012 by N. Titchener, H. Babinsky, and E. Loth.

Vortical structures on three-dimensional shock control bumps

The vortical wake structure produced by a three-dimensional shock control bump (SCB) is thought to be useful for controlling transonic buffet on airfoils. However, at present the vorticity produced is relatively weak and the production mechanism is not well understood. Using a combined experimental and computational approach, a preliminary investigation on the wake vorticity for different bump geometries has been carried out. The structure of the wake for on and off-design conditions are considered, and the effects on the downstream boundary layer demonstrated. Three main vortical structures are observed: a primary vortex pair, weak inter-bump vortices and shear flow in the lambda-shock region. The effect of pressure gradients on vortex strength is examined and it is found that spanwise pressure gradients on the front section of the bump are the most significant parameter influencing vortex strength. © 2013 by S.P. Colliss et al.

Canonical normal shock wave/boundary-layer interaction flows relevant to external compression inlets

The normal shock wave/boundary-layer interaction is important to the operation and performance of a supersonic inlet, and the normal shock wave/boundary-layer interaction is particularly prominent in external compression inlets. To improve understanding of such interactions, it is helpful to make use of fundamental flows that capture the main elements of inlets, without resorting to the level of complexity and system integration associated with full-geometry inlets. In this paper, several fundamental flowfield configurations have been considered as possible test cases to represent the normal shock wave/boundary-layer interaction aspects found in typical external compression inlets, and it was found that the spillage diffuser more closely retains the basic flow features of an external compression inlet than the other configurations. In particular, this flowfield allows the normal shock Mach number as well as the amount and rate of subsonic diffusion to all be held approximately constant and independent of the application of flow control. In addition, a survey of several external compression inlets was conducted to quantify the flow and geometric parameters of the spillage diffuser relevant to actual inlets. The results indicated that such a flow may be especially relevant if the terminal Mach number is about 1.3 to 1.4, the confinement parameter is around 10%, and the width is around twice or three times the height. In addition, the area expansion downstream of the shock should be limited to the conservative side of incipient stall based on incompressible diffusers. Copyright © 2013 by the authors.

Joint experimental and numerical approach to three-dimensional shock control bump research

Previous studies of transonic shock control bumps have often been either numerical or experimental. Comparisons between the two have been hampered by the limitations of either approach. The present work aims to bridge the gap between computational fluid dynamics and experiment by planning a joint approach from the outset. This enables high-quality validation data to be produced and ensures that the conclusions of either aspect of the study are directly relevant to the application. Experiments conducted with bumps mounted on the floor of a blowdown tunnel were modified to include an additional postshock adverse pressure gradient through the use of a diffuser as well as introducing boundary-layer suction ahead of the test section to enable the in-flow boundary layer to be manipulated. This has the advantage of being an inexpensive and highly repeatable method. Computations were performed on a standard airfoil model, with the flight conditions as free parameters. The experimental and computational setups were then tuned to produce baseline conditions that agree well, enabling confidence that the experimental conclusions are relevant. The methods are then applied to two different shock control bumps: a smoothly contoured bump, representative of previous studies, and a novel extended geometry featuring a continuously widening tail, which spans the wind-tunnel width at the rear of the bump. Comparison between the computational and experimental results for the contour bump showed good agreement both with respect to the flow structures and quantitative analysis of the boundary-layer parameters. It was seen that combining the experimental and numerical data could provide valuable insight into the flow physics, which would not generally be possible for a one-sided approach. The experiments and computational fluid dynamics were also seen to agree well for the extended bump geometry, providing evidence that, even though thebumpinteracts directly with the wind-tunnel walls, it was still possible to observe the key flow physics. The joint approach is thus suitable even for wider bump geometries. Copyright © 2013 by S. P. Colliss, H. Babinsky, K. Nubler, and T. Lutz. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

Effects of Magnetohydrodynamic Interaction-Zone Position on Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interaction

A third-order weighted essentially nonoscillatory and non-free-parameter difference scheme magnetohydrodynamic solver has been established to investigate the mechanisms of magnetohydrodynamics controlling separation induced by an oblique shock wave impinging on a flat plate. The effects of magnetohydrodynamic interaction-zone location on the separation point, reattachment point, separation-bubble size, and boundary-layer velocity profiles are analyzed. The results show that there exists a best location for the magnetohydrodynamic zone to be applied, where the separation point is delayed the farthest, and the separation bubble is decreased up to about 50% in size compared to the case without magnetohydrodynamic control, which demonstrated the promising of magnetohydrodynamics suppressing the separation induced by shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions.

Theoretical and experimental research on time-optimal trajectory planning and control of industrial robots

提出了一种用于工业机器人时间最优轨迹规划及轨迹控制的新方法，它可以确保在关节位移、速度、加速度以及二阶加速度边界值的约束下，机器人手部沿笛卡尔空间中规定路径运动的时间阳短。在这种方法中，所规划的关节轨迹都采用二次多项式加余弦函数的形式，不仅可以保证各关节运动的位移、速度 、加速度连续而且还可以保证各关节运动的二阶加速度连续。采用这种方法，既可以提高机器人的工作效率又可以延长机器人的工作寿命以PUMA560机器人为对象进行了计算机仿真和机器人实验，结果表明这种方法是正确的有效的。它为工业机器人在非线性运动学约束条件下的时间最优轨迹规划及控制问题提供了一种较好的解决方案。

Boundary triplets and M-functions for non-selfadjoint operators, with applications to elliptic PDEs and block operator matrices

B.M. Brown, M. Marletta, S. Naboko, I. Wood: Boundary triplets and M-functions for non-selfadjoint operators, with applications to elliptic PDEs and block operator matrices, J. London Math. Soc., June 2008; 77: 700-718. The full text of this article will be made available in this repository in June 2009 Sponsorship: EPSRC,INTAS

Cortical Dynamics of Feature Binding and Reset: Control of Visual Persistence

An analysis of the reset of visual cortical circuits responsible for the binding or segmentation of visual features into coherent visual forms yields a model that explains properties of visual persistence. The reset mechanisms prevent massive smearing or visual percepts in response to rapidly moving images. The model simulates relationships among psychophysical data showing inverse relations of persistence to flash luminance and duration, greaterr persistence of illusory contours than real contours, a U-shaped temporal function for persistence of illusory contours, a reduction of persistence: due to adaptation with a stimulus of like orientation, an increase or persistence due to adaptation with a stimulus of perpendicular orientation, and an increase of persistence with spatial separation of a masking stimulus. The model suggests that a combination of habituative, opponent, and endstopping mechanisms prevent smearing and limit persistence. Earlier work with the model has analyzed data about boundary formation, texture segregation, shape-from-shading, and figure-ground separation. Thus, several types of data support each model mechanism and new predictions are made.

Nutrient regimes control phytoplankton ecophysiology in the South Atlantic

Fast Repetition Rate fluorometry (FRRf) measurements of phytoplankton photophysiology from an across-basin South Atlantic cruise (as part of the GEOTRACES programme) characterised two dominant ecophysiological regimes which were interpreted on the basis of nutrient limitation. South of the South Subtropical Convergence (SSTC) in the northern sub-Antarctic sector of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Eastern Atlantic Basin, waters are characterised by elevated chlorophyll concentrations, a dominance by larger phytoplankton cells, and low apparent photochemical efficiency (F-v/F-m). Shipboard 24 h iron (Fe) addition incubation experiments confirmed that Fe stress was primarily responsible for the low F-v/F-m, with Fe addition to these waters, either within the artificial bottle additions or naturally occurring downstream enrichment from Gough Island, significantly increasing F-v/F-m values. To the north of the SSTC at the southern boundary of the South Atlantic Gyre, phytoplankton are characterised by high values of F-v/F-m which, coupled with the low macronutrient concentrations and increased presence of picocyanobacteria, are interpreted as conditions of Fe replete, balanced macronutrient-limited growth. Spatial correlation was found between F-v/F-m and Fe: nitrate ratios, supporting the suggestion that the relative supply ratios of these two nutrients can control patterns of limitation and consequently the ecophysiology of phytoplankton in subtropical gyre and ACC regimes.

Passive Control of Plume Interference on Slender Axisymmetric Bodies

The physics of the plume-induced shock and separation, particularly at high plume to exit pressure ratios with and without shock-turbulent boundary-layer control methods, were studied using computational techniques. Mass-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with a two-equation turbulence model were solved by using a fully implicit finite volume scheme and time.marching algorithm. The control methodologies for shock interactions included a porous tail and a porous extension attached at the nozzle exit or trailing edge. The porous tail produced a weaker shock and fixed the shock position on the control surface. The effect of the porous extension on shock interactions was mainly to restrain the plume from strongly underexpanding during a change in flight conditions. These techniques could give an additional dimension to the design and control of supersonic missiles.

Periodic transonic flow and control

The current understanding of periodic transonic flow is reviewed briefly. The effects of boundary-layer transition, non-adiabatic wall conditions and modifications to the aerofoil surface geometry at the shock interactions on periodic transonic flow are discussed. Through the methods presented, it is proposed that the frequency of periodic motion can be predicted with reasonable accuracy, but there are limitations on the prediction of buffet boundaries associated with periodic transonic flows. Several methods have been proposed by which the periodic motion may be virtually eliminated, most relevantly by altering the position of transition fix, contouring the aerofoils surface or adding a porous surface and a cavity in the region of shock interaction. In addition, it has been shown that heat transfer can have a significant effect on buffet.

Stability Analysis and Implementation of a Decentralized Formation Control Strategy for Unmanned Vehicles

This paper presents a new methodology for solving the multi-vehicle formation control problem. It employs a unique extension-decomposition-aggregation scheme to transform the overall complex formation control problem into a group of subproblems, which work via boundary interactions or disturbances. Thus, it is proved that the overall formation system is exponentially stable in the sense of Lyapunov, if all the individual augmented subsystems (IASs) are stable. Linear matrix inequality-based H8 control methodology is employed to design the decentralized formation controllers to reject the impact of the formation changes being treated as boundary disturbances and guarantee the stability of all the IASs, consequently maintaining the stability of the overall formation system. Simulation studies are performed to verify the stability, performance, and effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Efficiency improvement study for small wind turbines through flow control

In this study, a constant suction technique for controlling boundary layer separation at low Reynolds numbers was designed and tested. This was later implemented on small wind turbines. Small wind turbines need to operate in low wind speeds, that is, in low Reynolds number regimes – typically in the range 104–105. Airfoils are prone to boundary layer separation in these conditions, leading to a substantial drop in aerodynamic performance of the blades. Under these conditions turbines will have reduced energy output. This paper presents experimental results of applying surface-suction over the suction-surface of airfoils for controlling boundary layer separation. The Reynolds numbers for the experiments are kept in the range 8×104–5×105. The air over the surface of the airfoil is drawn into the airfoil through a slit. It is found that the lift coefficient of the airfoils increases and the drag reduces. Based on the improved airfoil characteristics, an analysis of increase in Coefficient of Power (CP), versus input power for a small wind turbine blade with constant suction is presented.