An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the flow characteristics of shallow swept cavities at a free-stream Mach number of 2. The investigation described herein focused on obtaining information on both time-averaged and time-dependent flow features. The data consisted of steady and unsteady pressure measurements as well as some surface oil and schlieren flow visualisation. The effective length-to-depth ratios l/d of cavities investigated ranged between 5·65 and 8 for shallow ‘open’ cavities and between 11·31 and 16 for ‘closed’ cavities. The cavity sweep angles were 0°, 15° and 45°. The results of the swept cavities, when compared to the datum cases of the straight (0°) cavities, showed some distinct differences. With regard to time-averaged flow characteristics, in an open swept cavity (5·65 < l/d < 8), the flow displayed quasi-open flow behaviour, distorted by the spanwise cross flow within the cavity. In the case of the closed swept cavity (11·31 < l/d < 16), flow features resembling the ‘closed’ to ‘transitional closed’ cavity flow types were seen to exist simultaneously across the span. Unsteady pressure data indicated that for an open cavity at 15° sweep angle, the discrete frequencies observed were similar to those of a straight open cavity. In contrast to this, at 45° sweep angle, the frequencies were broadband with no discrete frequency across the cavity length. For the closed cavity, the frequencies were all broadband irrespective of the sweep angle. The investigation also showed that the influence of the sweep angle on the pressure drag of the cavity strongly depends on the type of cavity flow: a sweep angle increase from 0° to 45° approximately doubled the pressure drag for an open cavity, while it led to a drag reduction of about 37% for the closed cavity.

This paper presents the application of a relatively new technique of fluidic thrust-vectoring (FTV), named Co-flow, for a small gas-turbines. The performance is obtained via experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The effects of a few selected parameters including the engine throttle setting, the secondary air mass-flow rate and the secondary slot height upon thrust-vectoring performance are provided. Thrust vectoring performance is characterised by the ability of the system to deflect the engine thrust with respect to the delivered secondary air mass-flow rate. The experimental study was conducted under static conditions in an outdoor environment at Cranfield University workshop that was especially designed for this purpose. As part of this investigation, the system was modelled by CFD techniques, using Pointwise’s Gridgen software and the three-dimensional flow solver, Fluent. Also, Cranfield’s gas-turbine performance code (TurboMatch) was utilised to estimate boundary conditions for the CFD analysis with respect to the integrated nozzle. The presented technique is easy-to-use approach and offers better result for thrust-vectoring problems than previously published works. Experimental results do show the overall viability of the blowing slot mechanism as a means of vectoring the engine thrust, with the current configuration. Computational predictions are shown to be consistent with the experimental observations and make the CFD model a reliable tool for predicting Co-flow fluidic thrust-vectoring performance of similar systems.

This paper shows the advantages of applying exergy-based analysis and optimisation methods to the synthesis/design and operation of aircraft systems. In particular, an Advanced Aircraft Fighter (AAF) with three subsystems: a Propulsion Subsystem (PS), an Environmental Control Subsystem (ECS), and an Airframe Subsystem – Aerodynamics (AFS-A) is used to illustrate these advantages. Thermodynamic (both energy and exergy based), aerodynamic, geometric, and physical models of the components comprising the subsystems are developed and their interactions defined. Off-design performance is considered as well and is used in the analysis and optimisation of system synthesis/design and operation as the aircraft is flown over an entire mission.

An exergy-based parametric study of the PS and its components is first presented in order to show the type of detailed information on internal system losses which an exergy analysis can provide and an energy analysis by its very nature is unable to provide. This is followed by a series of constrained, system synthesis/design optimisations based on five different objective functions, which define energy-based and exergy-based measures of performance. The former involve minimising the gross takeoff weight or maximising the thrust efficiency while the latter involve minimising the rates of exergy destruction plus the rate of exergy fuel loss (with and without AFS-A losses) or maximising the thermodynamic effectiveness.

A first set of optimisations involving four of the objectives (two energy-based and two exergy-based) are performed with only PS and ECS degrees of freedom. Losses for the AFS-A are not incorporated into the two exergy-based objectives. The results show that as expected all four objectives globally produce the same optimum vehicle. A second set of optimisations is then performed with AFS-A degrees of freedom and again with two energy- and exergy-based objectives. However, this time one of the exergy-based objectives incorporates AFS-A losses directly into the objective. The results are that with this latter objective, a significantly better optimum vehicle is produced. Thus, an exergy-based approach is not only able to pinpoint where the greatest inefficiencies in the system occur but appears at least in this case to produce a superior optimum vehicle as well by accounting for irreversibility losses in subsystems (e.g., the AFS-A) only indirectly tied to fuel usage.

This paper describes a flight parameter based fatigue life analysis approach, which is developed for the Finnish Air Force F-18 fighters. It produces a flight specific fatigue life estimate for structural details using flight parameter data stored by each aircraft. Artificial neural networks are used to model structural response of analyzed details as a function of flight parameters. The analysis development is based on strain gauge data from 25 flights of an instrumented aircraft. The results show a satisfactory accuracy for the fatigue life estimates and prove the concept level analysis capability. The average difference between measured and modelled fatigue life is 21% for the fuselage bulkhead and 30% for the leading edge flap’s hinge area. The total differences in the Finnish Air Force average usage are extremely small, being –2% for the bulkhead and +2% for the leading edge flap.

From necessity, military aircraft often operate in a highly fatigue damaging environment and history has shown in lost lives and aircraft the consequences of failure to appreciate fully the usage environment. The need for robust and cost effective structural usage monitoring of military aircraft to ensure operations are conducted within acceptable levels of risk is paramount. Furthermore, increased economic pressures require ever-inventive methods to be employed to maximise the lives of military fleets; structural usage monitoring will be a key asset in this drive. A highly cost effective indirect structural health and usage neural network (SHAUNN) monitoring system is proposed. A SHAUNN uses regression relationships determined by artificial neural networks to predict stresses, strains, loads, or fatigue damage from flight parameters. Within this paper the development of a SHAUNN monitoring system is described. Flight parametric data, captured during Operational Loads Measurement of the Royal Air Force Dominie TMk1 aircraft have been used to predict stresses at the key structural location in the wing, using mapping relationships determined by artificial neural networks. A framework for the development of the SHAUNN monitoring system is discussed and the basic architecture of the multilayer perceptron artificial neural network is described. It is concluded that this technology could provide the basis for an accurate, cost-effective structural usage monitoring system and further work to investigate the prediction of ground – based stresses in the wing is recommended.

A spike attached to a hemispherical body drastically changes its flowfield and influences aerodynamic drag in a hypersonic flow. It is, therefore, a potential candidate for drag reduction of a future high-speed vehicle. The effect of the spike length, shape, spike nose configuration and angle-of-attack on the reduction of the drag is experimentally studied with use of hypersonic wind-tunnel at Mach 6. The effects of geometrical parameters of the spike and angle-of-attack on the aerodynamic coefficient are analysed using schlieren picture and measuring aerodynamic forces. These experiments show that the aerodisk is superior to the aerospike. The aerodisk of appropriate length, diameter and nose configuration may have the capability for the drag reduction. The inclusion of an aero disk at the leading edge of the spike has an advantage for the drag reduction mechanism if it is at an angle-of-attack, however consideration to be given for increased moment resulting from the spike is required.

This paper will discuss and review the nature of simulation interoperability. It will analyse the scope of interoperability in terms of basic intercommunication features (technical interoperability), fitness for purpose (functional interoperability) and suitability for use in distributed training (training interoperability). Only technical interoperability has received close attention, through DIS and HLA standards. Other aspects still present many challenges. The ability to create a common ‘outside world’ database is frequently cited as the dominant component and principal challenge in any discussion of interoperability. While this is often true, this paper identifies how interactions among all participants in the shared operational space (‘battlespace’) should be the starting point in defining interoperability, these interactions of course being dictated by the training requirement. Interactions are accomplished through ‘sensors’, which could be the human eye, night vision goggles (NVGs), radios, data links, radar, FLIR etc. Comprehensive interoperability demands comparable levels of modelling among all participants, including the effect of the environment (whether terrain or meteorology) on the performance of each simulator’s sensor suite. The paper will identify these significant effects and discuss where simulation technology is challenged and needs to advance, particularly in the context of mission simulation of future joint (Air/Land/Maritime) operations. The paper concludes with some discussion of the way ahead, including how guidelines based on experience could augment the use of standards.

In this paper, a new original method based on the least squares method is presented for the conversion of unsteady aerodynamic forces from frequency into Laplace domain, in which the error is written in an analytical form as a function of the Laplace variable, similar to the analytical form of the aerodynamic forces calculated by use of the least squares method. This method is applied on an F/A-18 aircraft (14 symmetric and 14 anti-symmetric modes) for one Mach number and for a set of 14 reduced frequencies. Two different types of results are obtained and analysed: aerodynamic force approximations in the Laplace domain and flutter speeds and frequencies values. For a better comparison of these results, different lag term numbers are used. Results obtained by this new method are better in terms of execution speed and precision than the results obtained by use of the least squares method.

This paper highlights unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) conceptual design using the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The design problem is formulated as a multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) problem by coupling aerodynamic and structural analysis. The UAV considered in this paper is a low speed, long endurance aircraft. The optimisation problem uses endurance maximization and wing weight minimisation as dual objective functions. In this multi-objective optimisation, aspect ratio, wing loading, taper ratio, thickness-to-chord ratio, loiter velocity and loiter altitude are considered as design variables with stall speed, maximum speed and rate of climb as constraints. The MDO system integrates the aircraft design code, RDS and an empirical relation for objective function evaluation. In this study, the optimisation problem is solved in two approaches. In the first approach, the RDS code is directly integrated in the optimisation loop. In the second approach, Kriging model is employed. The second approach is fast and efficient as the meta-model reduces the time of computation. A relatively new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm named NSGA-II (non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm) is used to capture the full Pareto front for the dual objective problem. As a result of optimisation using multi-objective genetic algorithm, several non-dominated solutions indicating number of useful Pareto optimal designs is identified.

A mathematical model was developed for the reversible longitudinal control system of a regional commuter aircraft using the available geometry, mass property and kinematics. The model was incorporated into a general multi-body dynamics code and validated using existing manufacturer’s data as well as recorded data from several flights. Analysis of the flight data revealed light atmosphere turbulence level. To investigate the effect of higher turbulence intensity on the reversible flight control system, a sever turbulence level was generated using Von Karman model for the same flight level and velocity. The result was used as a random input to the dynamic model for computation of the frequency response of control column. It was shown that turbulence could act as a random input through the hinge moment during the flight and introduced a new mode in the lower end of power spectral density curve. The energy induced by this low frequency input resulted in large displacement of control column in simulation which surpassed the existing limits. Therefore it should be taken into account when dealing with handling quality as well as autopilot design.

The present paper reviews and discusses the physical mechanisms of noise generation and reduction in turbulent flows with their applications towards aircraft noise reduction at takeoff and on the approach. This work began in 1948 when Lilley undertook an experimental investigation into the source of jet noise as a necessary precursor to finding methods for the reduction of high speed jet engine noise on civil jet airliners. Westley and Lilley completed this experimental programme in 1951, which included the design of a range of devices for high speed jet noise reduction. It was about this time that similar studies on jet noise were being started elsewhere and in particular by Lassiter and Hubbard in USA. The major contribution to the subject of turbulence as a source of noise came from Sir James Lighthill’s remarkable theory in 1952. In spite of the difficulties attached to theoretical and experimental studies on noise from turbulence, it is shown that with the accumulated knowledge on aerodynamic noise over the past 50 years, together with an optimisation of aircraft operations including flight trajectories, we are today on the threshold of approaching the design of commercial aircraft with turbofan propulsion engines that will not be heard above the background noise of the airport at takeoff and landing beyond 1-2km, from the airport boundary fence.

It is evident that in the application of this work, which centres on the physical mechanisms relating to the generation of noise from turbulence and turbulent shear flows, to jet noise, there is not one unique mechanism of jet noise generation for all jet Mach numbers. This author in this publication has concentrated on what appears to be the dominant mechanism of noise generation from turbulence, where the mean convection speeds of the turbulence are subsonic. The noise generated at transonic and supersonic jet speeds invariably involves extra mechanisms, which are only briefly referred to here.

Successful, seamless interchange of simulation databases has long proved surprisingly difficult to achieve. Numerous technical difficulties, arising from the different environmental representations used by different simulation systems, have proved to be only one facet of this difficulty. Often such problems are in fact the result of more fundamental underlying issues, such as the mathematical relationships between different co-ordinate systems. Logistical issues, and collaborative aspects of database interchange between different groups or companies, also contribute to the problems.

Thales has encountered many of these issues over the years in generating a range of databases for its simulation systems. These databases are required to correlate closely with other sensor systems, in particular the visual, but it is often the case that these other systems are third party products, using databases modelled by companies other than Thales. In these circumstances, the strategy used by Thales to generate its databases has typically been to derive them directly from the visual database. This has involved directly processing the visual database, extracting relevant geometry and attribution and formatting it for use by the Thales simulation systems. Historically, such visual databases have been provided by third parties using the SIF/HDI interchange format and imported directly into the Thales database generation toolset. While generating such derived databases in this way has been achieved successfully, many interchange issues referred to above were encountered and needed to be addressed.

When the need arose to replace SIF/HDI, the opportunity was taken to seek a replacement that would not only provide better representational capabilities but also address many of the wider, non-technical issues as well. Analysis of a variety of formats was undertaken and SEDRIS emerged as by far the strongest contender. Not only did it provide the best all round support for existing data representation requirements, it also gave good support for addressing wider interchange issues and offered a variety of opportunities to enhance the database generation toolset, both during initial development and over time.

This paper will discuss experiences using SEDRIS in this context. It will examine the basic representational requirements that needed to be met and the interchange problems that were to be overcome. The ways in which SEDRIS was seen to address these problems will be considered, along with the other advantages SEDRIS offered. Experiences developing SEDRIS software and interchanging databases using SEDRIS will also be described, including some lessons learned concerning both the use of SEDRIS and database interchange in general.

This paper gives an overview of combat aircraft drag prediction in the context of the overall design and development process.

Following a brief summary of the author’s experience in this field, the importance of drag prediction during initial configuration design is discussed, emphasising the need for the drag aerodynamicist to develop a good understanding of the other aerodynamic disciplines involved, as well as an appreciation of the of the total design process encompassing structural design, propulsion integration and systems installation.

A brief description is given of typical simplified prediction methods used in initial design, followed by an example of drag synthesis procedures based on wind-tunnel test and analysis, illustrating the need for good understanding of test techniques and the requirements of other aerodynamic disciplines.

Some future challenges are identified, requiring continual involvement in research and methods development programmes.

The objective of this work is to make an overview of opportunities and issues related to the aeronautical application of solid oxide fuel cell hybrid systems. The great interest on fuel cells comes from their capacity of producing electric energy with high efficiency at low pollutant production. The application of these systems as full-time auxiliary power units is an interesting alternative in a future scenario, which is supposed to include a More Electric Aircraft and more restrictive environmental standards. A review of the technological aspects of this application is presented. The physical models found in literature were investigated and the results were compared and discussed.

An experimental investigation was carried out to find the effect of an annular co-flow jet on the primary supersonic jet from Mach 2 nozzle at different levels of overexpansion. In this study, a convergent-divergent circular nozzle of exit Mach number 2, surrounded by an annular convergent circular nozzle with an annular gap of 4·4mm was used. Nozzle pressure ratios (NPRs) 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are investigated for overexpanded states of the primary jet and NPR 8 is investigated for almost correctly expanded state. The centreline pressure distributions were taken at all NPRs for both with and without co-flow case, to investigate the supersonic core extent and mixing activity in the jet field. In the radial direction pitot pressure at different axial locations at all NPRs for both the cases are measured to find the jet development and shadowgraph visualisation of jet structure was done to visualise the shock structure in near-field. It is found that the co-flow acts as mixing inhibitor at all levels of overexpansion for Mach 2 nozzle.

This paper proposes an effective missile radome error compensator by incorporating a nondestructive dither on the missile guidance loop to improve tracking accuracy. The compensation strategy predicts the radome slope error by introducing the dithering techniques along with band-pass filtering mechanism. A new condition is derived to ensure the guidance and control system stability while there is in the presence of the compensation error. As an application, the design methodology is extended to deal with the gimbal friction compensation problem. Simulation study confirms efficacy of our proposed approach.

This paper presents the development of visual oriented tools for the dynamic performance simulation of a turbojet engine using a cross-application approach. In particular, the study focuses on the feasibility of developing simulation models using different programming environments and linking them together using a popular spreadsheet program. As a result of this effort, a low fidelity cycle program has been created, capable of being integrated with other performance models. The amount of laboratory sessions required for student training during an educational procedure, for example for a course in gas turbine performance simulation, is greatly reduced due to the familiarity of most students with the spreadsheet software. The model results have been validated using commercially available gas turbine simulation software and experimental data from open literature. The most important finding of this study is the capability of the program to link to aircraft performance models and predict the transient working line of the engine for various initial conditions in order to dynamically simulate flight phases including take-off and landing.

Inlet unstart boundary is one of the most important issues of the hypersonic inlet and is also the foundation of the protection control of a scramjet. To solve this problem, the 2D internal steady flow of a 2D mixed internal/external compression hypersonic inlet was numerically simulated at different freestream conditions and backpressures with a RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) solver using a RNG (Renormalisation Group) k-ε turbulence model, and two different inlet unstart phenomena were analysed. The dimensional analysis method was introduced to find the essence variables describing the inlet unstart boundary based on “numerical experimental” data in this paper. The dimensionless pressure ratios of the forebody and isolator were analysed respectively. The results show that the unstart boundary of the 2D mixed hypersonic inlet is determined by M0, α and Re0. Pressure ratio π increases with M0 increasing, and it increases firstly and decreases then with α increasing. Pressure ratio π increases with Re0 increasing. Re0 (Re0 < 2 × 107) has a major effect on π and Re0 (Re0 > 2×107) has little effect on π.

This paper discusses how structural load objectives can be included in a rotorcraft flight control system design in an efficient and straightforward way using multivariable control techniques. Several research studies have indicated that pitch link loads for various rotorcraft types can reach high or even unacceptable values, both in steady state and maneuvering flight. This is especially the case for high-speed aggressive maneouvers. Pitch link loads at high-speed flight are therefore taken as a case study. A novel longitudinal control system is presented, designed to reduce helicopter pitch-link loads during high-speed longitudinal manoeuvres whilst providing a pitch attitude command attitude hold response type. The design is based on a high-order model of a helicopter representative of the UH-60 Black Hawk. New metrics are presented for the analysis of structural loads that can be used in combination with ADS-33 handling qualities requirements.

The development of commodity flight simulation, in the form of PC game technology, continues to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, the software industry is now being driven primarily by the requirements of gaming, digital media, and other entertainment applications. This has largely been due to the commoditisation of computer hardware, which is apparent when considering recent trends in central processing unit and graphics processor development.

The flight simulation industry has benefited from this trend of hardware commoditisation, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It is, however, yet to fully realise the potential for leveraging commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) software. In this paper the opportunities presenting themselves for the next 25 years of flight simulation are discussed, as the aviation and games software industry’s requirements converge. A SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analysis of the commodity flight simulation software industry is presented, including flight modelling, scenery generation, multiplayer technology, artificial intelligence, mission planning, and event handling. Issues such as data portability, economics, licensing, intellectual-property, interoperability, developer extensibility, robustness, qualification, and maintainability are addressed.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is used as a case study of how commodity flight simulation has been extended to include extensive programmatic access to its core engine. Examples are given on how the base platform of this application can be extended by third-party developers and the power this extensibility model provides to the industry.

This paper is presented to highlight particular technology trends in the commodity flight simulation industry, the fidelity that commodity flight simulations can provide, and to provide a high-level overview of the strengths and weaknesses thereof.