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In this paper, we have the percussive rotational drilling regime that is determined by the combination of the rotational speed of the tool, the axial force applied on the rock the optimal values of these parameters d epend in particular on the type of tool and on the physico mechanical properties of the rocks to be felled. The aim of the research is to improve the operating regimes of percussive d rilling machines under the conditions of the Algerian limestone quarries (Hadjar soud quarry) and to obtain a better compromise between the technical and economic indices, in order to ensure a minimum cost price for a meter of drilled hole. The experimenta l results carried that this methodology, which consists of assuming that under the concrete conditions can find the combination of the setting parameters that ensure the best techno economic indices, as well as to carpenter the cost price for a meter of dr illed holes.

A novel recycling solution for thermoplastic composites (TPCs) was recently implemented. The processing steps comprise shredding of TPC offcuts to flakes of a few centimetres, melting and blending of the flakes in a low-shear mixer, extrusion of a molten mixed dough and subsequent compression moulding in a press. This material and process are similar to the compression moulding of long-fibre thermoplastics (LFTs) that have been in the market for decades, such as glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) or direct-LFT. However, the input material in this recycling route consists of multi-layered woven flakes, which is very different from the pellets or chopped rovings of other LFTs. Process- and material-induced heterogeneities such as fibre orientation, percolation, variation of fibre fraction, or fibre attrition may be different for this new material. The development of this recycling technology and future industrial applications require more confidence in the material and process. The objective of this study is to characterise these heterogeneities for this recycling solution, and compare them to those generated in regular LFTs. It was found that the process- and material-induced heterogeneities of the recycled TPCs are similar to other LFTs, for the aspects listed here: fibre orientation, percolation, variation of fibre fraction and fibre attrition. In comparison to GMT, the effect of the mixing step is particularly noticeable on the local variation of fibre fraction within the panels. Industrial applications of this recycling route will benefit from this similarity, as it improves the confidence in the material and process combination.

A comparative analysis of typical stress-strain diagrams obtained for in-plain shear of the 25 unidirectional and cross-ply reinforced polymer matrix composites under quasi-static loading was carried out. Three of them were tested in the framework of this study, and the experimental data on other materials were taken from the literature. The analysis of the generalized shear-strength curves showed that most of the tested materials exhibit the similar deformation pattern depending on their initial shear modulus: a linear section is observed at the beginning of loading, whereas further increase of the load decreases the slope of the curve reaching the minimum in the failure point. For the three parameters (end point the linear part, maximum reduced deviation of the diagram, tangent shear modulus at the failure point) characterizing the individual features of the presented stress-strain diagrams, approximating their dependences on the value of the reduced initial shear modulus are obtained. At the characteristic points of the deformation diagrams, boundary conditions are determined that can be used to find the parameters of the approximating functions. A condition is proposed for determination of the end point of the linear section on the experimental stress-strain curve, according to which the maximum deviation between the experimental and calculated (according to Hooke’s law) values of the shear stress in this section is no more than 1%, thus ensuring rather high accuracy of approximation on the linear section of the diagram. The results of this study are recommended to use when developing universal and relatively simple in structure approximating functions that take into account the characteristic properties of the experimental curves of deformation of polymer composite materials under in-plane shear of the sheet. The minimum set of experimental data is required to determine the parameters of these functions.

Short-range wireless technologies will enable vehicles to communicate and coordinate their actions, thus improving people's safety and traffic efficiency. Whereas IEEE 802.11p (and related standards) had been the only practical solution for years, in 2016 a new option was introduced with Release of 14 long-term evolution (LTE), which includes new features to enable direct vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications. LTE-V2V promises a more efficient use of the channel compared to IEEE 802.11p, thanks to an improved PHY layer and the use of orthogonal resources at the MAC layer. In LTE-V2V, a key role is played by the resource allocation algorithm and increasing efforts are being made to design new solutions to optimize the spatial reuse. In this context, an important aspect still little studied, is therefore that of identifying references that allow, first, to have a perception of the space in which the resource allocation algorithms move and, second, to verify the performance of new proposals. In this paper, we focus on a highway scenario and identify two algorithms to be used as a minimum and maximum reference in terms of the packet reception probability (PRP). The PRP is derived as a function of various parameters that describe the scenario and settings, from the application to the physical layer. Results, obtained both in a simplified Poisson point process scenario and with realistic traffic traces, show that the PRP varies considerably with different algorithms and that there is room for the improvement of current solutions.

This paper presents some new criteria for partial exponential stability of a slow-fast nonlinear system with a fast scalar variable using periodic averaging methods. Unlike classical averaging techniques, we construct an averaged system by averaging over this fast scalar variable instead of the time variable. We then show that partial exponential stability of the averaged system implies partial exponential stability of the original one. As some intermediate results, we also obtain a new converse Lyapunov theorem and some perturbation theorems for partially exponentially stable systems. We then apply our established criteria to study remote synchronization of Kuramoto-Sakaguchi oscillators coupled by a star network with two peripheral nodes. We analytically show that detuning the natural frequency of the central mediating oscillator can increase the robustness of the remote synchronization against phase shifts.

Developing a new website for a government institution is one of common tenders issued by various ministries and government institutions in the world. The country of Jordan usually has at least 22 different ministries and government institutions at a given time. Each one of these entities has its official website which is revamped every three years because of the rapid changes in information and technology. In most cases the ministries and institutions issue a tender to the public, then after collecting tender offers from different companies, only one offer would be selected. The selection process would choose the most appropriate contractor to deliver the project with respect to quality, time and cost. This article presents a new fuzzy logic system for tender evaluation which is based on both the technical qualification of the bidder company and its experience. The proposed system has shown better performance evaluation when compared to the traditional evaluation method currently used by the government.

The emerging technologies, such as smart sensors, 5G/6G wireless communication, artificial intelligence, etc., have being maturing the future Internet of Things (IoT) by connecting massive number of devices, which are expected to consistently collect and transmit real-time data to support business intelligence in an efficient and privacy-preserving way. The IoT can afford businesses predictive maintenance, improve field service, asset tracking, and further enhance customer satisfaction and facility management in industrial sectors. However, the privacy concern in IoT is a big challenge in IoT applications and services. This work proposed a lightweight privacy-preserving scheme based on homomorphic encryption in the context of the IoT, in which we investigated and analysed the privacy issues between the data owners, untrustworthy third-part cloud servers, and the data users. Meanwhile, computationally-efficient homomorphic algorithms are proposed to guarantee the privacy protection for the data users. Experimental results demonstrates that the proposed scheme can effectively prevent privacy breaches in IoT.

The problem of fault-tolerant adaptive fuzzy tracking control against actuator faults is investigated in this article for a type of uncertain nonaffine fractional-order nonlinear full-state-constrained multi-input-single-output (MISO) system. By means of the existence theorem of the implicit function and the intermediate value theorem, the design difficulty arising from nonaffine nonlinear terms is surmounted. Then, the unknown ideal control inputs are approximated by using some suitable fuzzy-logic systems. An adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant control (FTC) approach is developed by employing the barrier Lyapunov functions and estimating the compounded disturbances. Moreover, under the drive of the reference signals, a sufficient condition ensuring semiglobal uniform ultimate boundedness is obtained for all the signals in the closed-loop system, and it is proved that all the states of nonaffine nonlinear fractional-order systems are guaranteed to remain inside the predetermined compact set. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to exhibit the validity of the designed adaptive fuzzy FTC approach.

The article presents a new approach for optimizing the trajectories of spacecraft with finite thrust. The recently proposed angular variable – the auxiliary longitude – is considered as an independent variable. The advantages of using this variable to optimize a trajectory with a fixed angular distance and free transfer duration are shown. A complete system of necessary optimality conditions for the considered representation of the optimal control problem is presented. An approach to solving the minimum-fuel problem is considered that is based on the sequential solution of the problems of optimizing the limited power trajectories and the trajectories with a constant exhaust velocity. This approach includes verifying the existence of a solution to the minimum-fuel problem by solving the thrust minimization problem. We present a method for optimization of the finite-thrust trajectories with constant exhaust velocity, based on the application of the maximum principle and the continuation method, which does not require the user to specify an initial guess for the initial values of costate variables. The article presents numerical examples to illustrate the application of such approach, and discusses the properties of the obtained optimal trajectories.

This paper focuses on the design of on-line optimal input sequence for robust active fault diagnosis (AFD) of discrete-time linear parameter varying (LPV) systems using set-theoretic methods. Instead of the traditional set-separation constraint conditions leading to the design of off-line input sequence, the proposed approach focuses on on-line (re)shaping of the input sequence based on the real-time information of the output to discriminate system modes at each time instant such that the conservatism of robust AFD has the potential to be further reduced. The criterion on the design of optimal input is characterized based on a non-convex fractional programming problem at each time instant, which is shown to be efficiently solved within a convex optimization framework. Aside this main contribution, by exploiting Lagrange duality, the optimal input is explicitly obtained by solving a characteristic equation. At the end, a physical circuit model is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The inductively-heated plasma generator IPG6-B at Baylor University has been established and characterized in previous years for use as a flexible experimental research facility across multiple applications. The system uses a similar plasma generator design to its twin-facilities at the University of Stuttgart (IPG6-S) and the University of Kentucky (IPG6-UKY). The similarity between these three devices offers the advantage to reproduce results and provides comparability to achieve cross-referencing and verification. Sub- and supersonic flow conditions for Mach numbers between M a = 0 . 3 − 1 . 4 have been characterized for air, argon, helium and nitrogen using a pitot probe. Overall power coupling efficiency as well as specific bulk enthalpy of the flow have been determined by calorimeter measurements to be between η = 0 . 05 − 0 . 45 and h s = 5 − 35 MJ kg−1 respectively depending on gas type and pressure. Electron temperatures of T e = 1 − 2 eV and densities n e = 1 0 1 8 − 1 0 2 0 m−3 have been measured using an electrostatic probe system. At Baylor University, laboratory experiments in the areas of astrophysics, geophysics as well as fundamental research on complex (dusty) plasmas are planned. The study of fundamental processes in low-temperature plasmas connects directly to electric propulsion systems. Most recent experiments include the study of dusty plasmas and astrophysical phenomena and the interaction of charged dust with electric and magnetic fields. In this case, dust can be used as a diagnostic for such fields and can reveal essential information of the magneto-hydrodynamics in low-temperature plasmas. Although some of these goals require further advancement of the facility, it is proposed that several phenomena relevant to electric propulsion as well as to other fields of plasma physics can be studied using the existing facility.

This paper proposes an autonomous image-based navigation method for estimating the target-relative position of a spacecraft for distant small body exploration. The main focus is position estimation at high altitude where the outlines of a target body can be seen in images. The asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 touched down on the asteroid Ryugu with pin-point accuracy in February 2019. For this mission, the asteroid-relative position was estimated by ground operators from 20 km to 50 m above the surface of Ryugu. For the exploration of small bodies farther than the asteroid main belt, the delay of communication with Earth is unacceptably large for feedback guidance. This situation becomes worse for larger bodies because the time constant of the dynamics becomes smaller. Therefore, real-time autonomous navigation is required for distant small body exploration even at high altitude. To accomplish high-accuracy and real-time autonomous navigation, an autonomous position estimation method based on terrain-relative navigation (TRN) that estimates deviation by comparing nominal terrain information and actual terrain information is proposed. In addition to TRN, the vector code correlation (VCC) algorithm is used for the luminance comparison of terrain information. This algorithm is a type of correlation calculation method for template matching that finds the maximum correlated region in images. With the VCC algorithm, correlation can be calculated in real time via XOR operations suitable for FPGA. The estimation accuracy and processing time of the proposed method were evaluated with a comparison to those of other methods. The results show that a high estimation accuracy, similar to the image resolution, was accomplished in real time. Finally, an evaluation using flight data from Hayabusa2 shows that the estimation accuracy and processing time of the proposed method are suitable for a real mission environment. The proposed method will be a key technology for distant small body exploration.

Compact micronewton thrusters can provide attitude control for small satellites to increase mission duration and enable constellation flying. Micronewton thrust control can also enhance missions that require precision pointing such as space telescopes, laser interferometers, and laser communication relays. Film-Evaporating MEMS Tunable Array (FEMTA) is a novel micropropulsion device that generates thrust by heating a micron-scale water capillary to induce controlled film-evaporation. Thrust stand tests under high vacuum have shown that FEMTA can produce controllable thrust of 150 μN at 70 s specific impulse using 0.65 W of electrical power and ultra-pure deionized water as propellant. An undesired quiescent propellant loss rate is inherent to the current FEMTA design which limits its life span and reliability. To derive mitigations to this issue, the behavior of the fluid interface within the FEMTA micronozzle was characterized through direct experimentation. A test-bed FEMTA design was created which enabled direct observation of the liquid within the micronozzles and precise control over critical nozzle dimensions. These test-bed devices were used to measure contact angle, Laplace pressure, and total quiescent propellant loss rates for multiple nozzle configurations. Finally, a next generation FEMTA design was derived from the findings of these studies and its propulsive performance was measured under high vacuum on a micronewton thrust stand. Microfabrication was performed at Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center and vacuum testing was completed at Purdue’s High Vacuum Lab.

International audience; This paper presents a computational method to test the stabilizability of discrete-time switched linear systems. The existence of a conic cover of the space on whose elements a convex condition holds is proved to be necessary and sufficient for stabilizability. An algorithm for computing a conic partition that satisfies the new necessary and sufficient condition is given. The algorithm, that allows also to determine bounds on the exponential convergence rate, is proved to overcome the conservatism of conditions equivalent to periodic stabilizability and is applied to a four dimensional system.

Edge computing has emerged as a new paradigm to bring cloud applications closer to users for increased performance. Unlike back-end cloud systems which consolidate their resources in a centralized data center location with virtually unlimited capacity, edge-clouds comprise distributed resources at various computation spots, each with very limited capacity. In this paper, we consider Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) edge-clouds where application providers deploy their latency-critical functions that process user requests with strict response time deadlines. In this setting, we investigate the problem of resource provisioning and allocation. After formulating the optimal solution, we propose resource allocation and provisioning algorithms across the spectrum of fully-centralized to fully-decentralized. We evaluate the performance of these algorithms in terms of their ability to utilize CPU resources and meet request deadlines under various system parameters. Our results indicate that practical decentralized strategies, which require no coordination among computation spots, achieve performance that is close to the optimal fully-centralized strategy with coordination overheads.

International audience; This paper addresses the observability analysis and the optimal design of observation parameters in the presence of noisy measurements and parametric uncertainties. The notion of almost !-observability is introduced and a systematic procedure to assess its satisfaction for a given system with a priori known measurement noise statistics and parameter discrepancy is sketched. Moreover, the concept of observation-target quantities is introduced in order to analyze the precision with which specific chosen expressions of the state and the parameters can be reconstructed. The overall framework is exposed and validated through an illustrative example.

In this paper, a geometrical investigation of the star sensor image is performed under dynamic conditions where the angular velocity effects are non-negligible. It is shown that, when the spacecraft is rotating, the streaks left by the stars’ signal onto the star sensor detector belong to portions of conic sections which features depend on the angles between the instantaneous rotation axis, the sensor line of sight and the stars’ direction. The geometrical properties discussed in the first part of the paper can be used to develop new numerical methods for the evaluation of the angular velocity. Hence, the chord method is proposed and discussed. This approach needs at least two stars in two successive images and, despite its simplicity, is quite effective to get a preliminary estimation of the spacecraft angular velocity in terms of direction and magnitude. Using the stars’ centroids from two successive images, the chord method evaluates the angular velocity direction as the intersection of the normals to the streaks. The proposed method is firstly presented by means of simple examples using some reference geometries, and then it is applied to real scenarios by using a high fidelity star sensor simulator. The pre-processing and processing of simulated images are discussed, presenting the geometrical techniques used to cluster the streaks and compute the centroids. Results are presented and discussed, validating the reported theoretical speculations.

This study deals with the behaviour of duplex stainless steel bolted connections. The aim of the study is to respond to the question if the current stainless steel design specifications are able to predict the behaviour of such connections. Firstly, the net cross-section capacity of duplex stainless steel plates subjected to tensile loading are presented. They were conducted to obtain the stress–strain curves and tensile fracture behaviour used to support the finite element (FE) fracture simulations. Secondly, nonlinear FE models are developed for duplex stainless steel bolted connections subjected to tensile loading. The FE models are validated against experimental data in terms of load–displacement curves, failure modes and ultimate loads. Then, a numerical parametric study that consists of 133 duplex stainless steel grade EN 1.4162 bolted connection specimens is carried out. The failure modes of bolted connections are carefully examined, including combined tear out and bearing, bearing and net section, looking at the influence of parameters such as end distance, edge distance and spacing between the bolts in the connections. The results are compared to the design rules prescribed in the current stainless steel design specifications. Generally, it is found that the Australian/New Zealand (AS/NZS), American (SEI/ASCE) Specification and European codes conservatively predict the ultimate strengths of the bolted connections, whereas the strengths predicted by the AS/NZS and SEI/ASCE specifications are overall more accurate and less scattered.

The microstructural features of three different materials have been quantified by means of 2D image analysis and X-ray micro-computer tomography (CT) and the results were compared to determine the reliability of the 2D analysis in the material characterization. The 3D quantification of shrinkage pores and Fe-rich inclusions of an Al-Si-Cu alloy by X-ray tomography was compared with the statistical analysis of the 2D metallographic pictures and a significant difference in the results was found due to the complex morphology of shrinkage pores and Fe-rich particles. Furthermore, wood particles of a wood-plastic composite were measured by dynamic image analysis and X-ray tomography. Similar results were obtained for the maximum length of the particles, although the results of width differ considerably, which leads to a miscalculation of the particles aspect ratio. Finally, air voids of a foam concrete were investigated by the analysis of the 2D pictures in ImageJ and the results of the 2D circularity were compared with the values of the 3D elongation obtained by micro-computed tomography. The 3D analysis of the air voids in the foam concrete showed a more precise description of the morphology, although the 2D result are in good agreement with the results obtained by X-ray micro-tomography.

The effect of bearings on the vibrational behavior of machine tool spindles is investigated. This is done through the development of a calibrated dynamic stiffness matrix (CDSM) method, where the bearings flexibility is represented by massless linear spring elements with tuneable stiffness. A dedicated MATLAB code is written to develop and to assemble the element stiffness matrices for the system’s multiple components and to apply the boundary conditions. The developed method is applied to an illustrative example of spindle system. When the spindle bearings are modeled as simply supported boundary conditions, the DSM model results in a fundamental frequency much higher than the system’s nominal value. The simply supported boundary conditions are then replaced by linear spring elements, and the spring constants are adjusted such that the resulting calibrated CDSM model leads to the nominal fundamental frequency of the spindle system. The spindle frequency results are also validated against the experimental data. The proposed method can be effectively applied to predict the vibration characteristics of spindle systems supported by bearings.

The dynamic analysis of prestressed, bending-torsion coupled beams is revisited. The axially loaded beam is assumed to be slender, isotropic, homogeneous, and linearly elastic, exhibiting coupled flexural-torsional displacement caused by the end moment. Based on the Euler-Bernoulli bending and St. Venant torsion beam theories, the vibration and stability of such beams are explored. Using the closed-form solutions of the uncoupled portions of the governing equations as the basis functions of approximation space, the dynamic, frequency-dependent, interpolation functions are developed, which are then used in conjunction with the weighted residual method to develop the Dynamic Finite Element (DFE) of the system. Having implemented the DFE in a MATLAB-based code, the resulting nonlinear eigenvalue problem is then solved to determine the coupled natural frequencies of illustrative beam examples, subjected to various boundary and load conditions. The proposed method is validated against limited available experimental and analytical data, those obtained from an in-house conventional Finite Element Method (FEM) code and FEM-based commercial software (ANSYS). In comparison with FEM, the DFE exhibits higher convergence rates and in the absence of end moment it produces exact results. Buckling analysis is also carried out to determine the critical end moment and compressive force for various load combinations.

Free vibration analysis of beams with single delamination undergoing bending-torsion coupling is made, using traditional finite element technique. The Galerkin weighted residual method is applied to convert the coupled differential equations of motion into to a discrete problem, where, in addition to the conventional mass and stiffness matrices, a delamination stiffness matrix, representing the extra stiffening effects at the delamination tips, is introduced. The linear eigenvalue problem resulting from the discretization along the length of the beam is solved to determine the frequencies and modes of free vibration. Both “free mode” and “constrained mode” delamination models are considered in formulation, and it is shown that the continuity (both kinematic and force) conditions at the beam span-wise locations corresponding to the extremities of the delaminated region, in particular, play a great role in “free mode” model formulation. Current trends in the literature are examined, and insight into different types of modeling techniques and constraint types are introduced. In addition, the data previously available in the literature and those obtained from a finite element-based commercial software are utilized to validate the presented modeling scheme and to verify the correctness of natural frequencies of the systems analyzed here. The paper ends with general discussions and conclusions on the presented theories and modeling approaches.

To evaluate the effect of stabilisation by using a colloidal silica aqueous gel on the subsequent behaviour of sand, the dilatancy and peak and ultimate strength characteristics of M31 sand were investigated before and after stabilisation. Triaxial compression tests were performed in drained and undrained mode, at effective stresses ranging from 100 to 6000 kPa. Important changes in the sand's mechanical behaviour were observed after stabilisation, including a significant increase in stress ratio and dilatancy rate at peak and a relocation of the treated sand's critical state line in the e–p′ plane, substantially above that manifested by the untreated sand; however, the two lines converged at high stresses. The results confirm a state-dependent behaviour for the sand that is not applicable to the treated sand, which exhibits predominantly stress-dependent behaviour. A modified state parameter was used to normalise the treated sand's behaviour at peak failure.

This paper focuses on the three-dimensional guidance strategy for a reusable launching vehicle (RLV) during terminal area energy management (TAEM) phase. Based on sliding mode and shrinking horizon techniques, the proposed scheme consists of trajectory generation and correction mechanisms, which can enhance the guidance precision and robustness against disturbances. The RLV guidance model, in the form of a set of highly non-linear differential equations in time-domain, is recast as an altitude-domain model. By this means, the main characteristics of TAEM gliding motion are extracted. The altitude-domain model is thereby used for trajectory generation. A sliding surface and guidance law are proposed. Hybrid TAEM constraints can be fully satisfied when the proposed guidance law drives the altitude-domain vehicle model to the designated altitude. Using the proposed guidance law as the input of altitude-domain model, a constrained TAEM trajectory is generated, leading to TAEM guidance commands simultaneously. The commands are utilized to drive the time-domain model to the terminal target. In an attempt to compensate for model uncertainties and initial deviations, the guidance commands are modified periodically by shrinking-horizon correction mechanism according to current states. Simulations on different scenarios are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed guidance strategy.

The fundamental limits of covert communication, where a message is sent from transmitter Alice to intended recipient Bob without detection by an attentive adversary warden Willie, has been considered extensively in recent years at the physical layer. In this paper, we consider the covert throughput when the adversary is only able to observe the medium access control (MAC) layer in a wireless communication system. In particular, given that the system has a rate of λ packets per slot transmitted over n channels by allowable system users, we study the allowable rate λ_a by covert users while maintaining covertness from an attentive warden observing the channel status in a slotted ALOHA system. We characterize performance for wardens with different abilities to discern the number of packets on a given channel, ranging from simple receivers that detect only whether there was a packet present to complicated receivers that can determine the number of packets involved in any collision, and also consider intended recipients Bob with varying abilities to perform multi-packet reception. In contrast to prior work in covert communications, the application considered motivates the consideration of results for finite (often small) observation vector lengths n at the adversary.

A robust algorithm to solve the low-thrust fuel-optimal trajectory optimization problem for interplanetary spacecraft is developed in this paper. The original nonlinear optimal control problem is convexified and transformed into a parameter optimization problem using an arbitrary-order Gauss-Lobatto discretization scheme with nonlinear control interpolation. A homotopic approach that considers the energy-to-fuel smoothing path is combined with an adaptive second-order trust-region mechanism to increase the convergence rate. The overall robustness is assessed in several fuel-optimal transfers with poor initial guesses. The results show a superior performance in terms of convergence compared to standard convex programming approaches in the literature.

Spacecraft in low-Earth orbit are exposed to environmental threats which can lead to material degradation and component failures. The presence of atomic oxygen and collisions from orbital debris have detrimental effects on the structures, thus affecting their performance. Cranfield University has developed a family of drag augmentation systems (DAS), for end-of-life de-orbit of satellites, addressing the space debris challenge and ensuring that satellites operate responsibly and sustainably. Deorbit devices are stowed on-orbit for the duration of the mission lifetime and, once deployed, the devices must withstand this harsh low-Earth environment until re-entry; a process which can take several years. The DAS’ deployable aluminised Kapton sails are particularly susceptible to undercutting by atomic oxygen. In preparation for commercialising the DAS, Cranfield University and Belstead Research Ltd. have submitted several joint proposals to better understand the degradation process of the drag sail materials and to qualify the materials for the specific application of drag sails in low Earth Orbit (LEO). This paper will outline the proposals and the expected benefits from the projects. Additionally, collisions with debris could accelerate the degradation of the system and generate additional debris. This paper will discuss a future ESABASE2 risk assessment study, aiming to quantifying the probability of collisions between the deployed drag sail and orbital debris. The atmospheric models required to simulate the aforementioned risks are complex and often fail to accurately predict performance or degradation observed in the space environment. A previous UKSA Pathfinder project highlighted this issue when different atmospheric models with varying levels of solar activity yielded drastically different re-entry times. Since Cranfield University has two deployed drag sails in orbit, previous de-orbit analysis performed using STELA and DRAMA will be updated and the simulations will be compared to actual data. This paper will conclude in a summation of the different on-going research projects at Cranfield University related to commercialising the DAS family. This research will benefit the wider space community by expanding the understanding of the effects of long-term exposure on certain materials, as well as improving the validity of future low Earth atmospheric models.

The double-bridge voltage source inverter (DB-VSI) is a promising inverter topology for high performing motor drives. A DB-VSI comprises two VSIs, connected to the opposite sides of an open-end winding motor (no floating neutral point). Thanks to its inherent properties, a DB-VSI requires only half DC supply voltage, compared to a simple VSI, in order to generate the same motor voltage. Thereafter, by processing/switching only half of the DC supply voltage, the DB-VSI benefits from significantly lower semiconductor devices’ switching losses. The DB-VSI technology is the main focus of this paper. Namely, two different DB-VSI variants and/or modulation strategies are comparatively evaluated. After detailing the operating principle of each modulation strategy, the stresses on the inverter components are analytically derived. It is shown that the selection of the DB-VSI modulation strategy impacts the efficiency/power density of the inverter and the voltage quality of the motor. The theoretical considerations are subsequently verified within the context of a high-speed motor drive. In the investigated drive system, a fuel-cell supplies the inverter, which in return controls a 280krpm 1kW electric compressor. Two DB-VSI hardware prototypes are purposely assembled and compared against a third state-of-the-art hardware prototype of the same specifications. It is shown that, thanks to the DB-VSI technology it is possible to reduce simultaneously the volume and the losses by up to 50% compared to the state-of-the-art solution. The low DB-VSI volume enables a seamless integration of the inverter in the motor housing. Accordingly, the open-end winding motor is directly attached to the inverter, eliminating the need for cumbersome and costly interconnecting cables. A final, integrated (inverter/motor) hardware prototype is presented, that further highlights the advantages of the DB-VSI technology.

The surfaces of soil grains are not perfectly smooth, especially examined at small scale. In geotechnical engineering, surface roughness has been found to be able to influence the inter-particle friction angle at micro scale and small-strain stiffness at macro scale. However, the quantity and quality of the studies on surface roughness of natural soils are still limited. In this study, the evolution of surface roughness of natural sand grains with increasing normal load was investigated by a single-particle compression apparatus. Thirty Leighton Buzzard sand (LBS) grains coarser than 2·36 mm were tested, and the surface roughness was measured before and after compression by an optical interferometer. The deformations of the asperities and of the bulk of the sand grains in the vicinity of the contact were mapped. Three stages were identified as the normal load increased: (a) plastic deformation of the asperities; (b) asperities and bulk plastic deformation; and (c) bulk only plastic deformation. At very small normal load, only the asperities were found to deform plastically, and the surface roughness of the sand grains decreases due to the flattening of the asperities. Within this regime, the load–displacement relationship of LBS grains under compression could be simulated by the modified Hertz model, which takes surface roughness into consideration. With increasing normal load, the bulk of the sand grains began to yield near the contact. The geometry of the surfaces of LBS grains in contact with the loading platen is the main factor that influences the plastic deformation of the bulk. Differently from the plastic deformation of the asperities, the plastic deformation of the bulk could both smoothen and roughen the surfaces. When plastic deformation of the bulk occurred, both Hertz and modified Hertz theory could not predict the load and displacement relationship of sand grains. Through analysing the cumulative distributions of surface roughness of 30 LBS grains at different normal loads by the Weibull function, the surface roughness was found to decrease dramatically with increasing normal load at first and then tended to be constant.

The glass fiber reinforced resin matrix composite I-beams were designed and formed via a type of novel bending pultrusion processing technique, and the three-point bending tests were carried out to analyze the mechanical bending performances. The obtained results show that the main failure mode of the composite I-beam under the bending load is the upper structure (top flange) cracks along the length direction of the fibers, and the cracks simultaneously propagate downwards in the vertical direction. The bifurcated cracks can be found at the junction area between the top flange and web. In addition, the main bending failure mechanism of the composite I-beam includes the matrix cracking, propagation of cracks, and final fracture failure. In particular, noting that when the crack reaches the I-shaped neck position, the lateral bifurcation occurs, and the resulting secondary cracks further extend in two directions, which leads to the serious damage between the top flange and web, and the ultimate fracture failure occurs.

A novel method for close-proximity formation flying under differential atmospheric drag using Coulomb forces is investigated for applications in Earth sensing, space-situational awareness (SSA), and aeronomy. Objects in LEO are supersonic with respect to the ambient environment, creating a thinned out wake region behind the craft as it travels through the ionosphere. Objects within this wake experience little drag acceleration and are able to attain voltages much greater than in the ambient ionospheric plasma, creating implications for the design and control of close-proximity leader–follower spacecraft pairs. The proposed system consists of a leader craft with a set of affixed, conducting spheres and a charged follower craft located in the wake of the leader. The differential drag acceleration between the leader and follower craft is countered by a controlled Coulomb repulsion to maintain precise separation. The charged structure on the rear of the leader craft is designed such that the charged follower craft sits in an electrostatic potential well which opposes off-axis perturbations. A conceptual method for controlling such a pair without the use of propellant using a set of charged spheres is investigated, with nonlinear models of the system’s relative motion derived and discussed. Linearized models are used to demonstrate the local controllability of the system to demonstrate the proposed system’s merit. This linear analysis is used to derive conditions on controllability and control performance under different charge geometries and environmental assumptions.

An implementation of the actuator line method (ALM) is applied to a hovering helicopter rotor. This method, which is widely used for wind turbine simulations, replaces the rotor blades by momentum ...

Dawn conducted an extensive exploration of dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object between the Sun and Pluto that had not previously been visited by a spacecraft. Following its arrival at Ceres in March 2015, Dawn acquired all the planned data from four circular polar orbits ranging in altitude from 13,600 km to 385 km. After the successful conclusion of the prime mission in June 2016, Dawn's mission was extended, and new investigations, not previously considered, were conducted from four new orbits ranging as low as 35 km. In 2017 the project was approved for a second and final extended mission at Ceres. Starting in April 2018, Dawn used its ion propulsion system to maneuver to two new orbits. These highly elliptical orbits enabled the acquisition of valuable new data, including significant improvements in the spatial resolution. Mission operations concluded in October 2018 upon depletion of hydrazine for attitude control. The mission provided a uniquely detailed view of the first dwarf planet discovered. This paper describes Ceres operations as well as some of the major findings there.

International audience; In-flight ice accretion under parametric uncertainty is investigated. Three test cases are presented which reproduce experiments carried out at the NASA's Glenn Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) facility. A preliminary accuracy assessment, achieved comparing numerical predictions against experimental observations, confirm the robustness and the predictiveness of the computerized icing model. Besides, sensitivity analyses highlight the variance of the targeted outputs with respect to the different uncertain inputs. In rime icing conditions, a predominant role is played by the uncertainty affecting the airfoil angle of attack, the cloud liquid water content and the droplets’ mean volume diameter. In glaze icing condition, the sensitivity analysis shows instead that the output variability is due mainly to the ambient temperature uncertainty. Results expose a major criticality of standard uncertainty quantification techniques. The issue is inherent the approximation of the full icing model behavior in domain regions scarcely affected by ice build up. To mitigate the issue, a non-linear regression method is proposed and applied.

Solid–liquid phase change has been widely used in practice, but most of the existing literature focuses on Newtonian phase change materials, and there are few studies on power-law phase change mate...

This paper develops a novel passive stochastic gradient algorithm. In passive stochastic approximation, the stochastic gradient algorithm does not have control over the location where noisy gradients of the cost function are evaluated. Classical passive stochastic gradient algorithms use a kernel that approximates a Dirac delta to weigh the gradients based on how far they are evaluated from the desired point. In this paper we construct a multi-kernel passive stochastic gradient algorithm. The algorithm performs substantially better in high dimensional problems and incorporates variance reduction. We analyze the weak convergence of the multi-kernel algorithm and its rate of convergence. In numerical examples, we study the multi-kernel version of the passive least mean squares (LMS) algorithm for transfer learning to compare the performance with the classical passive version.

We address the problem of determining optimal sensor precisions for estimating the states of linear time-varying discrete-time stochastic dynamical systems, with guaranteed bounds on the estimation errors. This is performed in the Kalman filtering framework, where the sensor precisions are treated as variables. They are determined by solving a constrained convex optimization problem, which guarantees the specified upper bound on the posterior error variance. Optimal sensor precisions are determined by minimizing the l1 norm, which promotes sparseness in the solution and indirectly addresses the sensor selection problem. The theory is applied to realistic flight mechanics and astrodynamics problems to highlight its engineering value. These examples demonstrate the application of the presented theory to a) determine redundant sensing architectures for linear time invariant systems, b) accurately estimate states with low-cost sensors, and c) optimally schedule sensors for linear time-varying systems.

Experiments on infiltration of pressurised soil–foam mixture into saturated sand have been carried out in a laboratory set-up that provides a hydraulic gradient comparable to real tunnels. The soil–foam mixture used was comparable to the excavated soil (soil–foam mixture) that can be expected in the excavation chamber of an earth pressure balance (EPB) shield. It appears that a higher effective foam expansion ratio (FERm) is more effective to form a low-permeability layer in the sand. Since there will be an interaction between air, water and sand in the soil–foam mixture, the infiltration characteristics of the soil–foam mixture are a little different from that of the foam. It was shown that a larger air fraction at a given solid fraction reduces the foam flow in the sand. The water permeability of foam-infiltrated sand decreases with an increasing air fraction and a decreasing liquid fraction for a given solid fraction, and also decreases with an increasing air fraction and a decreasing solid fraction for a given liquid fraction. The situation with high sand fraction should be avoided in the field because there will be no impermeable or low-permeability layer formed at the tunnel face. Furthermore, the water permeability of foam-infiltrated sand decreases with the foam injection ratio (FIR) and an appropriate FIR is important for EPB shield tunnelling in saturated sand.

The conducted numerical and physical hypervelocity impact testing illustrated that foam-core sandwich panel can effectively serve as a multifunctional component of the spacecraft, providing weight-...

North American winters are notorious for aircraft icing, which is a direct threat to aviation safety. Existing high-fidelity codes successfully model icing/de-icing simulations and calculate convec...

This work presents the design and performance analysis of attitude determination algorithms for CubeSats that fuse rate gyros with a single vector measurement using a sensor set consisting of an in...

Beam-like compliant elements have found wide-ranging application in many fields of engineering and science often where 3D large deflections can be of concern such as soft robotics, DNA mechanics and helicopter/wind turbine rotor blades. The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is used for the first time to obtain a novel analytical solution in converged series form for the arbitrary large deflection of geometrically exact beams subject to both conservative and follower loading scenarios. The homotopy analysis method, which offers desirable characteristics such as being free from small or large parameters, coupled with auxiliary parameters controlling convergence, is applied directly to the intrinsic governing equations of a geometrically exact beam theory. The system of first-order differential governing equations of geometrically exact beams with intrinsic formulation is free from rotation and displacement variables, and offers a low degree of nonlinearity (quadratic at most) and compact mathematical form, making it suitable for analytical solutions. Due to the relatively poor convergence of the original HAM algorithm, the iterative HAM technique is employed which is known to accelerate convergence and to improve the computational efficiency of the homotopy analysis method. The obtained homotopy series offers a number of novel features in the context of the analytical solutions for the large deflection of beams, including (a) the direct calculation of internal forces and moments which is significant for engineering design purposes, (b) being able to capture 3D deflections, (c) considering transverse shear effects which can be important for thicker beams or when the Young’s modulus to shear modulus ratio is significant (such as composite materials) and (d) considering conservative and follower tip and distributed loads, in a unified framework. In order to investigate the efficacy, applicability and accuracy of the proposed method, a number of numerical examples are considered in which a cantilever beam subject to tip or distributed loads undergoes large deflection. Large deflection results for both conservative and follower loads are compared against those of less comprehensive analytical solutions as well as against numerical methods including finite element and Chebyshev collocation methods where good agreement is observed. These results demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of HAM for the large deflection analysis of geometrically exact beams.

This study is concerned with the dynamic behavior of a piezoelectric material strip with a parallel crack under thermal shock and transient electric loading. The governing thermal and electromechanical equations are exactly reduced to a system of Cauchy-type singular integral equations by applying Laplace and Fourier transforms and the dislocation density functions. Numerical examples are discussed in detail to show the effects of the applied heat conduction model, cracked strip configuration, and electrical load variables on the dynamic thermal results and the stress-electric displacement intensity factors. The results reveal that the overshooting phenomenon would be more evident with the longer relaxation time and higher fractional order, while the wave behavior becomes weaker and stronger, respectively. There are apparent inflection points on the dynamic stress intensity factors (DSIFs) and the dynamic electric displacement intensity factor (DEDF) curves for different configurations of the strip and the coefficients of the heat conduction model. In addition, the stress intensity factors are insensitive to the electric load which has a dominant influence on the electric displacement intensity factor.