Air combat training – high energy at lowest cost

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reduce the exploitation cost below the standard supersonic training aircraft. The idea will benefit from the latest aerodynamic software and modern avionics, allowing to use much lighter trainer (due to using composite materials and minimizing on board avionic systems), and hence, decreasing the fuel consumption and cost of operation. The need to reform advanced jet training also covers the “red air” missions (manned targets for exercise and training). Red air missions need dedicated more realistic and less costly platforms. However, this makes sense only if the performance of these platforms is comparable to a front-line combat aircraft, particularly in terms of high specific excess power (SEP) and high levels of agility. Failure to address this issue would lead to unrealistic training scenarios and a negative training experience. Design/methodology/approach The paper focuses on required research and the feasibility studies of a low-cost operationally effective solution for air combat pilot training, combining a very agile air platform, fully dedicated to training, and a flexible, interoperable, integrated training system (ITS) using simulations to provide a complete Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) solution. This study will explore innovations applicable to the learning and maintaining of skills, develop a first pilot physiological survey and propose a follow-up program aimed at developing a fully European air combat training service by 2028 or beyond. Findings The volume inside the SEP envelope shows the available SEP potential depending on Mach number and Altitude: SEP is directly representative for climb rate and acceleration or a combination of both. The surface of the volume represents steady-state conditions, i.e. at 1 g (no turns), enabling us to conclude that supersonic trainer and fighter present high energy potentials (SEP) required in air combat manoeuvres and that a subsonic trainer cannot match those qualities and does not fulfil advanced trainer requirements. Practical implications A major difficulty for the air forces in their training syllabus lies in the fact that in peacetime supersonic flight is restricted to dedicated areas or over the sea. However, a real beyond visual range fight can often start in the supersonic and continue into the high subsonic regime after a few minutes. Therefore, this novel trainer superior performance in the transonic region will bring the following advantages, for example in the rare opportunities to train in the lower supersonic regime, it can provide similar performance like combat aircraft and in the usual advanced training in the high subsonic regime, this novel trainer offers excellent realistic performance in a region where the conventional advanced trainer performance collapses beyond Mach 0.8 and does not provide realistic training results. The feasibility study shall be executed in close cooperation between User (Requirements) and Study Team (Solutions). The early conceptual design with basic layout and data (T/W and W/L) is key for operational utility and must be addressed with the User right at the beginning. The users are therefore offered early participation in the requirements development. Originality/value The presented methodology is an original approach to the combat pilot training. The core of the methodology is a study of a solution that aims to reduce training costs through an affordable operational air vehicle and an agile ITS. This goal will be reached by a design methodology that will concentrate the innovation and the developments to the critical issues for the concept (aerodynamics, propulsion, simulated weapon system, ITS architecture, etc.): the remaining topics will be adapted from existing solution, optimizing the development.

Wall pressure fluctuations induced by a single stream jet over a semi-finite plate

This work provides an experimental investigation into the interaction between a jet flow and a semi-finite plate parallel to the jet. Wall pressure fluctuations have been measured in a high compressible subsonic regime and for different distances between the jet and the plate trailing edge. The experiment has been carried out in the ISVR anechoic Doak Laboratory at the University of Southampton, using wall pressure transducers flush mounted on the plate surface. Signals were acquired in the stream-wise direction along the jet centreline and in the span-wise direction in a region close to the trailing edge. The radial position of the flat plate was fixed very close to the jet axis to simulate a realistic jet–wing configuration. The plate was moved axially in order to investigate four different jet-trailing edge distances and to include measurements upstream of the nozzle exhaust. The acquired database was analyzed in both the frequency and the time domains providing an extensive statistical characterization in terms of spectral uni– and multi–variate quantities as well as high order statistical moments. A wavelet analysis was performed as well to investigate the time evolution of the wall pressure events.

Dynamical friction with radiative feedback – II. High-resolution study of the subsonic regime

ABSTRACT Recent work has suggested that the net gravitational force acting on a massive and luminous perturber travelling through a gaseous and opaque medium can have same direction as the perturber’s motion (an effect sometimes called negative dynamical friction). Analytic results were obtained using a linear analysis and were later confirmed by means of non-linear numerical simulations which did not resolve the flow within the Bondi sphere of the perturber, hence effectively restricted to weakly perturbed regions of the flow. Here we present high-resolution simulations, using either 3D Cartesian or 2D cylindrical meshes that resolve the flow within the Bondi sphere. We perform a systematic study of the force as a function of the perturber’s mass and luminosity, in the subsonic regime. We find that perturbers with mass M smaller than a few Mc ∼ χcs/G are subjected to a thermal force with a magnitude in good agreement with linear theory (χ being the thermal diffusivity of the medium, cs the adiabatic sound speed, and G the gravitational constant), while for larger masses, the thermal forces are only a fraction of the linear estimate that decays as M−1. Our analysis confirms the possibility of negative friction (hence a propulsion) on sufficiently luminous, low-mass embryos embedded in protoplanetary discs. Finally, we give an approximate expression of the total force at low Mach number, valid both for subcritical (M < Mc) and supercritical (M > Mc) perturbers.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE ANGLE OF ATTACK ALPHA ON THE PRESSURE RECOVERY AT AERODYNAMICS INTERFACE PLANE INVESTIGATION

In the process of design, anaircraft to know the performance and stability requires testing in a wind tunnel.Similarly, the selection of engines for aircraft design embedded on conducted tests in a wind tunnel model air intake with some variation of the angle of attack.This paper examines the effect ofthe high angle of attack alpha testing aircraft air intake with a position of beta 0° on the subsonic regime with wind speeds of 65 ms-1. Combat aircraft flying with an unexpected manoeuvre to avoidenemy attack nor did defence against missiles.Often the aircraft must fly to the position of a very high angle of attack.The theoretical value of the Pressure Recovery is approaching one in order to make the machine pinned can work optimally.Experimental observations of Pressure Recovery plotted against the variation of the angle of attack alpha.The observations show the performance design of aircraft engine inlet on the angle of attack alpha large can still give adequate pressure recovery.

Considerations and simulations about Pulse Detonation Engine

PDE propulsion can work from a subsonic regime to hypersonic regimes; this type of engine can have higher thermodynamic efficiency compared to other turbojet or turbofan engines due to the removal of rotating construction elements (compressors and turbines) that can reduce the mass and total cost of propulsion system. The PDE experimental researches focused on both the geometric configuration and the thermo-gas-dynamic flow aspects to prevent uncontrolled self-ignition. This article presents a series of numerical simulations on the functioning of PDE with hydrogen at supersonic regimens.

Shock Wave Interactions with Viscosity Observed after the Coronal Mass Ejection Activities Occurred on December 18, 1999 and April 4, 2001

The release of magnetic field and plasma from the solar atmosphere (i.e. coronal mass ejections-CMEs and solar wind) resulting from solar magnetic activity can produce shock waves and geomagnetic storms. Shock waves are known to occur while the solar ejected particles alter from the supersonic to the subsonic regime. Especially, in the supersonic case for the flow of compressible gas interaction of shock waves with viscosity plays a key role for space weather broadcasts. Therefore, the major objective of this paper was to search the outcome of viscosity in the shocks subsequently detected after the CMEs occurred on December 18, 1999 and April 4, 2001 by using the previous modelling study of [1].