Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111852
Jiliang Xie, Kemao Ma
A nonzero-sum Target-Attacker-Defender game is investigated, where the target attempts to evade the attacker, the attacker aims to capture the target while evading the defenders, and the multiple defenders strive to capture the attacker while achieving the cooperation among them. A new class of cost functions segmented by the game times are developed to reflect the objectives of the respective agents. By optimizing these cost functions, the optimal strategies of the agents are derived, forming an equilibrium solution of the differential game. Furthermore, considering the communication interactions between the defenders, distributed defending strategies are derived for the defenders, where each defender’s strategy depends only on its own information and that of its connected neighbors. It is proved that the distributed strategies of the defenders, together with the optimal strategies of the target and the attacker, form an ϵ equilibrium solution of the differential game. The designed strategies are applied to a terminal guidance scenario, where a tactical missile intercepts an actively-defended target. Simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the design.
{"title":"Distributed defending strategies in target-attacker-defender game with applications to cooperative guidance","authors":"Jiliang Xie, Kemao Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111852","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111852","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A nonzero-sum Target-Attacker-Defender game is investigated, where the target attempts to evade the attacker, the attacker aims to capture the target while evading the defenders, and the multiple defenders strive to capture the attacker while achieving the cooperation among them. A new class of cost functions segmented by the game times are developed to reflect the objectives of the respective agents. By optimizing these cost functions, the optimal strategies of the agents are derived, forming an equilibrium solution of the differential game. Furthermore, considering the communication interactions between the defenders, distributed defending strategies are derived for the defenders, where each defender’s strategy depends only on its own information and that of its connected neighbors. It is proved that the distributed strategies of the defenders, together with the optimal strategies of the target and the attacker, form an ϵ equilibrium solution of the differential game. The designed strategies are applied to a terminal guidance scenario, where a tactical missile intercepts an actively-defended target. Simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111852"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146134793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111791
Yue Hu, Weidong Zhou
Non-stationary noise caused by dynamic state and measurement outliers poses a significant challenge to the robustness of filters. Existing methods often struggle to maintain satisfactory estimation accuracy when dealing with complex noise exhibiting Gaussian and/or heavy-tailed and/or skewed distributions. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel robust Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) filtering framework, in which the noise is modeled as a Gaussian-Skew Mixture (GSKM) distribution. To effectively handle dynamic outliers, a fixed-length but adaptively updated moving window mechanism is incorporated into the framework, enhancing the suppression of dynamic outliers by analyzing measurements over a period of time. Furthermore, the Variational Bayesian (VB) method is embedded into the MHE, constructing a filtering structure that can adaptively update the mixing probabilities. Based on this, multiple robust MHE-based filters are designed for specific configurations of the GSKM distribution. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed framework can model non-stationary noise more accurately and improve estimation accuracy, exhibiting superior performance in handling dynamic outliers.
{"title":"A robust moving horizon estimation-Based variational kalman filtering framework for non-Stationary noise in target tracking","authors":"Yue Hu, Weidong Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111791","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111791","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Non-stationary noise caused by dynamic state and measurement outliers poses a significant challenge to the robustness of filters. Existing methods often struggle to maintain satisfactory estimation accuracy when dealing with complex noise exhibiting Gaussian and/or heavy-tailed and/or skewed distributions. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel robust Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) filtering framework, in which the noise is modeled as a Gaussian-Skew Mixture (GSKM) distribution. To effectively handle dynamic outliers, a fixed-length but adaptively updated moving window mechanism is incorporated into the framework, enhancing the suppression of dynamic outliers by analyzing measurements over a period of time. Furthermore, the Variational Bayesian (VB) method is embedded into the MHE, constructing a filtering structure that can adaptively update the mixing probabilities. Based on this, multiple robust MHE-based filters are designed for specific configurations of the GSKM distribution. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed framework can model non-stationary noise more accurately and improve estimation accuracy, exhibiting superior performance in handling dynamic outliers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111791"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146072589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-31DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111801
Francesco De Vanna
This work presents a high-resolution large-eddy simulation (LES) database for transonic film cooling representative of modern aero-engine turbine environments. A canonical flat-plate configuration with a single round hole is investigated across six operating conditions that combine low, moderate, and high blowing ratios with two coolant-to-recovery temperature ratios. This parametric sweep isolates momentum- and buoyancy-driven mechanisms that govern jet attachment, plume lift-off, and surface protection. The simulations resolve the incoming turbulent boundary layer and the full jet-in-crossflow interaction, yielding scale-resolved wall-pressure spectra, spanwise energy distributions, and turbulent-kinetic-energy budgets. These diagnostics expose the spectral signatures of plume detachment, the redistribution of turbulent energy between inner and outer shear layers, and the wall-normal migration of peak production within the jet-film interface under transonic conditions. By removing geometric complexity and retaining the essential physics, the resulting dataset provides a rigorous reference for the calibration and assessment of RANS and hybrid RANS-LES closures, wall-model formulations with mass injection, and reduced-order strategies for future gas-turbine aerothermal design. All results are released openly.
{"title":"Transonic film cooling for future aviation gas turbines: A high-fidelity large eddy simulations reference","authors":"Francesco De Vanna","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111801","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111801","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work presents a high-resolution large-eddy simulation (LES) database for transonic film cooling representative of modern aero-engine turbine environments. A canonical flat-plate configuration with a single round hole is investigated across six operating conditions that combine low, moderate, and high blowing ratios with two coolant-to-recovery temperature ratios. This parametric sweep isolates momentum- and buoyancy-driven mechanisms that govern jet attachment, plume lift-off, and surface protection. The simulations resolve the incoming turbulent boundary layer and the full jet-in-crossflow interaction, yielding scale-resolved wall-pressure spectra, spanwise energy distributions, and turbulent-kinetic-energy budgets. These diagnostics expose the spectral signatures of plume detachment, the redistribution of turbulent energy between inner and outer shear layers, and the wall-normal migration of peak production within the jet-film interface under transonic conditions. By removing geometric complexity and retaining the essential physics, the resulting dataset provides a rigorous reference for the calibration and assessment of RANS and hybrid RANS-LES closures, wall-model formulations with mass injection, and reduced-order strategies for future gas-turbine aerothermal design. All results are released openly.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111801"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146095630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-30DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111807
Jinghan Zhang , Haiwang Li , Gang Xie , Yuzhu Lou , Zhiyu Zhou
This study systematically investigates a novel integrated combustor-turbine module (ICTM), focusing on its aerothermal characteristics and cooling performance under diverse inlet conditions. The ICTM design merges the combustor flame tube with first-stage turbine vanes, creating an independent aerodynamic and cooling unit. Utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the study evaluates the module’s performance across uniform, positive swirl, and negative swirl inlet conditions. Results show that the ICTM achieves a 28.9% reduction in total pressure loss coefficient compared to conventional designs, highlighting its high aerodynamic efficiency. Furthermore, the ICTM demonstrates significantly lower heat transfer coefficients, with a 13% decrease in surface-averaged values and a 53% reduction in peak values. The cooling design of the ICTM also shows enhanced potential, requiring less coolant flow and featuring simplified film cooling configurations. Notably, the ICTM maintains superior aerothermal performance under non-uniform swirling inlet conditions, outperforming conventional designs in both aerodynamic efficiency and heat transfer characteristics. This research establishes the ICTM as a promising design paradigm for next-generation heavy-duty gas turbines, offering valuable insights for advanced engine systems.
{"title":"An integrated combustor-turbine module: aerodynamic and thermal analysis under uniform and swirling flows","authors":"Jinghan Zhang , Haiwang Li , Gang Xie , Yuzhu Lou , Zhiyu Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111807","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111807","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study systematically investigates a novel integrated combustor-turbine module (ICTM), focusing on its aerothermal characteristics and cooling performance under diverse inlet conditions. The ICTM design merges the combustor flame tube with first-stage turbine vanes, creating an independent aerodynamic and cooling unit. Utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the study evaluates the module’s performance across uniform, positive swirl, and negative swirl inlet conditions. Results show that the ICTM achieves a 28.9% reduction in total pressure loss coefficient compared to conventional designs, highlighting its high aerodynamic efficiency. Furthermore, the ICTM demonstrates significantly lower heat transfer coefficients, with a 13% decrease in surface-averaged values and a 53% reduction in peak values. The cooling design of the ICTM also shows enhanced potential, requiring less coolant flow and featuring simplified film cooling configurations. Notably, the ICTM maintains superior aerothermal performance under non-uniform swirling inlet conditions, outperforming conventional designs in both aerodynamic efficiency and heat transfer characteristics. This research establishes the ICTM as a promising design paradigm for next-generation heavy-duty gas turbines, offering valuable insights for advanced engine systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111807"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146089660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-30DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111768
Yazhong Jiang , Xuxu Sun , Jie Niu , Jun Zhang
The majority of studies on shock-shock interactions assume the inviscid or high-Reynolds-number condition for the fluid flows. However, the rarefied flows encountered by the hypersonic vehicles in their high-altitude flights require investigation that considers both the shock-shock interaction and the rarefied gas effect. An in-house direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solver is employed to simulate a series of hypersonic air flows over a wedge-cylinder configuration at the freestream Mach number of 10. The DSMC simulations cover 15 different Knudsen numbers Kn∞, spanning from to . At the lowest Knudsen number, the numerical results are validated by the corresponding wind-tunnel experiment and demonstrate the features of an Edney type IV shock-shock interaction, including the type IV wave pattern, the supersonic jet impingement, the amplifications of surface shear stress, pressure, and heat flux, as well as the shifts in the angular positions of the peak shear stress, pressure, and heat flux over the cylinder surface. In ascending order of Kn∞, the flow fields over the wedge-cylinder configuration and the undisturbed cylinder are simulated in detail. In addition, the distributions of shear stress, pressure, and heat flux on the surface of the cylinder are calculated and analyzed. The increase in flow rarefaction continuously alters the flow pattern of the shock-shock interaction, in which the wave system gradually loses the ability to deflect the streamlines or to concentrate the energy in the flow. As flow becomes more rarefied, the shock-shock interaction will result in smaller amplification factors and smaller angular shifts of the maximum aerodynamic/aerothermal loads. At the highest Kn∞ in this study, the amplification factors for skin friction and heat flux are found to be less than unity. The existence of the supersonic jet and its position relative to the cylinder account for the distribution characteristics of aerodynamic/aerothermal loads over the cylinder surface.
{"title":"Study of shock-shock interactions in rarefied flows using direct simulation Monte Carlo method","authors":"Yazhong Jiang , Xuxu Sun , Jie Niu , Jun Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111768","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111768","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The majority of studies on shock-shock interactions assume the inviscid or high-Reynolds-number condition for the fluid flows. However, the rarefied flows encountered by the hypersonic vehicles in their high-altitude flights require investigation that considers both the shock-shock interaction and the rarefied gas effect. An in-house direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solver is employed to simulate a series of hypersonic air flows over a wedge-cylinder configuration at the freestream Mach number of 10. The DSMC simulations cover 15 different Knudsen numbers <em>Kn</em><sub>∞</sub>, spanning from <span><math><mrow><mn>6.688</mn><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>3</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span> to <span><math><mrow><mn>6.688</mn><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span>. At the lowest Knudsen number, the numerical results are validated by the corresponding wind-tunnel experiment and demonstrate the features of an Edney type IV shock-shock interaction, including the type IV wave pattern, the supersonic jet impingement, the amplifications of surface shear stress, pressure, and heat flux, as well as the shifts in the angular positions of the peak shear stress, pressure, and heat flux over the cylinder surface. In ascending order of <em>Kn</em><sub>∞</sub>, the flow fields over the wedge-cylinder configuration and the undisturbed cylinder are simulated in detail. In addition, the distributions of shear stress, pressure, and heat flux on the surface of the cylinder are calculated and analyzed. The increase in flow rarefaction continuously alters the flow pattern of the shock-shock interaction, in which the wave system gradually loses the ability to deflect the streamlines or to concentrate the energy in the flow. As flow becomes more rarefied, the shock-shock interaction will result in smaller amplification factors and smaller angular shifts of the maximum aerodynamic/aerothermal loads. At the highest <em>Kn</em><sub>∞</sub> in this study, the amplification factors for skin friction and heat flux are found to be less than unity. The existence of the supersonic jet and its position relative to the cylinder account for the distribution characteristics of aerodynamic/aerothermal loads over the cylinder surface.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111768"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146089659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-24DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111717
Xinran Zhang, Fenghua He, Yu Yao, Zhaochen Lin
The increasing speed and agility of modern aerial targets, coupled with the prevalence of sensor noise in real-world scenarios, pose significant challenges to traditional guidance methods. This highlights an urgent need for advanced and robust cooperative pursuit strategies for multi-vehicle systems. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel coverage-based multi-agent reinforcement learning guidance framework, designed to achieve highly efficient and robust cooperative guidance. Specifically, we first reformulate the pursuit task as a dynamic coverage optimization problem over the target’s predicted reachable region. We then introduce a Projection-Embedded Coverage Optimization RL (PECO-RL) framework, which enables efficient training within a simplified projected 2D environment while maintaining validation capability in complex 3D scenarios, significantly reducing training complexity and enhancing generalization. Furthermore, we present a Coverage-based Reinforcement Learning Guidance (CRL-G) method to promote coordinated behavior that is inherently more robust to observation noise, thereby achieving superior pursuit efficiency and robustness. The CRL-G method integrates a coverage-driven reward function to mitigate the inherent sparsity problem in pursuit tasks. An Actor-Critic network architecture with an adaptive feature extraction module employing learnable attention mechanisms is designed to dynamically accommodate varying numbers of flight vehicles. Extensive simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed CRL-G method achieves superior performance compared to existing approaches in terms of guidance accuracy, success rate, robustness, and control effort. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibits significantly higher computational efficiency than optimization-based methods, highlighting its potential for real-time deployment.
{"title":"A Coverage-based multi-Agent reinforcement learning method for cooperative guidance","authors":"Xinran Zhang, Fenghua He, Yu Yao, Zhaochen Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111717","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111717","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The increasing speed and agility of modern aerial targets, coupled with the prevalence of sensor noise in real-world scenarios, pose significant challenges to traditional guidance methods. This highlights an urgent need for advanced and robust cooperative pursuit strategies for multi-vehicle systems. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel coverage-based multi-agent reinforcement learning guidance framework, designed to achieve highly efficient and robust cooperative guidance. Specifically, we first reformulate the pursuit task as a dynamic coverage optimization problem over the target’s predicted reachable region. We then introduce a Projection-Embedded Coverage Optimization RL (PECO-RL) framework, which enables efficient training within a simplified projected 2D environment while maintaining validation capability in complex 3D scenarios, significantly reducing training complexity and enhancing generalization. Furthermore, we present a Coverage-based Reinforcement Learning Guidance (CRL-G) method to promote coordinated behavior that is inherently more robust to observation noise, thereby achieving superior pursuit efficiency and robustness. The CRL-G method integrates a coverage-driven reward function to mitigate the inherent sparsity problem in pursuit tasks. An Actor-Critic network architecture with an adaptive feature extraction module employing learnable attention mechanisms is designed to dynamically accommodate varying numbers of flight vehicles. Extensive simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed CRL-G method achieves superior performance compared to existing approaches in terms of guidance accuracy, success rate, robustness, and control effort. Furthermore, the proposed method exhibits significantly higher computational efficiency than optimization-based methods, highlighting its potential for real-time deployment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111717"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146047964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-04DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111792
Muhammad Nasir , Dan Xie , Zijun Yi , Tamina Perveen , Adnan Maqsood
The design of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for hypersonic vehicles must simultaneously address extreme aerodynamic heating and ensure aerothermoelastic stability. Conventional approaches, as examined by Xie (2020), highlight that thickness distribution and material selection are critical to controlling flutter onset, stress evolution, and long-term structural safety. Yet, the performance of alternative advanced materials under fully coupled aerothermoelastic loading remains underexplored, leaving a gap in the development of next-generation TPS concepts. This study investigates the aerothermoelastic response of multilayer TPS panels by substituting the outer and insulation layers with three high-performance material combinations: (i) ZrBtwo/C/SiC with Silica Aerogel, (ii) C/SiC with AFRSI–2500, and (iii) Inconel 617 honeycomb with Cerrachrome Insulation, while retaining a Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo structural panel. An aerothermoelastic MATLAB simulation framework, adapted from Xie (2020), was employed to evaluate baseline and selected thickness configurations (Cases 1, 2, and 7). Key outputs including transient deflection histories, temperature distributions, heat fluxes, thermal stresses, and flutter onset times are obtained and analyzed. The results indicate that the ZrBtwo/C/SiC + Silica Aerogel system provides the most favorable stability across cases, C/SiC + AFRSI–2500 offers intermediate performance, and Inconel 617 honeycomb + Cerrachrome Insulation tends to be least stable under the same loading, consistent with differences in thermal protection and temperature-dependent stiffness retention. Overall, the study highlights that while the emissivity of the outer radiation shield layer is important, the choice of insulation is decisive. Aerogel-based TPS shows strong potential for enhancing structural stability and thermal resilience in future hypersonic missions.
{"title":"Comparative aerothermoelastic performance assessment of advanced TPS materials for hypersonic vehicles","authors":"Muhammad Nasir , Dan Xie , Zijun Yi , Tamina Perveen , Adnan Maqsood","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111792","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111792","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The design of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for hypersonic vehicles must simultaneously address extreme aerodynamic heating and ensure aerothermoelastic stability. Conventional approaches, as examined by Xie (2020), highlight that thickness distribution and material selection are critical to controlling flutter onset, stress evolution, and long-term structural safety. Yet, the performance of alternative advanced materials under fully coupled aerothermoelastic loading remains underexplored, leaving a gap in the development of next-generation TPS concepts. This study investigates the aerothermoelastic response of multilayer TPS panels by substituting the outer and insulation layers with three high-performance material combinations: (i) ZrBtwo/C/SiC with Silica Aerogel, (ii) C/SiC with AFRSI–2500, and (iii) Inconel 617 honeycomb with Cerrachrome Insulation, while retaining a Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo structural panel. An aerothermoelastic MATLAB simulation framework, adapted from Xie (2020), was employed to evaluate baseline and selected thickness configurations (Cases 1, 2, and 7). Key outputs including transient deflection histories, temperature distributions, heat fluxes, thermal stresses, and flutter onset times are obtained and analyzed. The results indicate that the ZrBtwo/C/SiC + Silica Aerogel system provides the most favorable stability across cases, C/SiC + AFRSI–2500 offers intermediate performance, and Inconel 617 honeycomb + Cerrachrome Insulation tends to be least stable under the same loading, consistent with differences in thermal protection and temperature-dependent stiffness retention. Overall, the study highlights that while the emissivity of the outer radiation shield layer is important, the choice of insulation is decisive. Aerogel-based TPS shows strong potential for enhancing structural stability and thermal resilience in future hypersonic missions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111792"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146174270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111827
Yujie Gan , Huan Zhao , Zhengang Zhang , Keyao Gan
Natural laminar flow (NLF) design offers significant potential for reducing aerodynamic drag in green aviation to reduce fuel consumption, emissions, and noise. However, as the Mach number increases, it’s difficult for the current aerodynamic optimization method to balance maintaining an extended laminar flow region and weakening shockwaves for a lower drag coefficient, due to the multimodal characteristic of NLF design. Surrogate-based optimization is a promising solution meeting this requirement, but it encounters the serious curse of dimensionality, hindering its application for complex NLF design. To resolve this issue, a novel Partial Least Squares-based multi-level multi-fidelity sparse polynomial chaos-kriging (PLS-MLMF-PCK) surrogate model-assisted global optimization method for high-dimensional NLF design is proposed. PLS-MLMF-PCK enables more rapid and accurate prediction for high-dimensional problems by introducing PLS to modify the model’s kernel function of each level of fidelity in MLMF-PCK. This method selects the effective dimensionality for hyperparameters and builds the new kernel function in the covariance matrix to enhance the ability of creating the optimal MLMF-PCK. Further, a PLS-MLMF-PCK-assisted global optimization method with an adaptive multi-fidelity in-filling criterion is proposed. Results show that the new PLS-MLMF-PCK reduces computational costs by 60–95 % while improving prediction accuracy by 40–75 % in high-dimensional scenarios compared to the original MLMF-PCK. Further, it is validated that the advantages of this method scale with problem dimensionality, demonstrating robust performance for designs involving more than fifty variables. More importantly, the proposed method effectively alleviates dimensionality challenges and avoids getting stuck in a local optimum in high-dimensional global optimization for NLF or aerodynamic/multidisciplinary design.
{"title":"Novel partial least squares-based multi-level multi-fidelity polynomial chaos-Kriging for high-dimensional surrogate and optimization of natural laminar flow shape","authors":"Yujie Gan , Huan Zhao , Zhengang Zhang , Keyao Gan","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111827","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111827","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Natural laminar flow (NLF) design offers significant potential for reducing aerodynamic drag in green aviation to reduce fuel consumption, emissions, and noise. However, as the Mach number increases, it’s difficult for the current aerodynamic optimization method to balance maintaining an extended laminar flow region and weakening shockwaves for a lower drag coefficient, due to the multimodal characteristic of NLF design. Surrogate-based optimization is a promising solution meeting this requirement, but it encounters the serious curse of dimensionality, hindering its application for complex NLF design. To resolve this issue, a novel Partial Least Squares-based multi-level multi-fidelity sparse polynomial chaos-kriging (PLS-MLMF-PCK) surrogate model-assisted global optimization method for high-dimensional NLF design is proposed. PLS-MLMF-PCK enables more rapid and accurate prediction for high-dimensional problems by introducing PLS to modify the model’s kernel function of each level of fidelity in MLMF-PCK. This method selects the effective dimensionality for hyperparameters and builds the new kernel function in the covariance matrix to enhance the ability of creating the optimal MLMF-PCK. Further, a PLS-MLMF-PCK-assisted global optimization method with an adaptive multi-fidelity in-filling criterion is proposed. Results show that the new PLS-MLMF-PCK reduces computational costs by 60–95 % while improving prediction accuracy by 40–75 % in high-dimensional scenarios compared to the original MLMF-PCK. Further, it is validated that the advantages of this method scale with problem dimensionality, demonstrating robust performance for designs involving more than fifty variables. More importantly, the proposed method effectively alleviates dimensionality challenges and avoids getting stuck in a local optimum in high-dimensional global optimization for NLF or aerodynamic/multidisciplinary design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111827"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146134809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-31DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111790
Hui Ye , Junjie Cao , Xiaofei Yang , Shuyi Shao
In practical engineering, the disturbances and measurement errors encountered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in confined spaces significantly undermine the performance of safety-critical controllers. To address the issue of violating safety constraints in scenarios where both compound disturbances and measurement errors coexist, this paper presents a novel safety-critical control framework which integrates disturbance observer (DO), nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), control barrier function (CBF) for UAV in the confined environments. Specifically, we employ a refined observer to estimate constant wind disturbance and time-varying airflow disturbance induced by blades in confined environments. Furthermore, to deal with measurement and observation errors, a measurement-robust tunable CBF is proposed. This proposed method, as a constraint condition, improves the safety margin of the system during flight by utilizing two upper bounds of errors. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed NMPC-CBF-DO control framework is demonstrated in the simulation and the real-world experiments. In the comparative experiment, the proposed method increased the obstacle avoidance success rate by 20% in restricted scenarios.
{"title":"Safety-critical model predictive control for quadcopter UAV subject to wind disturbances and measurement errors in confined environments","authors":"Hui Ye , Junjie Cao , Xiaofei Yang , Shuyi Shao","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111790","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111790","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In practical engineering, the disturbances and measurement errors encountered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in confined spaces significantly undermine the performance of safety-critical controllers. To address the issue of violating safety constraints in scenarios where both compound disturbances and measurement errors coexist, this paper presents a novel safety-critical control framework which integrates disturbance observer (DO), nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), control barrier function (CBF) for UAV in the confined environments. Specifically, we employ a refined observer to estimate constant wind disturbance and time-varying airflow disturbance induced by blades in confined environments. Furthermore, to deal with measurement and observation errors, a measurement-robust tunable CBF is proposed. This proposed method, as a constraint condition, improves the safety margin of the system during flight by utilizing two upper bounds of errors. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed NMPC-CBF-DO control framework is demonstrated in the simulation and the real-world experiments. In the comparative experiment, the proposed method increased the obstacle avoidance success rate by 20% in restricted scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111790"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146095620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-06-01Epub Date: 2026-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2026.111776
Haibo Zhang , Haolin Yang , Qi Dang , Guanghan Wang , Chen Song , Chao Yang
This paper presents an aeroelastic analysis and aerodynamic load prediction framework for elastic avian-inspired morphing wings, in which the time-varying features of structural folding are added to the simulation. The framework uses the viscous vortex particle method to establish the unsteady aerodynamic model, and parameterizes the structural dynamic model by manifold tangent space interpolation. The transient response of the time-varying structure is solved through time finite element formulations. A wing prototype is manufactured for wind tunnel testing to initially validate the effectiveness of the method proposed, verifying that the prediction error of unsteady aerodynamic loads of our method is not more than 8.9% compared with the experimental data. The result shows that the in-plane folding process will cause the actual aerodynamic loads to deviate from the steady state and the hysteresis loop in lift response, which depends on the folding direction and the morphing rate.
{"title":"Unsteady aerodynamics of elastic avian-inspired morphing wing during the folding process","authors":"Haibo Zhang , Haolin Yang , Qi Dang , Guanghan Wang , Chen Song , Chao Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111776","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ast.2026.111776","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents an aeroelastic analysis and aerodynamic load prediction framework for elastic avian-inspired morphing wings, in which the time-varying features of structural folding are added to the simulation. The framework uses the viscous vortex particle method to establish the unsteady aerodynamic model, and parameterizes the structural dynamic model by manifold tangent space interpolation. The transient response of the time-varying structure is solved through time finite element formulations. A wing prototype is manufactured for wind tunnel testing to initially validate the effectiveness of the method proposed, verifying that the prediction error of unsteady aerodynamic loads of our method is not more than 8.9% compared with the experimental data. The result shows that the in-plane folding process will cause the actual aerodynamic loads to deviate from the steady state and the hysteresis loop in lift response, which depends on the folding direction and the morphing rate.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50955,"journal":{"name":"Aerospace Science and Technology","volume":"173 ","pages":"Article 111776"},"PeriodicalIF":5.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146072603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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