Peng Hu

Aero-optical steady-distortion reduces the far-field quality of the forward-looking laser beam of an airborne turret. It has a complex relation with the viewing angle of the laser beam and the flow around the turret at different flight speeds. In this paper, the aero-optical steady-distortion, including the fixed tip/tilt and steady-lensing wavefront, for a hemisphere-on-cylinder turret with a conformal window is analyzed at different freestream Mach numbers (Ma∞=0.3–1.7) and window angles. Computational fluid dynamics and particle-based ray-tracing methods are combined to simulate the steady-state flow over the turret and its aero-optical effect. The scaling laws of the fixed tip/tilt and steady-lensing wavefront for the forward-looking laser beam are summarized under these subsonic, transonic, and supersonic flows. The results show that the scaling factor Ma∞2 is only applicable to the wavefront distortion caused by low-velocity flows, while the relevant scaling factors Ma∞2/[1+(γ+1)Ma∞2(γ+1)/(γ−1)] and (γ−1)/(2γ)Ma∞γ/(γ−1) are effective across subsonic/transonic and supersonic flows. The fixed tip/tilt is discussed separately, and its scaling factor and scaling law differ from the steady-lensing wavefront. In addition, the fixed tip/tilt and steady-lensing wavefront within these flow regimes are only related to the viewing angle, not the elevation angle.

The physics-informed neural network (PINN) method is extended to learn and predict compressible steady-state aerodynamic flows with a high Reynolds number. To better learn the thin boundary layer, the sampling distance function and hard boundary condition are explicitly introduced into the input and output layers of the deep neural network, respectively. A gradient weight factor is considered in the loss function to implement the PINN methods based on the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and Euler equations, respectively, denoted as PINN–RANS and PINN–Euler. Taking a transonic flow around a cylinder as an example, these PINN methods are first verified for the ability to learn complex flows and then are applied to predict the global flow based on a part of physical data. When predicting the global flow based on velocity data in local key regions, the PINN–RANS method can always accurately predict the global flow field including the boundary layer and wake, while the PINN–Euler method can accurately predict the inviscid region. When predicting the subsonic and transonic flows under different freestream Mach numbers (Ma∞= 0.3–0.7), the flow fields predicted by both methods avoid the inconsistency with the real physical phenomena of the pure data-driven method. The PINN–RANS method is insufficient in shock identification capabilities. Since the PINN–Euler method does not need the second derivative, the training time of PINN–Euler is only 1/3 times that of PINN–RANS at the same sampling point and deep neural network.

Hemisphere-on-cylinder turrets are the main airborne optical platform structure. However, an unsteady shock boundary layer interaction (SBLI) would act on flow separation and turbulent wake, which causes serious aero-optical effects with high spatial and temporal frequency characteristics. In this paper, the SBLI phenomenon of a hemisphere-on-cylinder turret is recorded in a wind tunnel at using shadowing and Mach-Zehnder interferometer measurements. Its wavefront distortion is measured using the Shack-Hartmann measurement. The detached eddy simulation (DES) based on SST - turbulence model and ray-tracing methods are used to reproduce the transonic flow and optical aberration. Experiments and simulations suggest that the SBLI causes the flow to separate earlier relative to a subsonic flow over the turret. The time-averaged root-mean-square of optical path difference (OPD) over the beam aperture is 0.56 λ∼0.59 λ with as the wavelength, while the root-mean-square of the time-averaged OPD is about 0.45 λ. The local shock and wavefront distortion have dual peak frequencies at and 0.34, different from the single-peak-frequency phenomenon of a subsonic flow over turrets. Fast model decomposition of wavefront can be performed by proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of its Zernike coefficients. The first two modes contain the shock’s reciprocating motion.

In the transonic flow over a hemisphere-on-cylinder turret, strong aero-optical effects can be caused by local shock/boundary-layer interactions and separation shear layers at the turret's zenith. The effects of an annular rough wall on the passive control of fluid and aero-optics are investigated by experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The local shock/boundary-layer interaction and separated shear layer at the zenith of the turret are recorded using shadowing and Mach–Zehnder interferometer measurements. The aero-optics are measured using a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor. The experimental results show that the annular rough wall on the turret weakens the local shock wave, moves the flow separation point forward, and reduces the wavefront distortion at the zenith. The rough wall functions for the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model proposed by B. Aupoix [“Roughness corrections for the k–ω shear stress transport model: Status and proposals,” J. Fluids Eng. 137, 021202 (2014)] and C.-H. Lee [“Rough boundary treatment method for the shear-stress transport k–ω model,” Eng. Appl. Comput. Fluid 12, 261–269 (2018)] are used to further study the control effect of different roughnesses. Numerical simulations based on both rough wall functions show good agreement with the experimental measurements. For various transonic flows, the steady wavefront distortions at the zenith with the rough wall at roughness ks=1 mm are 21%–50% smaller than those with smooth walls. The smaller the supersonic region, the more effective the rough wall is in reducing wavefront distortion.

In the transonic flow over a hemisphere-on-cylinder turret, strong aero-optical effects can be caused by local shock/boundary-layer interactions and separation shear layers at the turret's zenith. The effects of an annular rough wall on the passive control of fluid and aero-optics are investigated by experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The local shock/boundary-layer interaction and separated shear layer at the zenith of the turret are recorded using shadowing and Mach–Zehnder interferometer measurements. The aero-optics are measured using a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor. The experimental results show that the annular rough wall on the turret weakens the local shock wave, moves the flow separation point forward, and reduces the wavefront distortion at the zenith. The rough wall functions for the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model proposed by B. Aupoix [“Roughness corrections for the k–ω shear stress transport model: Status and proposals,” J. Fluids Eng. 137, 021202 (2014)] and C.-H. Lee [“Rough boundary treatment method for the shear-stress transport k–ω model,” Eng. Appl. Comput. Fluid 12, 261–269 (2018)] are used to further study the control effect of different roughnesses. Numerical simulations based on both rough wall functions show good agreement with the experimental measurements. For various transonic flows, the steady wavefront distortions at the zenith with the rough wall at roughness ks=1 mm are 21%–50% smaller than those with smooth walls. The smaller the supersonic region, the more effective the rough wall is in reducing wavefront distortion.

In the transonic flow over a hemisphere-on-cylinder turret, strong aero-optical effects can be caused by local shock-boundary layer interactions and separation shear layers at the turret's zenith. The effects of an annular rough wall on the passive control of fluid and aero-optics are investigated by experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The local shock-boundary layer interaction and separated shear layer at the zenith of the turret are recorded using shadowing and Mach-Zehnder interferometer measurements. The aero-optics are measured using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The experimental results show that the annular rough wall on the turret weakens the local shock wave, moves the flow separation point forward, and reduces the wavefront distortion at the zenith. The rough wall functions for the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model proposed by Aupoix [J. Fluid Eng., v137, 2014] and Lee [Eng. Appl. Comp. Fluid, v137, 2014] are used to further study the control effect of different roughnesses. Numerical simulations based on both rough wall functions show good agreement with the experimental measurements. For various transonic flows, the steady wavefront distortions at the zenith with the rough wall at roughness k_s = 1 mm are 21 % --50% smaller than those with smooth walls. The smaller the supersonic region, the more effective the rough wall is in reducing wavefront distortion.