Behind physical design, fabrication and testing of materials and systems used in every hi-tech industry including aerospace, computational modelling and techniques play an important role at the initial development stages.

Be it the design of components for circuitry, optimisation problems or structural material analysis, computational mathematics is an essential tool.

Many elements used in aerospace applications need extensive modelling and analysis during the design stage; without this analysis, the development of the element is curtailed.

The papers in this Emerald Aerospace Briefing give an introduction to the methodologies and techniques used in computational modelling for the design and analysis of elements and components common in aerospace and related industries.

Contents:

Inductor design using signomial programming

Inductors are essential components in the design of power electronics circuits. The design is expected to meet specifications on inductance value, rated current values (root-mean-square (rms), average, and peak), operating frequency, and temperature rise. Moreover, many applications, such as those in aerospace engineering, impose stringent specifications on the inductor weight. These requirements, together with the ever increasing frequency and power rating of power electronic converters, render the design of inductors a challenging task. This paper shows how the design of such inductors can be obtained from the solution of a signomial program.

Originally published in COMPEL: The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Volume 26 Number 2, 2007

Weight optimisation of sampling instruments for ESA Mars Express mission

This paper presents the weight optimization of sampling drill-bits designed for the European Space Agency – Beagle 2 Mars Express mission. Two techniques, finite element analysis and numerical optimization, are employed to find out the optimal solution within the various constraints. The proposed methodology can also be applied in different engineering design applications and provides a total integrated solution as a generic template for design engineers.

Originally published in Engineering Computations Volume 24 Number 4, 2007

Extension of unsymmetric finite elements US-QUAD8 and US-HEXA20 for geometric nonlinear analysis

The design of structures such as those used in aerospace applications often utilize lightweight polymeric materials that undergo large displacements without exceeding their elastic limit. In view of large deformations, the response of these structures under static or dynamic loading conditions is inherently nonlinear. Two different sets of shape functions suitably chosen to satisfy the necessary compatibility and completeness conditions, are used as test and trial functions, respectively. The developed elements are found to exhibit improved performance in the presence of mesh distortions.

Originally published in Engineering Computations Volume 24 Number 4, 2007

FM – a pragmatic tool to model, analyse and predict complex behaviour of industrial systems

This paper aims to permit system reliability analysts/managers/practitioners/engineers to analyze system failure behavior using fuzzy methodology (FM). To deal with both qualitative and quantitative information related to system performance the authors have adopted failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) and Petrinets (PNs) to build an integrated framework. The simultaneous adoption of the proposed techniques to model, analyze and predict the uncertain behavior of an industrial system will not only help the reliability engineers/managers/practitioners to understand the behavioral dynamics of system but also to plan/adapt suitable maintenance practices to improve system reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) aspects.

Originally published in Engineering Computations Volume 24 Number 4, 2007

Finite point based numerical study on the unsteady laminar wake behind square cylinders

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) design and manufacturing is a growing engineering field that is beginning to make an impact on quite a number of industrial sectors such as, for instance, space, aeronautics, and defence. the MEMS sector has not reached maturity and so there is opportunity for the exploration of new ideas and concepts. In particular, there is a very large class of MEMS that rely on fluid and/or thermal phenomena, and it is likely that the number and sophistication of these thermo-fluid devices will increase dramatically. It is important to develop prediction and design tools that are simultaneously flexible, reliable and robust, and that target the flow regimes that typically occur inside these industrial products.

Originally published in International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow Volume 17 Number 1, 2007

Neuro-genetic optimization of micro compact heat exchanger

With the rapid emergence of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), many micro-fabrication technologies have been developed and being introduced in the field of heat transfer engineering to realize micro-channel devices. Compared with conventional heat exchangers, the main advantage of micro compact heat exchanger (MHE) is their extremely high heat transfer area per unit volume. However, the well-known benefits of small channels with respect to heat transfer must be weighed against the cost of the steep pressure gradient associated with flow through micro-channels.

Originally published in International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow Volume 17 Number 1, 2007