All issues

In present paper we reexamine the properties of CABARET numerical scheme formulated for a weakly compressible fluid flow basing the results of free shear layer modeling. Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and successive generation of two-dimensional turbulence provide a wide field for a scheme analysis including temporal evolution of the integral energy and enstrophy curves, the vorticity patterns and energy spectra, as well as the dispersion relation for the instability increment. The most part of calculations is performed for Reynolds number $\text{Re} = 4 \times 10^5$ for square grids sequentially refined in the range of $128^2-2048^2$ nodes. An attention is paid to the problem of underresolved layers generating a spurious vortex during the vorticity layers roll-up. This phenomenon takes place only on a coarse grid with $128^2$ nodes, while the fully regularized evolution pattern of vorticity appears only when approaching $1024^2$-node grid. We also discuss the vorticity resolution properties of grids used with respect to dimensional estimates for the eddies at the borders of the inertial interval, showing that the available range of grids appears to be sufficient for a good resolution of small–scale vorticity patches. Nevertheless, we claim for the convergence achieved for the domains occupied by large-scale structures.

The generated turbulence evolution is consistent with theoretical concepts imposing the emergence of large vortices, which collect all the kinetic energy of motion, and solitary small-scale eddies. The latter resemble the coherent structures surviving in the filamentation process and almost noninteracting with other scales. The dissipative characteristics of numerical method employed are discussed in terms of kinetic energy dissipation rate calculated directly and basing theoretical laws for incompressible (via enstrophy curves) and compressible (with respect to the strain rate tensor and dilatation) fluid models. The asymptotic behavior of the kinetic energy and enstrophy cascades comply with two-dimensional turbulence laws $E(k) \propto k^{−3}, \omega^2(k) \propto k^{−1}$. Considering the instability increment as a function of dimensionless wave number shows a good agreement with other papers, however, commonly used method of instability growth rate calculation is not always accurate, so some modification is proposed. Thus, the implemented CABARET scheme possessing remarkably small numerical dissipation and good vorticity resolution is quite competitive approach compared to other high-order accuracy methods

One- and two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of turbulent transfer within the atmospheric surface layer under neutral thermal stratification are considered. Both models are based on the solution of system of the timeaveraged equations of Navier – Stokes and continuity using a 1.5-order closure scheme as well as equations for turbulent kinetic energy and the rate of its dissipation. The influence of the upper and lower boundary conditions on vertical profiles of wind speed and turbulence parameters within the atmospheric surface layer was derived using an one-dimensional model usually applied in case of an uniform ground surface. The boundary conditions in the model were prescribed in such way that the vertical wind and turbulence patterns were well agreed with widely used logarithmic vertical profile of wind speed, linear dependence of turbulent exchange coefficient on height above ground surface level and constancy of turbulent kinetic energy within the atmospheric surface layer under neutral atmospheric conditions. On the basis of the classical one-dimensional model it is possible to obtain a number of relationships which link the vertical wind speed gradient, turbulent kinetic energy and the rate of its dissipation. Each of these relationships can be used as a boundary condition in our hydrodynamic model. The boundary conditions for the wind speed and the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy were selected as parameters to provide the smallest deviations of model calculations from classical distributions of wind and turbulence parameters. The corresponding upper and lower boundary conditions were used to define the initial and boundary value problem in the two-dimensional hydrodynamic model allowing to consider complex topography and horizontal vegetation heterogeneity. The two-dimensional model with selected optimal boundary conditions was used to describe the spatial pattern of turbulent air flow when it interacted with the forest edge. The dynamics of the air flow establishment depending on the distance from the forest edge was analyzed. For all considered initial and boundary value problems the unconditionally stable implicit finite-difference schemes of their numerical solution were developed and implemented.

Comets and asteroids are recognized by the scientists and the governments of all countries in the world to be one of the most significant threats to the development and even the existence of our civilization. Preventing this threat includes studying the motion of large meteors through the atmosphere that is accompanied by various physical and chemical phenomena. Of particular interest to such studies are the meteors whose trajectories have been recorded and whose fragments have been found on Earth. Here, we study one of such cases. We develop a model for the motion and destruction of natural bodies in the Earth’s atmosphere, focusing on the Benešov bolid (EN070591), a bright meteor registered in 1991 in the Czech Republic by the European Observation System. Unique data, that includes the radiation spectra, is available for this bolid. We simulate the aeroballistics of the Benešov meteoroid and of its fragments, taking into account destruction due to thermal and mechanical processes. We compute the velocity of the meteoroid and its mass ablation using the equations of the classical theory of meteor motion, taking into account the variability of the mass ablation along the trajectory. The fragmentation of the meteoroid is considered using the model of sequential splitting and the statistical stress theory, that takes into account the dependency of the mechanical strength on the length scale. We compute air flows around a system of bodies (shards of the meteoroid) in the regime where mutual interplay between them is essential. To that end, we develop a method of simulating air flows based on a set of grids that allows us to consider fragments of various shapes, sizes, and masses, as well as arbitrary positions of the fragments relative to each other. Due to inaccuracies in the early simulations of the motion of this bolid, its fragments could not be located for about 23 years. Later and more accurate simulations have allowed researchers to locate four of its fragments rather far from the location expected earlier. Our simulations of the motion and destruction of the Benešov bolid show that its interaction with the atmosphere is affected by multiple factors, such as the mass and the mechanical strength of the bolid, the parameters of its motion, the mechanisms of destruction, and the interplay between its fragments.

Reduction of the fire hazard of polymeric materials is one of the important scientific and technical problems. Since complexity of experimental procedures associated with flame spread, establishing reacting flows theoretical basics turned out to be crucial field of modern fundamental science. In order to determine parameters of flame spread over solid combustible materials numerical modelling methods have to be improved. Large amount of physical and chemical processes taking place needed to be resolved not just separately one by one but in connection with each other in gas and solid phases.

Upward flame spread over vertical solid combustible material is followed by unsteady eddy structures of gas flow in the vicinity of flame zone caused by thermal instability and natural convection forces accelerating hot combustion products. At every moment different amount of heat energy is transferred from hot gas-phase flame to solid material because of eddy flow structures. Therefore, satisfactory heat flux and eddy flow modelling are important to estimate flame spread rate.

In the current study we evaluated parameters of numerical method for flame spread over solid combustible material problem taking into account coupled nature of complex interaction between gas phase, solid material and eddy flow resulted from natural convection. We studied aspects of different approximation schemes used in differential equations integration process over space and time, of fields relaxation during iterations procedure carried out inside time step, of different time step values.

Mathematical model formulated allows to simulate flame spread over solid combustible material. Fluid dynamics is modeled by Navier – Stokes system of equations, eddy flow is described by combined turbulent model RANS–LES (DDES), turbulent combustion is resolved by modified turbulent combustion model Eddy Break-Up taking into account kinetic effects, radiation transfer is modeled by spherical harmonics method of first order approximation (P1). The equations presented are solved in OpenFOAM software.

This paper is devoted to the application of the method of numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for the solution of the problem of modeling the behavior of radionuclides in the cavity of the interelectric gap of a multielement electrogenerating channel. The analysis of gas-kinetic processes of thermionic converters is important for proving the design of the power-generating channel. The paper reviews two constructive schemes of the channel: with one- and two-way withdrawal of gaseous fission products into a vacuum-cesium system. The analysis uses a two-dimensional transport equation of the second-order accuracy for the solution of the left-hand side and the projection method for solving the right-hand side — the collision integral. In the course of the work, a software package was implemented that makes it possible to calculate on the cluster architecture by using the algorithm of parallelizing the left-hand side of the equation; the paper contains the results of the analysis of the dependence of the calculation efficiency on the number of parallel nodes. The paper contains calculations of data on the distribution of pressures of gaseous fission products in the gap cavity, calculations use various sets of initial pressures and flows; the dependency of the radionuclide pressure in the collector region was determined as a function of cesium pressures at the ends of the gap. The tests in the loop channel of a nuclear reactor confirm the obtained results.

An algorithm for solving the conjugation of aerodynamic and ballistic problems, which is based on the method of modeling with the help of a grid system, has been complemented by a numerical mechanism that allows to take into account the relative movement and rotation of bodies relative to their centers of mass. For a given configuration of the bodies a problem of flow is solved by relaxation method. After that the state of the system is recalculated after a short amount of time. With the use of iteration it is possible to trace the dynamics of the system over a large period of time. The algorithm is implemented for research of flight of systems of bodies taking into account their relative position and rotation. The algorithm was tested on the problem of flow around a body with segmental-conical form. A good correlation of the results with experimental studies was shown. The algorithm is used to calculate the problem of the supersonic fight of a rotating body. For bodies of rectangular shape, imitating elongated fragments of a meteoroid, it is shown that for elongated bodies the aerodynamically more stable position is flight with a larger area across the direction of flight. This de facto leads to flight of bodies with the greatest possible aerodynamic resistance due to the maximum midship area. The algorithm is used to calculate the flight apart of two identical bodies of a rectangular shape, taking into account their rotation. Rotation leads to the fact that the bodies fly apart not only under the action of the pushing aerodynamic force but also the additional lateral force due to the acquisition of the angle of attack. The velocity of flight apart of two fragments with elongated shape of a meteoric body increases to three times with the account of rotation in comparison with the case, when it is assumed that the bodies do not rotate. The study was carried out in order to evaluate the influence of various factors on the velocity of fragmentation of the meteoric body after destruction in order to construct possible trajectories of fallen on earth meteorites. A developed algorithm for solving the conjugation of aerodynamic and ballistic problems, taking into account the relative movement and rotation of the bodies, can be used to solve technical problems, for example, to study the dynamics of separation of aircraft stages.

The study of complex processes in various spheres of human activity is traditionally based on the use of mathematical models. In modern conditions, the development and application of such models is greatly simplified by the presence of high-speed computer equipment and specialized tools that allow, in fact, designing models from pre-prepared modules. Despite this, the known problems associated with ensuring the adequacy of the model, the reliability of the original data, the implementation in practice of the simulation results, the excessively large dimension of the original data, the joint application of sufficiency heterogeneous mathematical models in terms of complexity and integration of the simulated processes are becoming increasingly important. The more critical may be the external constraints imposed on the value of the optimized functional, and often unattainable within the framework of the constructed model. It is logical to assume that in order to fulfill these restrictions, a purposeful transformation of the original model is necessary, that is, the transition to a mathematical model with a deliberately improved solution. The new model will obviously have a different internal structure (a set of parameters and their interrelations), as well as other formats (areas of definition) of the source data. The possibilities of purposeful change of the initial model investigated by the authors are based on the realization of the idea of strategic reflection. The most difficult in mathematical terms practical implementation of the author's idea is the use of simulation models, for which the algorithms for finding optimal solutions have known limitations, and the study of sensitivity in most cases is very difficult. On the example of consideration of rather standard discrete- event simulation model the article presents typical methodological techniques that allow ranking variable parameters by sensitivity and, in the future, to expand the scope of definition of variable parameter to which the simulation model is most sensitive. In the transition to the “improved” model, it is also possible to simultaneously exclude parameters from it, the influence of which on the optimized functional is insignificant, and vice versa — the introduction of new parameters corresponding to real processes into the model.

The study completes a series of the author’s works devoted to the spread of particles population in supercritical catalytic branching random walk (CBRW) on a multidimensional lattice. The CBRW model describes the evolution of a system of particles combining their random movement with branching (reproduction and death) which only occurs at fixed points of the lattice. The set of such catalytic points is assumed to be finite and arbitrary. In the supercritical regime the size of population, initiated by a parent particle, increases exponentially with positive probability. The rate of the spread depends essentially on the distribution tails of the random walk jump. If the jump distribution has “light tails”, the “population front”, formed by the particles most distant from the origin, moves linearly in time and the limiting shape of the front is a convex surface. When the random walk jump has independent coordinates with a semiexponential distribution, the population spreads with a power rate in time and the limiting shape of the front is a star-shape nonconvex surface. So far, for regularly varying tails (“heavy” tails), we have considered the problem of scaled front propagation assuming independence of components of the random walk jump. Now, without this hypothesis, we examine an “isotropic” case, when the rate of decay of the jumps distribution in different directions is given by the same regularly varying function. We specify the probability that, for time going to infinity, the limiting random set formed by appropriately scaled positions of population particles belongs to a set $B$ containing the origin with its neighborhood, in $\mathbb{R}^d$. In contrast to the previous results, the random cloud of particles with normalized positions in the time limit will not concentrate on coordinate axes with probability one.

The using of determining the measure of interaction between channels when choosing the configuration structure of a control system for complex dynamic objects is considered in the work. The main methods for determining the measure of interaction between subsystems of complex control systems based on the methods RGA (Relative Gain Array), Dynamic RGA, HIIA (Hankel Interaction Index Array), PM (Participation matrix) are presented. When choosing a control configuration, simple configurations are preferable, as they are simple in design, maintenance and more resistant to failures. However, complex configurations provide higher performance control systems. Processes in large dynamic objects are characterized by a high degree of interaction between process variables. For the design of the control structure interaction measures are used, namely, the selection of the control structure and the decision on the configuration of the controller. The choice of control structure is to determine which dynamic connections should be used to design the controller. When a structure is selected, connections can be used to configure the controller. For large systems, it is proposed to pre-group the components of the vectors of input and output signals of the actuators and sensitive elements into sets in which the number of variables decreases significantly in order to select a control structure. A quantitative estimation of the decentralization of the control system based on minimizing the sum of the off-diagonal elements of the PM matrix is given. An example of estimation the measure of interaction between components of strong coupled subsystems and the measure of interaction between components of weak coupled subsystems is given. A quantitative estimation is given of neglecting the interaction of components of weak coupled subsystems. The construction of a weighted graph for visualizing the interaction of the subsystems of a complex system is considered. A method for the formation of the controllability gramian on the vector of output signals that is invariant to state vector transformations is proposed in the paper. An example of the decomposition of the stabilization system of the components of the flying vehicle angular velocity vector is given. The estimation of measures of the mutual influence of processes in the channels of control systems makes it possible to increase the reliability of the systems when accounting for the use of analytical redundancy of information from various devices, which reduces the mass and energy consumption. Methods for assessing measures of the interaction of processes in subsystems of control systems can be used in the design of complex systems, for example, motion control systems, orientation and stabilization systems of vehicles.

The work is dedicated to investigation of possibility to increase the efficiency of solving external aerodynamic problems. Methodical questions of using locally-adaptive grids and wall functions for numerical simulation of turbulent flows past flying vehicles are studied. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are integrated. The equations are closed by standard $k–\varepsilon$ turbulence model. Subsonic turbulent flow of perfect compressible viscous gas past airfoil RAE 2822 is considered. Calculations are performed in CFD software FlowVision. The efficiency of using the technology of smoothing diffusion fluxes and the Bradshaw formula for turbulent viscosity is analyzed. These techniques are regarded as means of increasing the accuracy of solving aerodynamic problems on locally-adaptive grids. The obtained results show that using the technology of smoothing diffusion fluxes essentially decreases the discrepancy between computed and experimental values of the drag coefficient. In addition, the distribution of the skin friction coefficient over the curvilinear surface of the airfoil becomes more regular. These results indicate that the given technology is an effective way to increase the accuracy of calculations on locally-adaptive grids. The Bradshaw formula for the dynamic coefficient of turbulent viscosity is traditionally used in the SST $k–\omega$ turbulence model. The possibility to implement it in the standard $k–\varepsilon$ turbulence model is investigated in the present article. The calculations show that this formula provides good agreement of integral aerodynamic characteristics and the distribution of the pressure coefficient over the airfoil surface with experimental data. Besides that, it essentially augments the accuracy of simulation of the flow in the boundary layer and in the wake. On the other hand, using the Bradshaw formula in the simulation of the air flow past airfoil RAE 2822 leads to under-prediction of the skin friction coefficient. For this reason, the conclusion is made that practical use of the Bradshaw formula requires its preliminary validation and calibration on reliable experimental data available for the considered flows. The results of the work as a whole show that using the technologies discussed in numerical solution of external aerodynamic problems on locally-adaptive grids together with wall functions provides the computational accuracy acceptable for quick assessment of the aerodynamic characteristics of a flying vehicle. So, one can deduce that the FlowVision software is an effective tool for preliminary design studies, for conceptual design, and for aerodynamic shape optimization.