E. A. Walters, PC Krause and Associates, Inc; S. D. Pekarek, O. Wasynczuk, Purdue University; A. C. Koenig, PC Krause and Associates, Inc; P. T. Lamm, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
Historically, the simulations of aircraft power systems have been divided into separate mechanical (turbine engine) and electrical subsystems, wherein the coupled dynamics have been neglected. However, for future high power concepts such as Directed Energy Weapons, a coupled multi-physics design and analysis capability is required to evaluate system feasibility and establish an optimal architecture. In this paper, such a simulation environment is set forth. The environment contains tools for creating rapid component/system-level simulations. These include a distributed heterogeneous simulation toolbox for interconnecting dynamic component models created using different simulation packages and/or operating systems, as well as a partitioned finite element technique that dramatically reduces computational effort. Herein, the multi-physics tools are demonstrated for a multi-MW gyrotron system. The impact of the gyrotron load on the electrical, mechanical, and energy storage are evaluated under both transient and steady-state conditions and an attempt is made to search for architectures/ designs that minimize weight subject to maintaining stable system performance.
8th Annual Directed Energy Symposium, November 14-18, 2005, Lihue, HA.