Aero-engine air system hardware-in-the-loop test method
By employing the software-hardware boundary coupling iteration and transient history iteration methods, the problem of mutual interference between the main channel and the air system in aero-engine air system testing was solved, achieving efficient and accurate hardware-in-the-loop testing and reducing testing costs and errors.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- BEIHANG UNIV
- Filing Date
- 2026-02-06
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-19
AI Technical Summary
In existing aero-engine air system tests, the interaction between the main air duct and the air system is not considered, resulting in a large difference between the boundary condition assumptions and engineering reality. Traditional software and hardware interaction methods involve too many control operations and are costly in the initial operating conditions. In transient tests, the response is asynchronous and errors accumulate, affecting the accuracy of the test.
The test was established under initial operating conditions using a software-hardware boundary coupling iterative method. The internal conservation characteristics of the hardware test bench were utilized, and the transient history iterative method was combined with real-time software-hardware interaction to achieve near-realistic engine transient test.
It significantly shortens test time, reduces costs, improves the accuracy and controllability of transient tests, avoids algorithm divergence caused by errors, and enhances solution stability and engineering applicability.
Smart Images
Figure CN122062907A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to the field of aero-engine air system testing technology, and in particular to a hardware-in-the-loop testing method for aero-engine air systems. Background Technology
[0002] Currently, in aero-engine air system testing, the interaction between the main flow path and the air system is generally ignored in engineering practice. That is, after obtaining the various bleed and merge interfaces between the main flow path and the air system through software simulation or experimentation, these interfaces are used as boundary conditions for air system testing. In current transient test studies of air systems, the boundary conditions are usually assumed to be ideal boundaries such as step boundaries, ramp boundaries, or sinusoidal boundaries. While these boundary types can provide some reference data for basic research, they differ significantly from engineering realities.
[0003] To address this, the present invention proposes a hardware-in-the-loop testing method for aero-engine air systems. The mainstream software model of the aero-engine and the air system hardware test bench interact in real time to conduct air system tests under near-realistic engine transient processes.
[0004] However, existing coupling algorithms between the main engine duct and the aero-system software layer cannot be directly applied to the real-time interaction between the main engine duct software model and the aero-system hardware test bench. When establishing initial steady-state operating conditions, the current " n The "+1" point residual method, on the one hand, results in excessive control cycles on the air system hardware test bench, leading to high test time costs; on the other hand, ... n The +1 point residual method requires adjusting the pressure at each interface individually, and the algorithm only requires adjusting the pressure by about 1 kPa. However, for hardware test benches, the measurement results have uncertainties, and the pressure measurement accuracy is also on the order of about 1 kPa. This is fundamentally different from the high numerical accuracy of software calculations, which may lead to divergence in the solution. Furthermore, for transient processes, software simulations use time-stepping algorithms. However, for hardware-in-the-loop testing, the flow, heat, and mechanical inertia of the hardware test bench cause asynchronous software and hardware responses, necessitating the use of large time steps. This leads to error accumulation, affecting the accuracy of the final transient test. Therefore, a software-hardware interaction method is needed to address these issues. Summary of the Invention
[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a hardware-in-the-loop testing method for the air system of an aero-engine, in order to solve the problems existing in the prior art.
[0006] To achieve the above objectives, this invention provides a hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system. The aero-engine gas flow path includes a main flow path and a compressed air system. The main flow path is simulated using a software model, while the compressed air system is tested using a hardware test bench. The execution steps are as follows: The initial test conditions were established by using the inherent conservation characteristics of the hardware test bench and employing a soft-hard boundary coupling iterative method. Transient history tests were conducted, and the transient history iteration method was used to obtain the test results of the compressed air system under near-real engine transient history.
[0007] Preferably, when establishing the initial test conditions, the steps of the software-hardware boundary coupling iterative method are as follows: The compressed air system tests the pressure based on the test pressure nodes in the hardware and software interface. Simulate the boundary of a hardware compressed air system; After the boundary stabilizes, the interface flow rate of the hardware compressed air system is measured, and the interface flow rate of the hardware compressed air system is transferred to the corresponding branch of the main channel model in the software. The interface node pressure is solved based on the software model of the interface flow boundary of the hardware compressed air system. If the deviation between the interface node pressure calculated by the software and the interface node pressure in the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop is exited; otherwise, the software and hardware repeat the above interactive iterative process.
[0008] Preferably, after completing the initial operating conditions, the transient history iteration method used in the transient history test follows these steps: Try to determine the pressure variation history at each hard-soft interface node. ; The compressed air system simulates this transient boundary. The flow sensor measures the flow change at the interface of the hardware compressed air system test bench throughout the transient process, and the flow change history is transmitted to the software main channel model. The software solves the transient pressure boundary based on the transient flow boundary. If the deviation between the interface node pressure transient history calculated by the software and the interface node pressure transient history in the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop exits; otherwise, the software subnet and hardware subnet repeat the above iterative process.
[0009] Preferred, initial operating condition Only initial values are required; in the transient process An estimate of the entire process needs to be provided, which can be given empirically or calculated based on a pure software model of the main flow path and compressed air system.
[0010] Therefore, the hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system described above has the following beneficial effects: (1) In the initial working condition establishment stage, the inherent conservation characteristics of the hardware test bench are utilized, and the soft and hard boundary coupling iteration method is adopted, which reduces the number of boundary control and iterations required in the traditional method, significantly shortens the test time, and reduces the test difficulty and cost. (2) For transient history tests, a transient history iteration method is proposed. The dynamic solution of the common working point is realized through the interaction and iteration of software and hardware, which overcomes the problems of hardware response lag and software and hardware asynchrony, and improves the accuracy and controllability of transient tests. (3) Through real-time interaction between the mainstream software model and the compressed air system hardware test bench, the behavior of the compressed air system under near-real engine transient working conditions can be simulated, avoiding engineering deviations caused by assuming ideal boundary conditions in traditional methods. (4) To address the mismatch between hardware measurement accuracy and software calculation accuracy, an iterative strategy suitable for hardware-in-the-loop environment is proposed, which avoids the risk of algorithm divergence caused by measurement errors in traditional methods and improves the stability and reliability of the solution.
[0011] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Attached Figure Description
[0012] Figure 1 This invention provides an iterative method for establishing the software and hardware boundary coupling during the initial operating condition setup phase. Figure 2 This invention provides a method for iterative software and hardware transient history testing during the transient history phase. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the flow path topology of the pre-swirl nozzle subnet in the hardware-in-the-loop test embodiment of the compressed air system of the present invention. Figure 4 This is the initial state of the pre-rotating nozzle subnet in the hardware-in-the-loop test embodiment of the compressed air system of the present invention. Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a hardware-in-the-loop embodiment of the compressed air system of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the results of the hardware-in-the-loop test of the compressed air system of the present invention in Example 2; wherein, (a) represents a schematic diagram of the fuel flow rate change process; (b) represents a schematic diagram of the high-pressure shaft speed change process; (c) represents a schematic diagram of the bleed air pressure change process; and (d) represents a schematic diagram of the bleed air flow rate change process. Detailed Implementation
[0013] The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely to illustrate selected embodiments of the invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the invention.
[0014] A hardware-in-the-loop testing method for aero-engine air systems, wherein when establishing initial test conditions, a software-hardware boundary coupling iterative method is employed, as follows: Figure 1 As shown. First, the compressed air system applies pressure according to the test pressure node in the hardware and software interface. The boundary of the simulated hardware compressed air system is measured after the boundary stabilizes. This flow rate is then transferred to the corresponding branch of the main flow path model in the software. The interface node pressure is calculated based on this flow rate boundary in the software model. If the deviation between the interface node pressure calculated by the software and the interface node pressure in the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop is exited. Otherwise, the main flow path model in the software and the hardware compressed air system test system repeat the above interactive iterative process.
[0015] After establishing the initial operating conditions, transient history tests can be conducted. The interactive iterative process of software and hardware is as follows: Figure 2 As shown, firstly, we attempt to derive the pressure variation history of each soft-hard interface node. Unlike the initial setup where only initial values are required, this stage necessitates providing an estimate of the entire process. This estimate can be derived empirically or calculated based on the pure software main channel and compressed air system model. Subsequently, the compressed air system simulates this transient boundary. Flow sensors measure the interface flow changes of the hardware compressed air system test bench throughout the transient process, transmitting the flow change history to the software main channel model. The software solves for the transient pressure boundary based on the transient flow boundary. If the deviation between the interface node pressure transient history calculated by the software and the interface node pressure transient history from the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop exits; otherwise, the software main channel model and the hardware compressed air system test system repeat the above iterative process.
[0016] Example 1 Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the flow path topology of the pre-swirling nozzle in a compressed air system. Figure 4 The section circled in the middle represents a hardware test bench for a compressed air system with two intake branches and two exhaust branches, while the remaining parts are simulated in software using mathematical models. For ease of explanation, only the following aspects are studied. Figure 4The local compressed air system shown assumes that the pressure and temperature of nodes 1, 2, 5, and 213 are known. Nodes 218 and 214 are connected to the compressed air inlet ports, and nodes 1 and 217 are connected to the compressed air outlet ports. Nodes 218, 214, and 217 are the hardware / software interface nodes. Figure 4 The initial pressure of each interactive interface node is marked in the text.
[0017] During the initial steady-state condition establishment phase, the boundary control process using the hardware-software boundary iteration method is shown in Table 1. It can be seen that after 7 iterations of the hardware-software boundary, the common operating point is obtained. The convergence criterion is that the L2 norm of the difference (in kPa) between two adjacent hardware-software interface node pressure solutions is less than 1. Furthermore, in each iteration, the hardware-software boundary iteration method only requires one boundary control operation; therefore, the total number of control operations for the boundary simulator is also 7.
[0018] Table 1. Boundary control process of the hardware and software boundary iterative method for the pre-swirl nozzle subnet.
[0019] And adopting the traditional " n The boundary control process of the +1 point residual method is shown in Table 2. The hardware compressed air system test bench requires a total of 24 boundary control operations, which is much more than the 7 operations required by the software and hardware boundary iteration method. Using the same set of continuous and momentum equations to solve the software and hardware network results in lower solution efficiency. In particular, for the hardware network, the excessive number of iterations directly increases the test time, difficulty, and cost.
[0020] Table 2. Pre-swirl nozzle subnet hardware and software n +1" point residual method boundary control process
[0021] Example 2 like Figure 5 As shown, the test requirement at this time is to realize the transient history test under the coupling of the mains and compressed air systems. Figure 3 By increasing the fuel flow rate in the mains channel, the change in bleed air flow rate is measured through a transient history test of the mains-compressed air system coupling. First, the boundary flow rate change history of the bleed air (and the manifold) is tested. Then, the mains channel software is used to simulate the changes in various parameters during the transient history of the mains channel (e.g., with increased fuel flow rate). Most importantly, the pressure change history of the bleed air and manifold nodes is obtained. At this point, methods such as... Figure 2 The hardware and software transient process iterative method shown is considered to have converged if the difference between the obtained bleed air flow rate and the test flow rate is small enough; otherwise, the bleed air flow rate is updated and the mainstream program is solved again.
[0022] Initial fuel flow rate is The high-pressure shaft speed is The bleed air pressure was 1193.654 kPa, and the bleed air flow rate was 0.80 kg / s. Then, within 8 seconds, the fuel flow rate changed to 1.0 kg / s via a ramp. The expected results of the mains-compressed air system coupling test, including the individual changes in high-pressure shaft speed, bleed air pressure, and bleed air flow rate, are as follows: Figure 6 As shown.
[0023] Therefore, this invention employs the aforementioned hardware-in-the-loop testing method for aero-engine air systems. When establishing initial operating conditions, it utilizes the inherent conservation characteristics within the hardware test bench to propose a software-hardware boundary coupling iterative method. Furthermore, during transient history testing, a transient history iterative method is proposed. This enables near-realistic compressed air system testing under transient history conditions.
[0024] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the technical solutions of the present invention, and these modifications or equivalent substitutions cannot cause the modified technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.
Claims
1. A hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system, characterized in that, The gas flow path of an aero-engine includes the main flow path and the compressed air system. The main flow path is simulated using a software model, while the compressed air system is simulated using a hardware test bench. The execution steps are as follows: The initial test conditions were established by using the inherent conservation characteristics of the hardware test bench and employing a soft-hard boundary coupling iterative method. Transient history tests were conducted, and the transient history iteration method was used to obtain the test results of the compressed air system under near-real engine transient history.
2. The hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system according to claim 1, characterized in that, When establishing the initial test conditions, the steps of the software-hardware boundary coupling iterative method are as follows: The compressed air system tests the pressure based on the test pressure nodes in the hardware and software interface. Simulate the boundary of a hardware compressed air system; After the hardware compressed air system boundary stabilizes, the interface flow rate of the hardware compressed air system is measured, and the interface flow rate of the hardware compressed air system is transferred to the corresponding branch of the main channel model in the software. The interface node pressure is solved based on the software model of the interface flow boundary of the hardware compressed air system. If the deviation between the interface node pressure calculated by the software and the interface node pressure in the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop is exited; otherwise, the software and hardware repeat the above interactive iterative process.
3. The hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system according to claim 2, characterized in that, After completing the initial operating conditions, the transient history iteration method used in the transient history test follows these steps: Try to determine the pressure variation history at each hard-soft interface node. ; The compressed air system simulates this transient boundary. The flow sensor measures the flow change at the interface of the hardware compressed air system test bench throughout the transient process, and the flow change history is transmitted to the software main channel model. The software solves the transient pressure boundary based on the transient flow boundary. If the deviation between the interface node pressure transient history calculated by the software and the interface node pressure transient history in the previous iteration meets the requirements, the loop exits; otherwise, the software subnet and hardware subnet repeat the above iterative process.
4. The hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system according to claim 3, characterized in that: In the initial working condition Provide initial values.
5. The hardware-in-the-loop testing method for an aero-engine air system according to claim 4, characterized in that: In the transient process An estimate of the entire process needs to be provided, which can be given empirically or calculated based on the software's main flow path and compressed air system model.