Effect of Lifting Gas Diffusion on the Station-Keeping Performance of a Near-Space Aerostat

During the long-endurance flight of a near-space aerostat, the characteristics of lifting gas diffusion have a great influence on the flight altitude adjustment and station-keeping performance. Thus, in this study, a lifting gas diffusion model and a dynamic model that consider thermal effects, which had not been studied in similar models before, were developed. The dynamic model and thermal model were validated by historic flight data, and the calculated lifting gas diffusion results were compared with the experimental data of other researchers. The variations in the flight endurance, flight altitude, lifting gas diffusion rate, and diffusion coefficient of a near-space aerostat were analyzed. The effects of the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and envelope radiation properties on the mass of the lifting gas and flight altitude were considered in detail. To analyze the effect mechanism of the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and the envelope radiation properties, the envelope and gas temperature, as well as the gas pressure, were studied. The results show that the lifting gas diffusion rate and diffusion coefficient are very sensitive to the change in the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and envelope temperature. The results obtained from the analysis of the lifting gas diffusion can lay a solid foundation for improving the flight performance of near-space aerostats and for providing improved design considerations for aerostats.