Thermal performance analysis of manned airships in a thermally variable environment

The safety and reliability of the manned airship depend to a considerable extent on its thermal performance. In this paper, heat balance equations are developed and solved in the C++ programming language. The temperature variation of the enclosure, gasbag, and nacelles of the manned airship is investigated. In addition, the effects of season, latitude, and orientation on the thermal performance of the manned airship and the airship nacelle are investigated. The results show that: (1) The average temperature difference of the nacelle surface at the same time is 25 K, while the maximum temperature difference in the nacelle is 29 K during the day, (2) the temperature distribution in the nacelle is similar in spring and autumn, with maximum temperature between 306 K and 309 K. The maximum temperature in the nacelle is between 300 K and 303 K in winter while the maximum temperature in the nacelles is between 309 K and 315 K in summer, (3) as the flight position of the manned airship changes from 20°N to 60°N, the average nacelle temperature varies slightly by about 1 K. However, as the latitude increases, the high- temperature region shifts from the bottom of the nacelle to the side of the nacelle, and (4) the temperature distribution of the upper envelope of the airship varies considerably with orientation. However, the average temperature of the nacelle is less impacted by orientation. These results are useful for understanding the thermal performance of manned airships.