Optimizing telescope design for X-ray astronomy missions

优化 X 射线天文学任务的望远镜设计

基本信息

批准号：
2438212
负责人：
金额：
--
依托单位：
University of Leicester
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Studentship
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2020 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2438212
关键词：
Optimizing telescope design ray astronomy

项目摘要

This project aims at accelerating the structural optimization of X-ray telescope components. The University of Leicester has a strong expertise in X-ray astronomy and collaborates closely with the European Space Agency (ESA). For example, the University of Leicester has developed sophisticated glass optics for the ESA mission BepiColombo, which was launched in October 2018. These glass optics focus X-rays on the telescope's detector, and are mounted on a support structure that must be precisely calibrated to the correct position, while being both lightweight and sufficiently robust to tolerate mechanical stresses due to vibrations during the telescope launch. This was a challenging task that has been overcome with intense efforts.Support structures of this kind are ubiquitous in X-ray telescopes, but their optimal design depends on the telescope specifics. To accelerate the design process, we will model these 3D-structures using 2D-surfaces, also called thin-shell models, by exploiting the fact that their thickness is very small compared to their volume. Using advanced mathematics, we will use this dimension reduction to achieve faster numerical simulations. Theoretical efforts will be complemented with the development of a high-performance computing software. This software will be used to optimize the design of optics support structures of the X-ray telescopes developed at the University of Leicester.

该项目旨在加速X射线望远镜部件的结构优化。莱斯特大学在X射线天文学方面拥有深厚的专业知识，并与欧洲航天局（ESA）密切合作。例如，莱斯特大学为 2018 年 10 月发射的 ESA 任务 BepiColombo 开发了复杂的玻璃光学器件。这些玻璃光学器件将 X 射线聚焦在望远镜的探测器上，并安装在必须精确校准的支撑结构上正确的位置，同时重量轻且足够坚固，可以承受望远镜发射过程中由于振动而产生的机械应力。这是一项具有挑战性的任务，经过艰苦努力才得以克服。这种支撑结构在 X 射线望远镜中随处可见，但其最佳设计取决于望远镜的具体情况。为了加速设计过程，我们将利用 2D 表面（也称为薄壳模型）对这些 3D 结构进行建模，利用其厚度与其体积相比非常小的事实。利用高等数学，我们将利用这种降维来实现更快的数值模拟。高性能计算软件的开发将补充理论工作。该软件将用于优化莱斯特大学开发的 X 射线望远镜的光学支撑结构的设计。