Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments

Missiles provide long-range precision strike capabilities and have become a cornerstone of modern warfare. The contrail clouds formed by missile during their active flight phase present significant challenges to high-altitude environmental observation and target detection and tracking. Existing stud...

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Main Authors: Chenshuo Li, Debin Fu, Tianyu Wei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-07-01
Series:Defence Technology
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214914725000546
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author Chenshuo Li
Debin Fu
Tianyu Wei
author_facet Chenshuo Li
Debin Fu
Tianyu Wei
author_sort Chenshuo Li
collection DOAJ
description Missiles provide long-range precision strike capabilities and have become a cornerstone of modern warfare. The contrail clouds formed by missile during their active flight phase present significant challenges to high-altitude environmental observation and target detection and tracking. Existing studies primarily focus on specific airspace regions, leaving critical gaps in understanding the effects of long dispersion times, wide altitude ranges, and variable atmospheric conditions on missile contrail clouds. To address these gaps, this article develops a numerical method based on the Lagrangian random walk model, which incorporates various velocity variation terms, including particle velocity caused by the difference of wind field, by the thermal motion of local gas molecules and by random collisions between contrail cloud particles to capture the influence of environmental wind fields, atmospheric conditions, and particle concentrations on the motion of contrail cloud particles. A general coordinate system aligned with the missile's flight trajectory is employed to represent particle distribution characteristics. The proposed method is in good agreement with the conducted experiments as well as with the available numerical simulations. The results demonstrate that the proposed model effectively simulates the dispersion state of contrail clouds, accurately reflecting the impact of large-scale wind field variations and altitude changes with high computational efficiency. Additionally, simulation results indicate that the increased distance between gas molecules in rarefied environments facilitates enhanced particle dispersion, while larger particles exhibit a faster dispersion rate due to their greater mass.
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publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
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spelling doaj-art-fd349ee6cbd9470ca73e867e8a206e432025-08-20T02:35:22ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Defence Technology2214-91472025-07-014930732010.1016/j.dt.2025.02.015Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environmentsChenshuo Li0Debin Fu1Tianyu Wei2School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, ChinaSchool of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China; Corresponding author.School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China; Beijing General Research Institute of Electronic Engineering, Beijing, 100854, ChinaMissiles provide long-range precision strike capabilities and have become a cornerstone of modern warfare. The contrail clouds formed by missile during their active flight phase present significant challenges to high-altitude environmental observation and target detection and tracking. Existing studies primarily focus on specific airspace regions, leaving critical gaps in understanding the effects of long dispersion times, wide altitude ranges, and variable atmospheric conditions on missile contrail clouds. To address these gaps, this article develops a numerical method based on the Lagrangian random walk model, which incorporates various velocity variation terms, including particle velocity caused by the difference of wind field, by the thermal motion of local gas molecules and by random collisions between contrail cloud particles to capture the influence of environmental wind fields, atmospheric conditions, and particle concentrations on the motion of contrail cloud particles. A general coordinate system aligned with the missile's flight trajectory is employed to represent particle distribution characteristics. The proposed method is in good agreement with the conducted experiments as well as with the available numerical simulations. The results demonstrate that the proposed model effectively simulates the dispersion state of contrail clouds, accurately reflecting the impact of large-scale wind field variations and altitude changes with high computational efficiency. Additionally, simulation results indicate that the increased distance between gas molecules in rarefied environments facilitates enhanced particle dispersion, while larger particles exhibit a faster dispersion rate due to their greater mass.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214914725000546Missile contrailDispersion processRandom walk modelConcentration distributionCross-airspace
spellingShingle Chenshuo Li
Debin Fu
Tianyu Wei
Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
Defence Technology
Missile contrail
Dispersion process
Random walk model
Concentration distribution
Cross-airspace
title Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
title_full Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
title_fullStr Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
title_full_unstemmed Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
title_short Random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross-airspace environments
title_sort random walk dispersion model for missile contrail particles in cross airspace environments
topic Missile contrail
Dispersion process
Random walk model
Concentration distribution
Cross-airspace
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214914725000546
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AT debinfu randomwalkdispersionmodelformissilecontrailparticlesincrossairspaceenvironments
AT tianyuwei randomwalkdispersionmodelformissilecontrailparticlesincrossairspaceenvironments