A node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) for upper bound solution to visco-elastoplastic analyses of solids using triangular and tetrahedral meshes

A node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) was recently proposed for the solid mechanics problems. In the NS-FEM, the system stiffness matrix is computed using the smoothed strains over the smoothing domains associated with nodes of element mesh. In this paper, the NS-FEM is further extended to more complicated visco-elastoplastic analyses of 2D and 3D solids using triangular and tetrahedral meshes, respectively. The material behavior includes perfect visco-elastoplasticity and visco-elastoplasticity with isotropic hardening and linear kinematic hardening. A dual formulation for the NS-FEM with displacements and stresses as the main variables is performed. The von-Mises yield function and the Prandtl–Reuss flow rule are used. In the numerical procedure, however, the stress variables are eliminated and the problem becomes only displacement-dependent. The numerical results show that the NS-FEM has higher computational cost than the FEM. However the NS-FEM is much more accurate than the FEM, and hence the NS-FEM is more efficient than the FEM. It is also observed from the numerical results that the NS-FEM possesses the upper bound property which is very meaningful for the visco-elastoplastic analyses which almost have not got the analytical solutions. This suggests that we can use two models, NS-FEM and FEM, to bound the solution, and can even estimate the global relative error of numerical solutions.     

面向业务的E-维护知识供应模型

为使E-维护中的知识支持维护任务,提出面向业务的知识供应模型。采用维护知识概念本体规范任务描述、维护对象和知识功能,通过知识对象本体集成知识资源。将知识供应的需求和权限集成到业务过程中,构建维护知识供应信息模型,建立知识匹配方法控制知识供应。在某石化企业E-维护平台上的应用结果表明,该模型能提升企业的维护水平。     

Theoretical analysis of the slip flow effect on gas-lubricated micro spherical spiral groove bearings for machinery gyroscope

The performance of a gas-lubricated micro spherical spiral groove bearing (MSSGB) with slip flow effect is investigated. A modified Reynolds equation incorporated with Barber’s first-order slip flow model is proposed to investigate the flow characteristics of gas in MSSGBs. Parameter transformation and oblique coordinate transformation are applied to eliminate the curve effect on the calculation domain. An improved finite difference method (FDM) based on Green’s formula is used to solve the Reynolds equation. The perturbation method is adopted to determine the dynamic coefficients. The effects of slip flow and bearing parameters, including the groove depths, rotor speeds, and eccentricity ratios, on the bearing characteristics are investigated and discussed. Prediction results show that the slip flow effect on MSSGB performance is significant. Moreover, the groove depth at micro clearance has a crucial influence on bearing performance.     

Reanalysis-based space mapping method,an alternative optimization way for expensive simulation-based problems

The computational cost of evaluation in the design procedure is an essential bottleneck for simulation-based applications. To handle this problem, space mapping(SM) algorithm and reanalysis method are integrated to improve the efficiency of optimization without loss of accuracy. In the suggested method, the SM algorithm is used to construct the projection between coarse and fine spaces. In the coarse space, the reanalysis method is used to analyze finite element (FE) models. Compared with surrogate assisted evaluation, the accuracy of reanalysis method is significantly improved due to introduction of equilibrium equations. Generally, compared with other SM algorithms, coarse and fine spaces are based on solvers instead of models. Due to the high accurate reanalysis method, the reanalysis-based SM algorithm is easier to converge. Moreover, to integrate geometry and finite element models easily, a B-rep based reanalysis method is also introduced. To verify the performance of the suggested method, two examples have been carried out by using reanalysis based space mapping method. According to the results, the efficiency of optimization procedure is improved significantly.     

Design of materials using hybrid cellular automata

This paper presents a new approach for the topological design of materials with extreme properties. The method is based on hybrid cellular automaton (HCA), which is an implicit optimization technique that uses local rules to update design variables iteratively until meeting the described optimality conditions. By means of an energy-based homogenization approach, the effective properties of the considered material are calculated in terms of element mutual energies. By this method, no sensitivity information is required to find the optimal topology for the considered design objectives: bulk modulus, shear modulus, and negative Poisson’s ratio. The proposed method is validated by a series of numerical examples.     

Variable stiffness composite material design by using support vector regression assisted efficient global optimization method

In this work, a surrogate assisted optimization method is utilized to optimize buckling loads of variable stiffness composites made by fiber steering. To improve the efficiency of optimization procedure, an expected improvement criterion is employed. Moreover, considering uncertainties of the fiber placement, a robust surrogate, least square support vector regression (LSSVR) considering empirical and structural risks is integrated with the expected improvement (EI) criterion and applied to two applications. The first case is the fiber path design of a variable stiffness plate under the compression load. The second one is the fiber path design of a variable stiffness cylinder under the bending load. According to results of the optimization, the buckling load of the variable stiffness plate has 52.63% improvement than the constant stiffness plate and 24.3% improvement than the quasi-isotropic plate. The buckling load of the variable stiffness cylinder has 40.22% improvement than the constant stiffness cylinder and 31.25% improvement than the quasi-isotropic cylinder. Furthermore, to verify the robustness of optimal design variables for the variable stiffness cylinder, the perturbed optimum design is presented and demonstrates that the results are reliable.     

Integrated design technique for materials and structures of vehicle body under crash safety considerations

With the rapid development of the vehicle industry, crashworthiness has become a crucial aspect in vehicle body design. In fact, crashworthiness is a multivariable optimization design problem for a vehicle body, regardless of structure or material. However, when crashworthiness involves a large number of design variables, including both material and structure variables, it is more difficult to deal with. In this paper, an integrated design technique for materials and structures of vehicle body under crash safety consideration is suggested. First, a finite element model of the vehicle body is established according to relevant vehicle safety standards. Then, the material parameters of the vehicle body are set as analytical factors for factor screening. Next, significant factors are obtained using a three-level saturated design integrated with multi-index comprehensive balance analysis and the MaxUr ⁽³⁾ method, with an improved evaluation method. These screened material parameters along with the corresponding continuous variables of the structure, are considered as the design variables of the integrated design of the vehicle body. Both the weight and the crashworthiness properties are set as the design objectives. Optimal Latin hypercube sampling and radius basis functions are utilized to construct highly accurate surrogate models. Furthermore, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is implemented to seek the optimal solutions. Finally, two cases considering the roof module and the frontal module of a vehicle body are analyzed to verify the proposed method.     

Microstructural topology optimization of structural-acoustic coupled systems for minimizing sound pressure level

The aim of this paper is to present a microstructural topology optimization methodology for the structural-acoustic coupled system. In the structural-acoustic system, the structure is considered to be a thin composite plate composed of periodic uniform microstructures. The discrete design variables are used in the microstructural topology optimization, and the constitutive matrix is interpolated by the power-law scheme at the micro scale. The equivalent macro material properties of the microstructure are computed through the homogenization method. The design objective is to minimize the sound pressure level (SPL) in an interior acoustic medium. The sensitivities of the SPL with respect to design variables are derived. The bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method is extended to solve the structural-acoustic coupled optimization problem to find the optimal material distribution of the microstructure. Numerical examples of a hexahedral box and an automobile passenger compartment are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the presented microstructural topology optimization method.     

A novel linearly-weighted gradient smoothing method (LWGSM) in the simulation of fluid dynamics problem

This paper describes a novel linearly-weighted gradient smoothing method (LWGSM). The proposed method is based on irregular cells and thus can be used for problems with arbitrarily complex geometrical boundaries. Based on the analysis about the compactness and the positivity of coefficients of influence of their stencils for approximating a derivative, one favorable scheme (VIII) is selected among total eight proposed discretization schemes. This scheme VIII is successively verified and carefully examined in solving Poisson equations, subjected to changes in the number of nodes, the shapes of cells and the irregularity of triangular cells, respectively. Strong form of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations enhanced with artificial compressibility terms are tackled, in which the spatial derivatives are approximated by consistent and successive use of gradient smoothing operation over smoothing domains at various locations. All the test cases using LWGSM solver exhibits its robust, stable and accurate behaviors. The attained incompressible LWGSM solutions show good agreements with experimental and literature data. Therefore, the proposed LWGSM can be reliably used for accurate solutions to versatile fluid flow problems.     

三通管内高压成形载荷路径试验优化设计

采用DYNAFORM有限元软件对三通管内高压成形过程进行了数值模拟研究,采用正交试验优化设计方法进行载荷路径参数优化,找出了T型管内高压成形的内压力、轴向进给力、背压力三参数的最优组合,采用该最优组合参数的试验结果与数值模拟结果相吻合。