Improving weld formability by a novel dual-rotation bobbin tool friction stir welding

A novel dual-rotation bobbin tool friction stir welding (DBT-FSW) was developed, in which the upper shoulder (US) and lower shoulder (LS) have different rotational speeds. This process was tried to weld 3.2 mm thick aluminum-lithium alloy sheets. The metallographic analysis and torque measurement were carried out to characterize the weld formability. Experimental results show that compared to conventional bobbin tool friction stir welding, the DBT-FSW has an excellent process stability, and can produce the defect-free joints in a wider range of welding parameters. These can be attributed to the significant improvement of material flow caused by the formation of a staggered layer structure and the unbalanced force between the US and LS during the DBT-FSW process.     

A COUPLING MODEL OF WATER FLOWS AND GAS FLOWS IN EXHAUSTED GAS BUBBLE ON MISSILE LAUNCHED UNDERWATER

The gas and water flows during an underwater missile launch are numerically studied. For the gas flow, the explicit difference scheme of Non-oscillation and Non-free-parameter Dissipation (NND) is utilized to solve the Euler equations for compressible fluids in the body-fitted coordinates. For the water flow, the Hess-Smith method is employed to solve the Laplace equation for the velocity potential of irrotational water flows based on the potential theory and the boundary element method. The hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation for the free boundary conditions is used to compute the changes of the free surface of the exhausted gas bubble in time stepping. On the free surface of the exhausted gas bubble, the matched conditions of both the normal velocities and pressures are satisfied. From the numerical simulation, it is found that the exhausted gas bubble grows more rapidly in the axial direction than in the radial direction and the bubble will shrink at its "neck" finally. Numerical results of the movement of the shock wave and the distribution of the Mach number and the gas pressure within the bubble were presented, which reveals that at some time, the gas flow in the Laval nozzle is subsonic and the gas pressure in the nozzle is very high. Influences of various initial missile velocities and chamber total pressures and water depths on both the time interval when the gas flow in the nozzle is subsonic and the peak of the gas pressure at the nozzle end were discussed. It was suggested that a reasonable adjustment of the chamber total pressure can improve the performance of the engine during the underwater launch of missiles.     

Reliability-based robust design optimization: A general methodology using genetic algorithm

In this paper, we present an improved general methodology including four stages to design robust and reliable products under uncertainties. First, as the formulation stage, we consider reliability and robustness simultaneously to propose the new formulation of reliability-based robust design optimization (RBRDO) problems. In order to generate reliable and robust Pareto-optimal solutions, the combination of genetic algorithm with reliability assessment loop based on the performance measure approach is applied as the second stage. Next, we develop two criteria to select a solution from obtained Pareto-optimal set to achieve the best possible implementation. Finally, the result verification is performed with Monte Carlo Simulations and also the quality improvement during manufacturing process is considered by identifying and controlling the critical variables. The effectiveness and applicability of this new proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case study.     

Low complexity SEU mitigation technique for SRAM-based FPGAs

An internal single event upset (SEU) mitigation technique is proposed, which reads back the configuration frames from the static random access memory (SRAM)-based field programmable gate array (FPGA) through an internal port and compares them with those stored in the radiation-hardened memory to detect and correct SEUs. Triple modular redundancy (TMR), which triplicates the circuit of the technique and uses majority voters to isolate any single upset within it, is used to enhance the reliability. Performance analysis shows that the proposed technique can satisfy the requirement of ordinary aerospace missions with less power dissipation, size and weight. The fault injection experiment validates that the proposed technique is capable of correcting most errors to protect space-borne facilities from SEUs.     

Nonlinear buckling optimization of composite structures

The paper presents an approach to nonlinear buckling fiber angle optimization of laminated composite shell structures. The approach accounts for the geometrically nonlinear behaviour of the structure by utilizing response analysis up until the critical point. Sensitivity information is obtained efficiently by an estimated critical load factor at a precritical state. In the optimization formulation, which is formulated as a mathematical programming problem and solved using gradient-based techniques, a number of the lowest buckling factors are included such that the risk of “mode switching” during optimization is avoided. The presented optimization formulation is compared to the traditional linear buckling formulation and two numerical examples, including a large laminated composite wind turbine main spar, to clearly illustrate the pitfalls of the traditional formulation and the advantage and potential of the presented approach.     

考虑空泡界面相变作用的空化模型及应用

基于Rayleigh-Plesset方程,在考虑空泡界面上的相变作用后,导出了一个新的空化模型,并利用此模型模拟了次生空泡的发育与溃灭.新空化模型应用于半球头航行体的结果表明:由于次生空泡不断溃灭与发育,模型表面压力由较高的溃灭压力和较低的空泡压力交替分布;随着空化数的降低,主空泡逐渐变大,次生空泡区逐渐向模型尾部移动并脱落.     

An unscented Kalman filter based navigation algorithm for autonomous underwater vehicles

Robust and performing navigation systems for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) play a discriminant role towards the success of complex underwater missions involving one or more AUVs. The quality of the filtering algorithm for the estimation of the AUV navigation state strongly affects the performance of the overall system. In this paper, the authors present a comparison between the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) approach, classically used in the field of underwater robotics and an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). The comparison results to be significant as the two strategies of filtering are based on the same process and sensors models. The UKF-based approach, here adapted to the AUV case, demonstrates to be a good trade-off between estimation accuracy and computational load. UKF has not yet been extensively used in practical underwater applications, even if it turns out to be quite promising. The proposed results rely on the data acquired during a sea mission performed by one of the two Typhoon class vehicles involved in the NATO CommsNet13 experiment (held in September 2013). As ground truth for performance evaluation and comparison, performed offline, position measurements obtained through Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) fixes are used. The result analysis leads to identify both the strategies as effective for the purpose of being included in the control loop of an AUV. The UKF approach demonstrates higher performance encouraging its implementation as a more suitable navigation algorithm even if, up to now, it is still not used much in this field.     

连续突变系统动力学建模

在虚拟样机仿真分析软件ADAMS(Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems)建模中,若某一构件的约束条件在运动过程中发生连续突变则难以建立与物理现象相符的系统模型。基于多体动力学对这一问题进行分析,针对同一约束在运动过程中发生连续突变现象提出了预定义约束的策略。实例仿真表明:预定义约束的策略能够模拟实际物理现象,实现系统的全局仿真并得到与试验相符的结果曲线。     

Material behavior of rubber sealing for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Reliable sealing is necessary for the stable operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In practical application, various materials have been tried in PEMFC sealing. However, the mechanical properties of these sealing materials, which play a key role in the sealing stability, have not been fully understood in PEMFC environment, especially after long-term operation. In this paper, according to the operating environment of PEMFC, sealing material experiments are carried out to explore the differences in mechanical behaviors of sealing materials, including silicone rubber (SR), fluororubber (FR), nitrile rubber (NBR) and ethylene-propylene-diene-terpolymer rubber (EPDM) and the variation of mechanical properties of these sealing materials is predicted as time goes on. The results indicate that compression rate has a great influence on sealing contact stress. SR and EPDM, with the variation of 0.15 MPa and 0.45 MPa in stress, show the best and worst mechanical stability at different compression rates, respectively. In terms of temperature, it is found that SR can adapt to different operating temperature of PEMFC and only 18% variation is found from 20 °C to 100 °C. Finally, based on Time-Temperature Superposition (TTS), high temperature experiments are conducted to predict long-term relaxation stress under PEMFC working condition. The analysis results are beneficial for choosing suitable sealing material, and it can also be applied to predict sealing ability in PEMFC.