Frequency response data-based peak filter design applied to MIMO large-scale high-precision scan stage

A large-scale high-precision scan stage is important equipment in the industrial productions of micro-fabrication such as flat panel display (FPD) lithography systems. Designing controllers for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems is time-consuming and needs experience because of the interaction between each axis and many controller tuning parameters. The aim of this study is to develop a peak filter design method based on frequency response data to reduce repetitive disturbance. This data-based approach does not use the model and only uses the frequency response data of the controlled system and the disturbance spectrum calculated from the scanning error data (Contribution 1). The peak filter is designed by convex optimization and satisfies robust stability conditions for six-degree-of-freedom systems (Contribution 2). The control performance of the designed peak filter is experimentally demonstrated with an industrial MIMO large-scale high-precision scan stage in reducing the scanning error of the main stroke of the translation along the $x$-axis (Contribution 3).     

API X52管线钢与Corus RQT 701超高强钢的焊接工艺

针对超高强钢在机械行业的广泛使用,焊接接头易出现淬硬脆化、裂纹等缺陷的情况,采用焊条电弧焊(SMAW)和药芯气体保护焊(FCAW-GS)组合的焊接方法,对API X52管线钢与Corus RQT 701超高强钢的焊接进行了工艺试验,并进行常规力学性能试验。结果表明,通过合理匹配焊接工艺参数,严格控制低热输入量及层间温度,实现了小熔合比的异种钢焊接,且焊接接头具有良好的力学性能,达到了标准和规格书的要求;异种高强钢焊接,采用SMAW打底焊接和FCAWGS填充并盖面的方法,焊接效率较单纯采用焊条电弧焊工艺提高2倍以上。     

Large neighborhood search for the bike request scheduling problem

This paper introduces an efficient algorithm for the bike request scheduling problem (BRSP). The BRSP is built around the concept of request, defined as the pickup or dropoff of a number of identical items (bikes) at a specific station, within a certain time window, and with a certain priority. The aim of the BRSP is to sequence requests on (and hence determine the routes of) a set of vehicles, in such a way that the sum of the priorities of the executed requests is maximized, all time windows are respected, and the capacity of the vehicles is not exceeded. The generation of the set of requests is explicitly not a part of the problem definition of the BRSP. The primary application of the BRSP, from which it derives its name, is to determine the routes of a set of repositioning vehicles in a bike sharing system, although other applications exist. The algorithm introduced in this paper is based on a set of related greedy randomized adaptive search procedure followed by variable neighborhood descent (GRASP + VND) operators embedded in a large neighborhood search (LNS) framework. Since this paper presents the first heuristic for the BRSP, a computational comparison to existing approaches is not possible. We therefore compare the solutions found by our LNS heuristic to those found by an exact solver (Gurobi). These experiments confirm that the proposed algorithm scales to realistic dimensions and is able to find near‐optimal solutions in seconds.     

Optimal carbon reduction level and ordering quantity under financial constraints

Carbon tax policy is widely adopted by many countries to curb carbon emissions. In the context of carbon tax policy, firms have more incentive to improve carbon reduction levels by reducing their carbon tax costs. However, firms need to bear carbon reduction costs that may cause shortage of capital. Thus, firms may face problems of financial constraints, which may demotivate firms to produce greener products. To address the decision‐making challenges of firms in the contexts of carbon tax policy and financial constraints, we consider a supply chain with a manufacturer who produces green products and a retailer who sells these products. Our study develops five models to investigate the two firms’ optimal wholesale price, carbon reduction level and ordering quantity, according to the manufacturer and retailer with or without financial constraints. Our goal in this study is to explore how carbon tax policy and banks’ interest rates affect the profits of the two firms, supply chain and consumer surplus. Certain managerial insights are obtained as follows. We demonstrate that carbon tax policy and banks’ interest rates demotivate the manufacturer to produce greener products and demotivate the retailer to order more products. If the interest rate to the manufacturer (retailer) is relatively low, then the manufacturer with financial constraint benefits (harms) the consumers compared with the retailer with financial constraint. Importantly, our analysis suggests that carbon tax policy harms the firms but benefits consumers, and the government in some conditions should reduce unit carbon tax.     

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls with turning corners

The paper presents in-depth three-dimensional finite element analyses investigating geosynthetic-reinforced soil walls with turning corners. Validation of the 3D numerical procedure was first performed via comparisons between the simulated and reported results of a benchmark physical modeling built at the Royal Military College of Canada. GRS walls with corners of 90°, 105°, 120°, 135°, 150°, and 180° were simulated adopting the National Concrete Masonry Association guidelines. The behaviors of the GRS walls with corners, including the lateral facing displacement, maximum reinforcement load, factor of safety, potential failure surface, vertical separation of facing blocks, and types of corners were carefully evaluated. Our comprehensive results show (i) minimum lateral displacement occurs at the corner; (ii) lower strength of reinforcements are required at the corner; (iii) higher corner angles lead to lower stability; (iv) potential failure surface forms earlier at the end walls; (v) deeper potential failure surfaces are found at the corners; (vi) larger numbers of vertical separations are found at walls with smaller corner angles. The paper highlighted the salient influence of the corners on the behaviors of GRS walls and indicated that a 3D analysis could reflect the required reinforcement length and the irregular formation of the potential failure surfaces.     

防振条约束失效对蒸汽发生器传热管面内流弹失稳的影响研究

根据防振条布置以及面内支承连续失效个数，将防振条面内约束失效分析划分为多种工况，分析了不同工况下面内约束失效对传热管面内模态的影响，采用各位置阻尼在振型函数上进行加权平均的方法计算了各阶模态的阻尼比，进而研究了防振条面内不同约束对传热管面内流弹失稳的影响。分析结果表明，随着面内支承连续失效位置的增多，弯管段面内首阶模态频率不断降低，出现在弯管段的振型越加明显；弯管段面内首阶模态不一定是最大流弹失稳比值出现的模态，最大流弹失稳比值出现模态的振型几乎都出现在弯管段；随着面内支承连续失效位置的增多，面内流弹失稳比值不断增大，当连续3个及以上防振条面内约束失效时，将出现流弹失稳现象。     

虚拟手交互中约束类物体操作研究

虚拟手技术是虚拟现实技术中的一种交互方式，是指通过手势识别技术将人的真实手映射到虚拟环境中并与虚拟物体进行交互操作的人机交互方式。主要应用于虚拟训练、虚拟手术和虚拟装配等领域。对虚拟手交互的约束类对象进行了研究，提出了基于运动学的约束类物体操作方法，解决了阀门类有约束物体交互中虚拟手姿态不真实、操作不可控的问题。设计实验验证了基于运动学的方法能以符合实际操作的效果完成虚拟现实系统中的操作任务，可以应用到虚拟训练、虚拟装配等仿真平台。     

Maximum dry density test to quantify pumice content in natural soils

Crushable volcanic soils are well-known for their distinctive texture, vesicular nature and grain fragility. These features of volcanic soils lead to difficulty in interpreting the results of laboratory and field testing because of the occurrence of particle crushing. Sands containing pumice particles are commonly found in the Hamilton Basin in the North Island of New Zealand. The pumice particles originated from a series of volcanic eruptions centered in the Taupo and Rotorua regions. As a result of flooding and erosion along the Waikato River, the pumice particles have become mixed with other materials and have been distributed over the Hamilton Basin; these mixtures are referred to herein as natural pumiceous (NP) sands. This paper initially investigates an appropriate technique for measuring the maximum dry density (MDD) of NP sands; then a modified MDD test is proposed for estimating the pumice contents of these sands. In order to examine the applicability of different standard methods for determining MDD, New Zealand and Japanese standards are employed. The results using the Japanese standard show consistent MDD values when repeating the tests due to negligible particle crushing. On the other hand, the results of MDD tests according to the New Zealand standard indicate that a significant amount of particle crushing occurs after each repeated test and, consequently, it is not possible to get the same result when the test is repeated. NP sands reach their ultimate potential breakage during the modified MDD tests (at least, for the level of loading applied) and they experience different levels of particle crushing which may be a function of their pumice content. As a way forward, the relative breakages of the materials tested are used to estimate the pumice contents of the NP sands.     

A cash-constrained stochastic inventory model with consumer loans and supplier credits: the case of nanostores in emerging markets

We consider a small traditional retailer that is managing its inventory under strict cash constraints, mainly because typically informal loans are offered to customers. These stores are widely present in emerging markets, and we refer to them as nanostores (also called ‘mom-and-pop stores’). As the suppliers require immediate payments for goods delivered, a nanostore can only replenish products to the level for which it has on-hand cash available. To improve delivery efficiency, a supplier might offer a nanostore credit for its replenishments. However, currently, suppliers are often reluctant to do so as these nanostores quickly go bankrupt or disappear, hence defaulting on all outstanding credits. The objective of this paper is to determine when it is beneficial to offer supplier credits. We propose a multi-period, stochastic inventory model, and numerically compare scenarios with and without supplier credits. Our study shows that even in the presence of this risk, suppliers often have good incentives to provide these credits, even if interest is not incurred. For this to hold, the operations of the retailer should be (a little) profitable in the first place, for which we provide analytical conditions.     

The constrained two-dimensional guillotine cutting problem with defects: an ILP formulation,a Benders decomposition and a CP-based algorithm

This paper addresses a variant of two-dimensional cutting problems in which rectangular small pieces are obtained by cutting a rectangular object through guillotine cuts. The characteristics of this variant are (i) the object contains some defects, and the items cut must be defective-free; (ii) there is an upper bound on the number of times an item type may appear in the cutting pattern; (iii) the number of guillotine stages is not restricted. This problem commonly arises in industrial settings that deal with defective materials, e.g. either by intrinsic characteristics of the object as in the cutting of wooden boards with knotholes in the wood industry, or by the manufacturing process as in the production of flat glass in the glass industry. We propose a compact integer linear programming (ILP) model for this problem based on the discretisation of the defective object. As solution methods for the problem, we develop a Benders decomposition algorithm and a constraint-programming (CP) based algorithm. We evaluate these approaches through computational experiments, using benchmark instances from the literature. The results show that the methods are effective on different types of instances and can find optimal solutions even for instances with dimensions close to real-size.