SIMULATION OF HOLE FLANGING PROCESS ON HEAVY CYLINDERS AND PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION

The forming mechanism of hole flanging on a thick-wall heavy cylinder forging is simulated by DEFORM3D. The cylinder is 4 390 mm in diameter and 390 mm in thickness. The results show that the compound deformation with bending and expanding happens in the process of hole flanging. The diameter of pre-hole of the workpiece is one of the key parameters in the process of hole flanging. The optimal diameter is obtained for reverse-conical hole of average diameter 40 mm by simulation of hole flanging process on 5 pre-holes with different diameters and 3 pre-holes with different shapes. The results can provide the scientific base for engineering application of the process.     

SEISMIC RANDOM VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF STOCHASTIC STRUCTURES USING RANDOM FACTOR METHOD

Seismic random vibration analysis of stochastic truss structures is presented. A new method called random factor method is used for dynamic analysis of structures with uncertain parameters, due to variability in their material properties and geometry. Using the random factor method, the natural frequencies and modeshapes of a stochastic structure can be respectively described by the product of two parts, corresponding to the random factors of the structural parameters with uncertainty, and deterministic values of the natural frequencies and modeshapes obtained by conventional finite element analysis. The stochastic truss structure is subjected to stationary or non-stationary random earthquake excitation. Computational expressions for the mean and standard deviation of the mean square displacement and mean square stress are developed by means of the random variable's functional moment method and the algebra synthesis method. An antenna and a truss bridge are used as practical engineering examples to illustrate the application of the random factor method in the seismic response analysis of random structures under stationary or non-stationary random earthquake excitation.     

Analytical Solutions of Cracks Emanating from an Elliptic Hole in an Infinite Plate under Tension

It is a common phenomenon that the cracks originating from a hole can cause structural damage in engineering.However,the fracture mechanics studies of hole edge crack problems are not sufficient.The problem of an elliptical hole with two collinear edge cracks of unequal length in an infinite plate under uniform tension at infinity is investigated.Based on the complex variable method,the analytical solutions of stress functions and stress intensity factors are provided.The stress distribution along the axes and the edge of the elliptical hole is given graphically.The numerical results show that there is obvious stress concentration near the hole and cracks,and the stresses tend to applied loads at distances far from the defect,which conform to Saint-Venant’s principle.Hence,the stress functions are proved to be right.Under special conditions,the present configuration becomes the Griffith crack,two symmetrical cracks emanating from an elliptical hole,two cracks of unequal length emanating from a circular hole,a crack at the edge of a circular hole,or a crack emanating from an elliptical hole.Compared with available results,stress intensity factors for these special shapes of ellipses and cracks show good coincidence.The stress intensity factor for two cracks of unequal length at the edge of an elliptical hole increases with the crack length and the major-to-minor axis ratio of the elliptical hole.The stress distribution in an infinite plate containing an elliptic hole with unsymmetrical cracks is given for the first time.     

RESEARCH PROGRESS ON STRUCTURAL FATIGUE RELIABILITY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS METHODS OF CHINESE RAILWAY VEHICLES

A state-of-art review is given to the new advances on fatigue reliability design and analysis methods of Chinese railway vehicle's structures.First,the structures are subject to a complicated random fatigue stressing history and this history should be determined by combining dynamic simula- tion and on-line inspection.Second,the random fatigue constitutions belong to an intrinsic fatigue phenomenon and a probabilistic model is developed to well describe them with two measurements of survival probability and confidence,similar model is also presented for the random stress-life rela- tions and extrapolated appropriately into long fatigue life regime.Third,concept of the fatigue limit should be understood as the fatigue strength at a given fatigue life and a so-called local Basquin model method is proposed for measuring the random strengths.In addition,drawing and application methods of the Goodman-Smith diagram for integrally characterizing the random fatigue strengths are established in terms of ten kilometers.Fourth,a reliability stress-based method is constructed with a consideration of the random constitutive relations.These new advances form a new frame work for railway fatigue reliability design and analysis.     

Development of FPGA Based NURBS Interpolator and Motion Controller with Multiprocessor Technique

The high-speed computational performance is gained at the cost of huge hardware resource,which restricts the application of high-accuracy algorithms because of the limited hardware cost in practical use.To solve the problem,a novel method for designing the field programmable gate array(FPGA)-based non-uniform rational B-spline(NURBS) interpolator and motion controller,which adopts the embedded multiprocessor technique,is proposed in this study.The hardware and software design for the multiprocessor,one of which is for NURBS interpolation and the other for position servo control,is presented.Performance analysis and experiments on an X-Y table are carried out,hardware cost as well as consuming time for interpolation and motion control is compared with the existing methods.The experimental and comparing results indicate that,compared with the existing methods,the proposed method can reduce the hardware cost by 97.5% using higher-accuracy interpolation algorithm within the period of 0.5 ms.A method which ensures the real-time performance and interpolation accuracy,and reduces the hardware cost significantly is proposed,and it’s practical in the use of industrial application.     

Dynamic analysis of propulsion mechanism directly driven by wave energy for marine mobile buoy

Marine mobile buoy(MMB) have many potential applications in the maritime industry and ocean science. Great progress has been made, however the technology in this area is far from maturity in theory and faced with many difficulties in application. A dynamic model of the propulsion mechanism is very necessary for optimizing the parameters of the MMB, especially with consideration of hydrodynamic force. The principle of wave-driven propulsion mechanism is briefly introduced. To set a theory foundation for study on the MMB, a dynamic model of the propulsion mechanism of the MMB is obtained. The responses of the motion of the platform and the hydrofoil are obtained by using a numerical integration method to solve the ordinary differential equations. A simplified form of the motion equations is reached by omitting terms with high order small values. The relationship among the heave motion of the buoy, stiffness of the elastic components, and the forward speed can be obtained by using these simplified equations. The dynamic analysis show the following:The angle of displacement of foil is fairly small with the biggest value around 0.3 rad;The speed of mobile buoy and the angle of hydrofoil increased gradually with the increase of heave motion of buoy; The relationship among heaven motion, stiffness and attack angle is that heave motion leads to the angle change of foil whereas the item of speed or push function is determined by vertical velocity and angle, therefore, the heave motion and stiffness can affect the motion of buoy significantly if the size of hydrofoil is kept constant. The proposed model is provided to optimize the parameters of the MMB and a foundation is laid for improving the performance of the MMB.     

Patent Abstract

The steam pressure autoclave with natural cycle temperature adjusting
The present invention relates to a steam pressure autoclave with natural cycle temperature adjusting for areas of glass layer pressing, rubber curing and materialdrying, it includes the heating source, cooling device, wind blocking board, level flowing-tube for pressure filling uniform fabric hole and assisted circulating uniform fabric hole. The wind blocking board is at both sides of the top heating source in the steam pressure autoclave and with the autoclave wall can be formed a ventilation channel which down side is connected with the inner side of steam pressure autoclave. Cooling device, level flowing-tubes for pressure filling uniform fabric hole and assisted circulating uniform fabric holeare in the ventilating channel.     

NOVEL APPROACH FOR ROBOT PATH PLANNING BASED ON NUMERICAL ARTIFICIAL POTENTIAL FIELD AND GENETIC ALGORITHM

A novel approach for collision-free path planning of a multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF) articulated robot in a complex environment is proposed. Firstly, based on visual neighbor point (VNP), a numerical artificial potential field is constructed in Cartesian space, which provides the heuristic information, effective distance to the goal and the motion direction for the motion of the robot joints. Secondly, a genetic algorithm, combined with the heuristic rules, is used in joint space to determine a series of contiguous configurations piecewise from initial configuration until the goal configuration is attained. A simulation shows that the method can not only handle issues on path planning of the articulated robots in environment with complex obstacles, but also improve the efficiency and quality of path planning.     

Middleware Challenges in Robotic Fleets for Precision Agriculture

The past decade has witnessed a huge increase in the number of proposed middleware solutions for robotic fleets operating in unstructured environments. As a result, it has become difficult to decide which middleware is the most appropriate for a specific application or application domain. In this paper we first extract a set of common and specific challenges that middlewares address, and group them according to the source domain they have originated within. These challenges are derived from a specific precision agriculture use-case based on the robotic fleet for weed control elaborated within the European project RHEA-robot fleets for highly effective agriculture and forestry management. Furthermore, the paper provides an analysis of a number of different middlewares and suggests a set of criteria for systemizing representative solutions. The aim of this analysis is to assist the process of finding an adequate middleware for a specific application domain.     

Simple PID parameter tuning method based on outputs of the closed loop system

Most of the existing PID parameters tuning methods are only effective with pre-known accurate system models, which often require some strict identification experiments and thus infeasible for many complicated systems. Actually, in most practical engineering applications, it is desirable for the PID tuning scheme to be directly based on the input-output response of the closed-loop system. Thus, a new parameter tuning scheme for PID controllers without explicit mathematical model is developed in this paper. The paper begins with a new frequency domain properties analysis of the PID controller. After that, the definition of characteristic frequency for the PID controller is given in order to study the mathematical relationship between the PID parameters and the open-loop frequency properties of the controlled system. Then, the concepts of M-field and θ-field are introduced, which are then used to explain how the PID control parameters influence the closed-loop frequency-magnitude property and its time responses. Subsequently, the new PID parameter tuning scheme, i.e., a group of tuning rules, is proposed based on the preceding analysis. Finally, both simulations and experiments are conducted, and the results verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed methods. This research proposes a PID parameter tuning method based on outputs of the closed loop system.     

COUPLED ELECTRICAL-THERMALMECHANICAL ANALYSIS FOR ELECTRICAL/LASER HEATING ASSISTED BLANKING

A coupled electrical-thermal-mechanical analysis is conducted for electrical/laser heating assisted blanking. Two novel localized-heating methods, electrical heating and laser-heating, recently proposed for small-part blanking, are investigated with FE simulations. Results show that electrical heating would result in an advantageous distribution of temperature in a 316 stainless steel work-material. A desired temperature distribution may also be achievable for a copper work-material, if laser beam is used. Both electrical heating and laser-heating enable to reduce the blanking force and increase the aspect ratio achievable by blanking. The simulation also demonstrates that both electrical heating and laser-heating can result in desired temperature-distributions at sufficiently high heating-rates, ease of implementation and application. Comparatively, electrical heating could generate more favorable temperature distribution for small-part blanking.     

3D TRANSIENT COUPLED THERMO- ELASTIC-PLASTIC CONTACT SEALING ANALYSIS OF REACTOR PRESSURE VESSEL

Sealing analysis of sealing system in reactor pressure vessels is relevant with multiple nonlinear coupled-field effects,so even large-scale commercial finite element software cannot finish the complicated analysis.A finite element method of 3D transient coupled thermo-elastic-plastic contact sealing analysis for reactor pressure vessels is presented,in which the surface nonlinearity, material nonlinearity,transient heat transfer nonlinearity and multiple coupled effect are taken into account and the sealing equation is coupling solved in iterative procedure.At the same time,a computational analysis program is developed,which is applied in the sealing analysis of experimental reactor pressure vessel,and the numerical results are in good coincidence with the experimental results.This program is also successful in analyzing the practical problem in engineering.     

Skyhook-based semi-active control of full-vehicle suspension with magneto-rheological dampers

The control study of vehicle semi-active suspension with magneto-rheological (MR) dampers has been attracted much attention internationally. However, a simple, real time and easy implementing semi-active controller has not been proposed for the MR full-vehicle suspension system, and a systematic analysis method has not been established for evaluating the multi-objective suspension performances of MR full-vehicle vertical, pitch and roll motions. For this purpose, according to the 7-degree of freedom (DOF) fullvehicle dynamic system, a generalized 7-DOF MR and passive full-vehicle dynamic model is set up by employing the modified Boucwen hysteretic force-velocity (F-v) model of the MR damper. A semi-active controller is synthesized to realize independent control of the four MR quarter-vehicle sub-suspension systems in the full-vehicle, which is on the basis of the proposed modified skyhook damping scheme of MR quarter-vehicle sub-suspension system. The proposed controller can greatly simplify the controller design complexity of MR full-vehicle suspension and has merits of easy implementation in real application, wherein only absolute velocities of sprung and unsprung masses with reference to the road surface are required to measure in real time when the vehicle is moving. Furthermore, a systematic analysis method is established for evaluating the vertical, pitch and roll motion properties of both MR and passive full-vehicle suspensions in a more realistic road excitation manner, in which the harmonic, rounded pulse and real road measured random signals with delay time are employed as different road excitations inserted on the front and rear two wheels, by considering the distance between front and rear wheels in full-vehicle. The above excitations with different amplitudes are further employed as the road excitations inserted on left and right two wheels for evaluating the roll motion property. The multi-objective suspension performances of ride comfort and handling safety of the proposed MR full-vehicle suspensi     

ROBUST DESIGN OF A TWO DEGREE FREEDOM SYSTEM DUE TO THE PARAMETER UNCERTAINTY

A method based on the robust design optimization is presented to handle the structural uncertainty problems. The variations caused in dynamic performance can be expressed by the mean response and the standard deviation of the performance. The robust optimization approach, based on a multi-objective and non-deterministic method, attempts to both optimize the mean performance and minimize the variance of the performance simultaneously. The best possible design optimization is chosen by a trade-off decision. An example of robust design of a two degree freedom system is used to effectively illustrate the application in dynamics. The mass and stiffness uncertainty in the main system as well as the uncertainty of the mass, stiffness and damping in the absorber are considered all together in order to minimize the displacement response of the main system within a wide band of excitation frequencies. The robust optimization results show a significant improvement in performance compared with the conventional solution recommended from vibration textbooks. It is indicated that robust design methods have great potential for application in structural dynamics to deal with uncertainty problems.     

Elimination of Fuel Pressure Fluctuation and Multi-injection Fuel Mass Deviation of High Pressure Common-rail Fuel Injection System

The influence of fuel pressure fluctuation on multi-injection fuel mass deviation has been studied a lot,but the fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet is still not eliminated efficiently.In this paper,a new type of hydraulic filter consisting of a damping hole and a chamber is developed for elimination of fuel pressure fluctuation and multi-injection fuel mass deviation.Linear model of the improved high pressure common-rail system(HPCRS)including injector,the pipe connecting common-rail with injector and the hydraulic filter is built.Fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet,on which frequency domain analysis is conducted through fast Fourier transformation,is acquired at different target pressure and different damping hole diameter experimentally.The linear model is validated and can predict the natural frequencies of the system.Influence of damping hole diameter on fuel pressure fluctuation is analyzed qualitatively based on the linear model,and it can be inferred that an optimal diameter of the damping hole for elimination of fuel pressure fluctuation exists.Fuel pressure fluctuation and fuel mass deviation under different damping hole diameters are measured experimentally,and it is testified that the amplitude of both fuel pressure fluctuation and fuel mass deviation decreases first and then increases with the increasing of damping hole diameter.The amplitude of main injection fuel mass deviation can be reduced by 73%at most under pilot-main injection mode,and the amplitude of post injection fuel mass deviation can be reduced by 92%at most under main-post injection mode.Fuel mass of a single injection increases with the increasing of the damping hole diameter.The hydraulic filter proposed by this research can be potentially used to eliminate fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet and improve the stability of HPCRS fuel injection.     

ROBUST STABILITY ANALYSIS FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE SYSTEMS

The lateral stability for railway vehicle dynamic system with uncertain parameters and nonlinear uncertain force vector is studied by using the Lyapunov stability theory. A robust stability condition for the considered system is derived, and the obtained stability bounds are not necessarily symmetric with respect to the origin in the parameter space. The lateral stability analysis for a railway bogie model is analyzed by using the proposed approach. The symmetric and asymmetric results are both given and the influence of the adjustable parameter β on the stability bounds is also discussed. With the help of the proposed method, the robust stability analysis can provide a reference for the design of the railway vehicle systems.     

Dynamic and Static Characteristics of Double Push Rods Electromechanical Converter

Due to the influence of material characteristics and winding power, single output electromagnet has limited ability to improve the dynamic characteristic of electro-hydraulic valve. Therefore, an electromechanical converter with double push rods is proposed in this paper, which can simultaneously output two electromagnetic forces, can push or pull the valve core and sleeve according to the current direction and realize rapid operation of load. According to the electromagnetic principle and the magnetic circuit analysis method, the mathematical model and equivalent circuit of the electromechanical converter with double push rods are established. Through the finite element simulation model of the electromechanical converter with double push rods with the same magnetization directions, the changing rules of its magnetic field distribution and force–displacement behaviors are studied and analyzed. According to the analysis results, the electromagnetic mechanical parameters and mechanical structure of the electromechanical converter with double push rods are determined, and the prototype is made. The test platform for the push-pull characteristics of the electromechanical converter with double push rods is built, and its static and dynamic characteristics are tested and analyzed. The results show that the thrust and pull output characteristics of the internal and external push rods are basically consistent with the simulation output, and proportional to the current density of the coil; the push-pull hysteresis of internal and external push rods output force is less than 5%; and the dynamic time response characteristics of the displacement and force are obtained. The hysteresis e ect of output force is improved e ectively through the H bridge drive control circuit modulated by PWM. Compared with the displacement response of a singlewinding electromagnet with a similar volume, it can e ectively improve the dynamic displacement response. Followup work will further optimize the structure of the electromechanical converter and test the corresponding pilot valve. The research results provide a new theory for improving the output characteristics of electro-hydraulic pilot valve and have an extremely high engineering application value and broad application prospect.     

Electro-elastic fields of piezoelectric materials with an elliptic hole under uniform internal shearing forces

The existing investigations on piezoelectric materials containing an elliptic hole mainly focus on remote uniform tensile loads. In order to have a better understanding of the fracture behavior of piezoelectric materials under different loading conditions, theoretical and numerical solutions are presented for an elliptic hole in transversely isotropic piezoelectric materials subjected to uniform internal shearing forces based on the complex potential approach. By solving ten variable linear equations, the analytical solutions inside and outside the hole satisfying the permeable electric boundary conditions are obtained. Taking PZT-4 ceramic into consideration, numerical results of electro-elastic fields along the edge of the hole and axes, and the electric displacements in the hole are presented. Comparison with stresses in transverse isotropic elastic materials shows that the hoop stress at the ends of major axis in two kinds of material equals zero for the various ratios of major to minor axis lengths; If the ratio is greater than 1, the hoop stress in piezoelectric materials is smaller than that in elastic materials, and if the ratio is smaller than 1, the hoop stress in piezoelectric materials is greater than that in elastic materials; When it is a circle hole, the shearing stress in two materials along axes is the same. The distribution of electric displacement components shows that the vertical electric displacement in the hole and along axes in the material is always zero though under the permeable electric boundary condition; The horizontal and vertical electric displacement components along the edge of the hole are symmetrical and antisymmetrical about horizontal axis, respectively. The stress and electric displacement distribution tends to zero at distances far from the elliptical hole, which conforms to the conclusion usually made on the basis of Saint-Venant’s principle. Unlike the existing work, uniform shearing forces acting on the edge of the hole, and the distribution of electro-elastic fields     

Dynamic Diagrams Post Processing Software Tools for Simulation Analysis of Spacecraft Docking Dynamics

Realistic 3D-animation is used in all motion simulation systems of mechanisms and other mechanicals systems. It provides a high-quality illustration of time processes, but it has a weak capability for analysis of their dynamics, for simultaneous display of contact interaction and functioning of mechanisms of different motion types. A spacecraft docking is characterized by a complex contact interaction of docking assemblies with mechanisms and devices of different motion types. Integration and time synchronization of the animation, plots and numerical values greatly facilitates the understanding of dynamics features of these processes. Usage of simple wireframe graphical models allows displaying all contact points. A changing of the set of graphical elements focuses attention on major events of a simulated process. Graphical models developed with consideration of these features and used for spacecraft docking simulation analysis are called dynamic diagrams and described in this paper.     

SENSOR－BASED MOTION CONTROL USING ADAPTIVE NAVIGATION RULES IN THE DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT FOR MOBILE ROBOT

In the multi-robots system , it's important for a robot to acquire adaptive navigation rules for reaching the goal and avoiding other robots and obstacles and in the real-time environment. An efficient approach to collision-avoidance in multi-robots system is suggested . It is based on velocity information of moving objects and the distances between the robots and the obstacles in three specified directions and makes the robot navigate adaptively without collision with each other in a complicated situation. The effectiveness of algorithm is proved by the several simple examples in the physical world.