Dynamic contact model of shell for multibody system applications

In a multibody system consisting of shell structures, the contact may appear in any area of shells. It is difficult to simulate the contact of shells with large deformation because of the geometric nonlinearity of deformation and the boundary nonlinearity of contact. This study presents a rotation-free shell formulation and an extended contact discretization in multibody systems using a corotational frame. This model is different from previous formulations in the definition of the local frame and the processing of local large curvature. In order to deal with the shell contact, a unified contact discretization scheme including edge-to-edge contact for facet triangle shell elements is proposed to solve the large penetration problem. A series of numerical examples of multibody dynamics have validated the approach of the nonlinear shell model and contact treatments. Moreover, a practical application of deployment of solar cells shows the capability of the proposed formulation in solving large-scale problems of flexible multibody system with large deformation and contact.     

Symbolic multibody methods for real-time simulation of railway vehicles

In this work, recently developed state-of-the-art symbolic multibody methods are tested to accurately model a complex railway vehicle. The model is generated using a symbolic implementation of the principle of virtual power. Creep forces are modeled using a direct symbolic implementation of the standard linear Kalker model. No simplifications, such as base parameter reduction, partial-linearization or lookup tables for contact kinematics, are used. An Implicit–Explicit integration scheme is proposed to efficiently deal with the stiff creep dynamics. Real-time performance is achieved: the CPU time required for a very robust \(1~\text{ms}\) integration time step is 203 μs.     

An improved three-dimensional multibody model of the human spine for vibrational investigations

In this paper, a three dimensional numerical model of the human spine, specialized for vibrational investigations, is presented. The model has been built using multibody dynamics techniques and includes the entire set of vertebrae, considered as rigid bodies. The interaction between vertebrae has been simulated using six component bushings, without the need of any kinematic constraint. This methodology allows a very relevant flexibility, and the fully three-dimensional deformation modes of the spine may be studied. The investigation has been focused on the assessment of the vibration modes and the computation of the transmissibility functions buttocks-to-head for acceleration inputs along three main directions. It has been observed that the first torsional modes with a relevant mass participation factors are present at very low frequencies. Most of the relevant modes, which involve the deformation of the spine with relevant participation factor, are within the range \(0{\div}5\ \mbox{Hz}\). These peaks are also visible in the transmissibility functions. Results have been also compared to those of other experimental and numerical studies.     

An adaptive water flow model for binarization of degraded document images

In this paper, we present an adaptive water flow model for the binarization of degraded document images. We regard an image surface as a three-dimensional terrain and pour water on it. The water finds the valleys and fills them. Our algorithm controls the rainfall process, pouring the water, in such a way that the water fills up to half of the valley’s depth. After stopping the rainfall, each wet region represents one character or a noisy component. To segment each character, we labeled the wet regions and regarded them as blobs; since some of the blobs are noisy components, we use a multilayer Perceptron to label each blob as either text or non-text. Since our algorithm classifies the blobs instead of pixels, it preserves stroke connectivity. After several experiments, the proposed binarization algorithm demonstrated superior performance against six well-known algorithms on three sets of degraded document images. The main superiority of our algorithm is on document images with uneven illumination.     

Gaussian mixture-sound field landmark model for robot localization applications

This work proposes a novel Gaussian mixture-sound field landmark model for localization applications, based on the principle that sound fields produced by sources at different locations can be distinguished in terms of their statistical patterns. The experimental results indicate that two microphones are sufficient to differentiate among the patterns. The proposed method is robust against environmental noise and performs accurately in a complex environment. Moreover, it cannot only detect the non-line-of-sight locations when the direct path between the microphones and the location is blocked, but also can distinguish the locations aligned with respect to the line connecting the microphones. However, using only two microphones, these scenarios are difficult to handle by traditional direction-of-arrival or beamforming methods in microphone array research. The experiments were conducted on a quadruped robot platform with an eRobot agent using embedded Ethernet technology. Because of its high accuracy and low-cost, this method is suitable for robot localization in real environments. The experimental results also show that the proposed method with only two microphones outperforms the conventional multiple signal classification method (MUSIC) technique with six microphones at various signal-to-noise ratios.     

An innovative DoE strategy of the kriging model for structural reliability analysis

Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization - An innovative strategy of the design of experiments (DoE) is proposed to reduce the number of calls of the performance function in the kriging-based...     

An innovative method for determining hydrological calibration parameters for the WRF-Hydro model in arid regions

The techniques presented herein allow to directly determine certain crucial calibration parameters for the WRF-Hydro flood forecasting model. Typically, calibrations are chosen by an iterative, empirical, trial and error procedure. We suggest a more systematic methodology to arrive at a usable calibration. Our method is based on physical soil properties and does not depend on observed runoff from certain basins during specific storm events. Three specific calibration variables that most strongly affect the runoff predictions are addressed: topographic slope, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and infiltration. We outline a procedure for creating spatially distributed values for each of the three variables. Simulation runs are performed covering several storm events with calculated calibrations, with default values, and with an expert calibration. We show that our calibration, derived solely from soil physical properties, achieves forecast skill better than the default calibration and at least as good as an expert based calibration.     

A full-scale roller-rig for railway vehicles: multibody modelling and Hardware In the Loop architecture

In this paper an innovative Hardware In the Loop (HIL) architecture to test braking onboard subsystems on full-scale roller-rigs is described. The new approach allows reproducing on the roller-rig a generic wheel–rail adhesion pattern (especially degraded adhesion conditions) without sliding and, consequently, wear between the roller and wheel surfaces. The presented strategy is also adopted by the innovative full-scale roller-rig of the Railway Research and Approval Center of Firenze-Osmannoro (Italy); the new roller-rig has been built by Trenitalia S.p.A. and is owned by SIMPRO S.p.A. At this initial phase of the research activity, to effectively validate the proposed approach, a complete multibody model of the HIL system has been developed. The numerical model is based on the real characteristics of the components provided by Trenitalia and makes use of an innovative wheel–roller contact model. The results coming from the simulation model have been compared to the experimental data provided by Trenitalia and relative to on-track tests performed in Velim, Czech Republic, with a UIC-Z1 coach equipped with a fully-working WSP system. The preliminary validation performed with the HIL model highlights the good performance of the HIL strategy in reproducing on the roller-rig the complex interaction between degraded adhesion conditions and railway vehicle dynamics during the braking manoeuvre.     

A fast Legendre transform algorithm and applications to the adhesion model

A new algorithm for the computation of discrete Legendre transforms is discussed. Classical solutions have a running time proportional toN ^2d , whereN is the size of the spatial grid andd is the space dimension. The new algorithm has a running timeO((N log₂ N) ^d ). A general application of this algorithm is to the weak solutions of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws as considered by Lax (1973,Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws and the Mathematical Theory of Shock Waves, S.I.A.M.). The potential of the method is illustrated on the adhesion model, a multi-dimensional version of the Burgers equation, used to study the formation of large-scale structures in cosmology.     

A two-step approach for model reduction in flexible multibody dynamics

In this work, a two-step approach for model reduction in flexible multibody dynamics is proposed. This technique is a combination of the Krylov-subspace method and a Gramian matrix based reduction approach that is particularly suited if a small reduced-order model of a system charged with many force-inputs has to be generated. The proposed methodology can be implemented efficiently using sparse matrix techniques and is therefore applicable to large-scale systems too. By a numerical example, it is demonstrated that the suggested two-step approach has very good approximation capabilities in the time as well as in the frequency domain and can help to reduce the computation time of a numerical simulation significantly.     

Uncertainty propagation in multibody human model dynamics

In biomechanics, calibration of body segment inertial parameters (BSIP) is crucial to take into account subject morphological specificities. To avoid strenuous protocols, identification methods based on rigid body dynamics laws have been proposed. Thanks to a motion capture system and force platforms, these methods optimize BSIP by minimizing errors in the equations of motion. These errors can be defined as the dynamic residuals reflecting inaccuracies arising from estimated BSIP, as well as from kinematics and force plate measurements. The current study aims at evaluating the part of uncertainty on the dynamic residuals directly related to kinematics and force plate measurements. To answer this question, we captured the movements of 10 participants performing a standardized motion. We then applied a Monte Carlo-based approach to introduce variations in the kinematics and force plate measurements, and evaluated the reconstructed difference on the dynamic residuals. Results show that, first, the BSIP evaluation using a regression method seemed to be an acceptable estimate for the studied subjects. Second, the part of uncertainty in the dynamic residuals was significantly higher than the dynamic residuals obtained. In conclusion, a subject-specific calibration of the BSIP based on dynamic residuals, for this model and protocol, seems irrelevant and prone to overfitting of BSIP.     

An analytical workbench for system level multibody dynamics

There has been considerable focus in the research community on developing accurate models, as well as on fast algorithms for solving the equations of motion of multibody systems required for simulating the dynamics of such systems. This paper focuses on the less explored complementary topic of evaluating system level dynamics properties of multibody systems. Examples of such dynamics properties are the system mass matrix, Jacobians and sensitivities of these quantities. These system level quantities manifest the dynamical properties of the system and are important for design, optimization and control. While such system level quantities are often used in theory to describe the underlying mathematical physics of the systems, due to their complexity there is a lack of a systematic methods for computing them when desired. In this paper we describe a computational workbench framework that provides a bridge between theory and the computation of such system level quantities. This workbench framework builds upon the Spatial Operator Algebra (SOA) that has been used for analysis and algorithm development for multibody dynamics. Mathematical operator expressions from the SOA can be transcribed literally to the workbench command line to allow the easy evaluation of complex dynamics quantities. We use a specific Python/C++ implementation of a workbench called PyCraft to illustrate the structure and use of such a workbench. Several examples illustrating operator-based analysis and corresponding PyCraft-based computation are included.     

A composable real-time architecture for replicated railway applications

Triple-modular-redundant applications are widely used for fault-tolerant safety–critical computation. They have strict timing requirements for correct operation. We present an architecture which provides composability and mixed-criticality to support integration and to ease certification of such safety–critical applications. In this architecture, an additional layer is required for the sharing/partitioning of resources. This potentially jeopardizes the synchronization necessary for the triple-modular-redundant applications.We investigate the effects of different (unsynchronized) scheduling methods for the resource-sharing layer in this architecture and conclude that an out-of-the-box solution, which guarantees the technical separation between applications with fast reaction time requirements is only feasible when executing at most one instance of a triple-modular-redundant application per CPU-core for single and multi-core CPUs. Only when accepting changes in the applications or the applications’ synchronization mechanisms, are more flexible solutions with good performance and resource utilization available.     

An AOTF-based hyperspectral imaging system for field use in ecophysiological and agricultural applications

An AOTF (Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter)-based spectral imager was developed for hyperspectral measurement of plant reflectance in the field. A hyperspectral image cube for the spectral region between 450-900 nm could be acquired at 3 to 5 nm resolution intervals within a few seconds. The system was light and compact, and both the spectral wavelengths and intervals were programmable with PC control. Wavelengths could be tuned rapidly, either sequentially or randomly. The hyperspectral image cube for rice canopies obtained by the system showed its potential in the estimation of leaf nitrogen and chlorophyll concentrations. The AOTF-based hyperspectral system would have great potential for further investigations in remote sensing of biochemical and ecophysiological plant variables.     

Computer simulation and modeling in railway applications

An electrified railway system includes complex interconnections and interactions of several sub-systems. Computer simulation is the only viable means for system evaluation and analysis. This paper discusses the difficulties and requirements of effective simulation models for this specialized industrial application; and the development of a general-purpose multi-train simulator.     

A bicycle model for education in multibody dynamics and real-time interactive simulation

This paper describes the use of a bicycle model to teach multibody dynamics. The bicycle motion equations are first obtained as a DAE system written in terms of dependent coordinates that are subject to holonomic and non-holonomic constraints. The equations are obtained using symbolic computation. The DAE system is transformed to an ODE system written in terms of a minimum set of independent coordinates using the generalised coordinates partitioning method. This step is taken using numerical computation. The ODE system is then numerically linearised around the upright position and eigenvalue analysis of the resulting system is performed. The frequencies and modes of the bicycle are obtained as a function of the forward velocity which is used as continuation parameter. The resulting frequencies and modes are compared with experimental results. Finally, the non-linear equations of the bicycle are used to create an interactive real-time simulator using Matlab-Simulink. A series of issues on controlling the bicycle are discussed. The entire paper is focussed on teaching engineering students the practical application of analytical and computational mechanics using a model that being simple is familiar and attractive to them.