Model-based analysis and fault diagnosis of a compound planetary gear set with damaged sun gear

The vibration properties of compound planetary gears are more complicated than that of simple ones. This paper aims to investigate the fault properties of a compound planetary gear set in chipped sun gear conditions using model-based method. A three-dimensional lumped-parameter nonlinear dynamic model for the compound planetary gear set is established. This model considers the time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS), the mesh phase relations, and gear chipping defects. The analytical equations are derived to quantify the TVMS reduction induced by the chipped gear based on the improved potential energy method. Further, the simulations are performed to demonstrate the fault features of sun gears with single or multiple chipped teeth in different gear stages. Moreover, the theoretical derivations are validated through the experimental signals analysis.     

A methodology for determining the true stress-strain curve of SA-508 low alloy steel from a tensile test with finite element analysis

The true stress-strain curve of a material should be determined for plastic property input to numerical analysis. This study proposes a simple methodology for determining the true stress-strain curve of SA-508 Grade 3 Class 1 low alloy steel using limited information from a general tensile test with finite element analysis. Measured engineering stresses and strains can be reasonably converted to true stresses and strains under uniform deformation before necking. True stress-strains are difficult to determine after necking because of nonuniform deformation without specialized measurement techniques. Five post-necking strain hardening models are considered, namely, linear, swift, Ludwick, Hollomon-linear (HL) and Hollomon-linear-constant (HLC) models. The equations for each model can be determined using the results of the tensile test, which include the true stress-strain value at the maximum load point and the corrected true stress-strain value at the fracture point plus the Considere instability criterion. The HL and HLC models suggested that the engineering stress-strains from the finite element analysis are consistent with the experimental results.     

Pre-strain effect of on fracture performance of high-strength steel welds

Fracture toughness of pre-strain effect was determined as a function of the temperature in structural steels of the 600 to 780 MPa class. Cyclic loading during earthquakes produces pre-strain in the component, which is enhanced at the region of strain concentration. During the Kobe Great Earthquake in 1995 in Japan, 10 to 15 % pre-strain was recorded at the beam-to-column connection. The relationship between critical CTOD and CGHAZ length was sampled by fatigue pre-crack for pre-strained HAZ, which is a significant decrease compared to that of the base metal. Furthermore, the effect of pre-strain is discussed in terms of the CTOD and Charpy impact energy of the local brittle zone.     

Design and experimental analysis of new industrial vibration dampers

Vibration dampers are the first line of defense against shock and impacts sustained by mechanical and structural systems. Consequently, for decades, new impact damping technologies have been developed and applied in several engineering fields to attenuate undesired vibrations. Linear particle chain (LPC) impact dampers are the latest category of impact dampers being developed for the mitigation of unwanted vibrations in many systems. However, the challenges associated with prototyping such devices made their application in practical systems very limited. This paper proposes five innovative designs for the LPC impact dampers satisfying a wide range of industry needs in terms of efficiency, cost, and sustainability. The proposed designs are fabricated and tested under the same conditions to assess their efficiency in attenuating the vibration of a simple structure. Each design showed consistent behavior, but some designs outperformed others depending on the geometry, physical characteristics, and type of structure. The detailed design, experimental study, and time response comparisons are presented here to provide an initial study towards the development of practical sustainable LPC vibration dampers for real engineering applications.     

Numerical analysis of wave energy dissipation by damping treatments in a plate with acoustic black holes

The reduction of vibration by acoustic black holes (ABHs) with damping treatments can be achieved in two stages: energy focalization and energy dissipation. The energy focalization is mainly due to changes of the local thickness by slowing down the flexural wave speed and energy dissipation can be achieved by using viscoelastic damping materials. In structures with embedded ABHs, the damping effectiveness can depend significantly on the types of damping treatments. In this paper, 4 different damping treatments according to the types of attached region are considered in order to estimate the effectiveness of damping treatments as 1) a fully-covered unconstrained damping treatment, 2) a fully-covered constrained damping treatment, 3) a partially-covered unconstrained damping treatment and 4) a partially- covered constrained damping treatment as well as no damping treatment as reference data. In this study, the performance of damping treatments is explored using numerical simulations of three-dimensional thin plate embedded truncated ABH(s). The wave energy in the ABH, the normalized total energy and the focalization ratio are introduced to compare the effectiveness of the damping treatments. The numerical results show that the fully-covered constrained damping treatment provides the most effective configuration in terms of the wave energy in ABH and the normalized total energy.     

A novel strategy for response and force reconstruction under impact excitation

Force and response amplitude are vital to mechanical product life-time. However, these data are always difficult, even impossible, to measure directly. Therefore, we propose a reconstruction strategy based on the subspace identification (SI) algorithm and fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding (FIST) algorithm to reconstruct impact-force and response at desired location. For the reconstruction strategy, reconstruction equations are built by a state-space model, and SI algorithm is utilized to estimate coefficient matrices of the state-space model to form transfer matrices. And then, considering ill-condition of transfer matrix and sparsity of impact-force, FIST algorithm is employed to solve sparse regularization model by minimizing the l₁-norm. Numerical and experimental studies indicate that the proposed reconstruction strategy can be used to accurately reconstruct force and response under impact excitation, and compared with typical l₂-norm regularization methods, FIST algorithm is more efficient and accurate in both single-time impact and consecutive impact cases.     

Calculative and experimental study of the CFRP tape spring

A tape spring is a thin-walled, straight strip of material with curved cross-section, and the current trend is towards tape springs made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP). In this paper, performance of the CFRP tape spring was studied and its bending moment’s calculative formula during opposite-sense bending process was derivated, also, the theoretical formula’s accuracy was assessed by means of detailed, non-linear finite-element analysis. Subsequently, a CFRP tape spring was practical designed and manufactured through twiningmoulding workmanship, and some experiments were conducted to study its bending characters, verifying the validity of the theoretical analysis and finite element simulation perfectly.     

Life estimation of shafts using vibration based fatigue analysis

Many rotating machinery components fail due to fatigue when subjected to continuous fluctuating stresses. Hence, estimation of fatigue crack initiation life is essential to avoid catastrophic failure. Effective vibration based fatigue life analysis requires measurement of accurate time varying signal. In this study, experimentally observed fatigue lives of rotating shaft, for three different notch configurations, are compared with fatigue lives estimated using two approaches based on an acquired vibration signal. The first one is time domain approach (based on Rainflow cycle counting) while the second one is frequency domain approach (based on power spectral density moments). In the frequency domain approach, fatigue life is estimated using the narrow-band approximation and Dirlik’s empirical solution. The performance of two approaches in estimating fatigue life for the same signal length taken at different time intervals from the total signal acquired is also discussed. In addition, experimental uncertainty analysis is performed and discussed in this study. A good correlation is found between the estimated fatigue life using Dirlik’s rainflow range probability density function and experimental life. Therefore, this study concludes that the Dirlik’s approach can be considered as preferable method for estimating fatigue life of rotating shaft.     

Wear resistance characteristics of materials used in oil sands plants

The surge in demand for natural resources has shifted the focus of the international community toward the development of oil sands, shale oil, shale gas and other non-traditional energy sources. In extreme environments, materials used in petroleum gas plant modules are accompanied by various problems caused by low-temperature brittleness such as damage, corrosion and wear. Many researchers have been conducting studies to discover a suitable material whose lifespan could be improved by performing characteristics analyses and performance assessments. In this study, a material characteristics assessment was conducted based on a wear resistance test on materials that are commonly used at oil sands plants. Prior to a wear resistance test, a chemical composition analysis was performed on each of the specimens, and tensile, impact, hardness and corrosion tests were carried out to examine the correlation between their results with the results of the wear resistance test. Each test was performed according to ASTM G 105 standards, and the change in weight according to wear length was analysed for each material to determine the related tendencies. In addition, the results of the wear test were derived by analysing the change in the mass of the specimen before and after the test, and the surface roughness was assessed to analyse the performance related to wear and define the service life. The aim was to use these results to select a material that would be suitable for the abrasive environment of the key equipment and materials of plants.     

The canonical stewart platform as a six DOF pose sensor for automotive applications

The growing demand for prolonged fatigue life of automotive parts and components requires elaboration of their motion in Cartesian space having six degrees of freedom (DOF). Recently, the canonical Steward platform, consisting of six displacement sensors mounted on two parallel platforms, was introduced to comply with this request. In order to apply this pose sensor to automotive applications, the following two important matters are investigated in this study. First, update Jacobian is proposed as a faster and more stable numerical method to solve the forward kinematic problem without any iteration process. Second, the attachment position and initial configuration of the Stewart platform must be adjustable to avoid the interference with other components due to space constraints under the hood of automotive vehicle. In this case, however, the Jacobian matrix which converts six displacement components into a six DOF pose vector is prone to be ill-conditioned so that the converting accuracy becomes worse. The L₁-norm of each row in the Jacobian matrix quantifies how much the error would be provoked according to the given kinematic geometry. Hence, it can be used here as a reliable error indicator. Furthermore, several numerical examples are discussed to demonstrate what to consider when designing a six DOF pose sensor for automotive applications.