Centrifuge experiments for shallow tunnels at active reverse fault intersection

Tunnels extend in large stretches with continuous lengths of up to hundreds of kilometers which are vulnerable to faulting in earthquake-prone areas. Assessing the interaction of soil and tunnel at an intersection with an active fault during an earthquake can be a beneficial guideline for tunnel design engineers. Here, a series of 4 centrifuge tests are planned and tested on continuous tunnels. Dip-slip surface faulting in reverse mechanism of 60-degree is modeled by a fault simulator box in a quasi-static manner. Failure mechanism, progression and locations of damages to the tunnels are assessed through a gradual increase in Permanent Ground Displacement (PGD). The ground surface deformations and strains, fault surface trace, fault scarp and the sinkhole caused by fault movement are observed here. These ground surface deformations are major threats to stability, safety and serviceability of the structures. According to the observations, the modeled tunnels are vulnerable to reverse fault rupture and but the functionality loss is not abrupt, and the tunnel will be able to tolerate some fault displacements. By monitoring the progress of damage states by increasing PGD, the fragility curves corresponding to each damage state were plotted and interpreted in related figures.     

Textural fabric defect detection using statistical texture transformations and gradient search

The inspection of the fabric defects is an important problem, which highly affects both the quality and the cost in the textile industry. Because of consistency and accuracy problems, the inspection of the fabric defect by human experts is neither feasible nor efficient. This requires development and use of automated inspection techniques. Thus, in this study, a texture analysis method, which uses sum and difference histograms (SDH) conjointly with co-occurrence matrices, is proposed to introduce an objective criterion for defect detection. To accomplish the detection task with high accuracy, several features were extracted from SDH and then, a defect search technique, which was developed in the context of this study, was applied. Moreover, several experiments and parameter analysis were performed to carry out detection at feasible computation time and memory storage. The developed method was applied to 28 kinds of raw woven fabric defects and 27 of them (i.e. 93.1%) were successfully recognized by the proposed detection system. The quantitative results and qualitative discussions show the effectiveness of the developed strategy.     

An error‐estimate‐free and remapping‐free variational mesh refinement and coarsening method for dissipative solids at finite strains

A variational h‐adaptive finite element formulation is proposed. The distinguishing feature of this method is that mesh refinement and coarsening are governed by the same minimization principle characterizing the underlying physical problem. Hence, no error estimates are invoked at any stage of the adaption procedure. As a consequence, linearity of the problem and a corresponding Hilbert‐space functional framework are not required and the proposed formulation can be applied to highly non‐linear phenomena. The basic strategy is to refine (respectively, unrefine) the spatial discretization locally if such refinement (respectively, unrefinement) results in a sufficiently large reduction (respectively, sufficiently small increase) in the energy. This strategy leads to an adaption algorithm having O(N) complexity. Local refinement is effected by edge‐bisection and local unrefinement by the deletion of terminal vertices. Dissipation is accounted for within a time‐discretized variational framework resulting in an incremental potential energy. In addition, the entire hierarchy of successive refinements is stored and the internal state of parent elements is updated so that no mesh‐transfer operator is required upon unrefinement. The versatility and robustness of the resulting variational adaptive finite element formulation is illustrated by means of selected numerical examples. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed Electric Field Induces Orientations of Nanosheets to Prepare Hydrogels with Elaborate Ordered Structures and Programmed Deformations

Living organisms use musculatures with spatially distributed anisotropic structures to actuate deformations and locomotion with fascinating functions. Replicating such structural features in artificial materials is of great significance yet remains a big challenge. Here, a facile strategy is reported to fabricate hydrogels with elaborate ordered structures of nanosheets (NSs) oriented under a distributed electric field. Multiple electrodes are distributed with various arrangements in the precursor solution containing NSs and gold nanoparticles. A complex electric field induces sophisticated orientations of the NSs that are permanently inscribed by subsequent photo-polymerization. The resultant anisotropic nanocomposite poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels exhibit rapid deformation upon heating or photoirradiation, owing to the fast switching of permittivity of the media and electric repulsion between the NSs. The complex alignments of NSs and anisotropic shape change of discrete regions result in programmed deformation of the hydrogels into various configurations. Furthermore, locomotion is realized by a spatiotemporal light stimulation that locally triggers time-variant shape change of the composite hydrogel with complex anisotropic structures. Such a strategy on the basis of the distributed electric-field-generated ordered structures should be applicable to gels, elastomers, and thermosets loaded with other anisotropic particles or liquid crystals, for the design of biomimetic/bioinspired materials with specific functionalities.     

Extension of the enhanced assumed strain method based on the structure of polyconvex strain-energy functions

In this work, two well-known approaches for mixed finite elements are combined to render three novel classes of elements. First, the widely used enhanced assumed strain (EAS) method is considered. Its key idea is to enhance a compatible kinematic field with an incompatible part. The second concept is a framework for mixed elements inspired by polyconvex strain-energy functions, in which the deformation gradient, its cofactor and determinant are three principal kinematic fields. The key idea for the novel elements is to treat enhancement of those three fields separately. This approach leads to a plethora of novel enhancement strategies and promising mixed finite elements. Some key properties of the newly proposed mixed approaches are that they are based on a Hu-Washizu type variational functional, fulfill the patch test, are frame-invariant, can be constructed completely locking free and show no spurious hourglassing in elasticity. Furthermore, they give additional insight into the mechanisms of standard EAS elements. Extensive numerical investigations are performed to assess the elements' behavior in elastic and elasto-plastic simulations.     

An improved four-parameter model on stress analysis of adhesive layer in plated beam

The prediction of stresses in an adhesive layer is helpful in revealing the mechanism of debonding failure in plated beams. This study proposes an improved analytical model for the stress analysis of an adhesive layer in a plated beam. The beam and the soffit plate are individually modelled as a single Timoshenko sub-beam with separate rotations, while the adhesive layer is modelled as a two-dimensional elastic continuum in plane stress, which considers different adherend-adhesive interface stresses. The internal forces of the adhesive layer are assumed to satisfy the Timoshenko beam theory, and the shear deformation and bending moment of the adhesive layer can be considered. The internal forces and displacements of the adhesive layer are fully considered in the displacement compatibility equations, and deformable interfaces are assembled so that the effect of interface stresses on local deformation is captured. Based on equilibrium equations and displacement continuity, the governing differential equations of beam forces are derived, and then the analytical solutions of interface stresses and stresses along the thickness of the adhesive layer are obtained. Comparisons of the results of the finite-element analysis and the existing four-parameter model solutions show that the present model is reasonable. The influence of adhesive thickness on stress distributions in adhesive layers is also investigated.     

B样条轴映射模型的构造方法

将轴变形方法引入B样条造型,以促进多肢物体如人体的建模。基本轴映射模型主要针对简单形体造型。为方便用户操作,它将B样条曲面的表面关键点分组映射至轴线上,而关键点被用来定义和操纵轴线及曲面的形状。为适应复杂的造型需求,将基本轴映射模型组合为复合轴映射模型,定义了模型间的连接关系和过渡曲面。测试表明,B样条轴映射模型可以实现简易、直观的多肢物体实时交互造型,并具有通用性和复用性。     

On the uniqueness and spatial behaviour of anti-plane shear deformations of swelling porous elastic soils backward in time

This paper is concerned with the backward in time problem in the theory of anti-plane shear deformations of swelling porous elastic soils in the case of fluid saturation and/or gas saturation. The formulation belongs to the theory of mixtures of porous elastic solids filled with fluid and/or gas. These problems propose some new mathematical difficulties. We prove the uniqueness of solutions of the backward in time problem of anti-plane shear deformations. We also study the spatial behaviour of solutions of this problem.     

Axisymmetric three- and four-node finite elements for large strain elastoplasticity

Within the framework of the finite element method an application of the logarithmic strain space formulation of large strain elastoplasticity is illustrated for the examples of axisymmetric three-node triangular and four-node quadrilateral finite elements. The formulation of the large strain elastoplasticity is based on a strain space formulation in conjunction with logarithmic (or Hencky) strain tensors with respect to the reference configuration. It is therefore—from a material point of view—a full Lagrangian formulation. The use of logarithmic strains enables an additive split of finite dilatation and distortion, which are given by the logarithmic strain trace and deviator. As a consequence of the strain space formulation no stress tensors are involved in order to describe the plasticity. The stress which is work-conjugate to the logarithmic strain follows from the stress-strain relations and may be transformed to Cauchy stress. The desired finite element matrices are derived via the principle of virtual work applied to the Cauchy stress distribution of the current configuration. It should be noted that our considerations are not restricted to axisymmetry and that they remain valid for isoparametric, position- (displacement-) based finite elements in general.