A two-parameter multiple shooting method and its application to the natural vibrations of non-prismatic multi-segment beams

This paper presents an enhanced version of the standard shooting method that enables problems with two unknown parameters to be solved.A novel approach is applied to the analysis of the natural vibrations of Euler-Bernoulli beams.The proposed algorithm,named as two-parameter multiple shooting method,is a new powerful numerical tool for calculating the natural frequencies and modes of multi-segment prismatic and non-prismatic beams with different boundary conditions.The impact of the axial force and additional point masses is also taken into account.Due to the fact that the method is based directly on the fourth-order ordinary differential equation,the structures do not have to be divided into many small elements to obtain an accurate enough solution,even though the geometry is very complex.To verify the proposed method,three different examples are considered,i.e.,a three-segment non-prismatic beam,a prismatic column subject to non-uniformly distributed compressive loads,and a two-segment beam with an additional point mass.Numerical analyses are carried out with the software MATHEMATICA.The results are compared with the solutions computed by the commercial finite element program SOFiSTiK.Good agreement is achieved,which confirms the correctness and high effectiveness of the formulated algorithm.

Launch Vehicle Reconfigurable Guidance Method Based on Online Trajectory Optimization

In order to improve the safety and reliability of a launch vehicle, we present a reconfigurable guidance method based on online trajectory optimization for thrust decrease at the ascending stage of the launch vehicle in this paper. We used a multiple shooting method to convert the optimal control problem into a nonlinear programming(NLP) problem. Finally, we used the interior point method to solve the NLP problem. The simulation results show that the method can effectively adapt to thrust decreases by 5% and 10%. This reconfigurable guidance method based on online planning is proposed to realize launch missions under the condition of power descent, thus verifying the feasibility of the method.

A computational model of the human glucose-insulin regulatory system

Objective：A computational model of insulin secretion and glucose metabolism for assisting the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus in clinical research is introduced.The proposed method for the estimation of parameters for a system of ordinary differential equations（ODEs）that represent the time course of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations during glucose tolerance test（GTT）in physiological studies is presented.The aim of this study was to explore how to interpret those laboratory glucose and insulin data as well as enhance the Ackerman mathematical model.Methods：Parameters estimation for a system of ODEs was performed by minimizing the sum of squared residuals（SSR）function,which quantifies the difference between theoretical model predictions and GTT＇s experimental observations.Our proposed perturbation search and multiple-shooting methods were applied during the estimating process.Results：Based on the Ackerman＇s published data,we estimated the key parameters by applying R-based iterative computer programs.As a result,the theoretically simulated curves perfectly matched the experimental data points.Our model showed that the estimated parameters,computed frequency and period values,were proven a good indicator of diabetes.Conclusion：The present paper introduces a computational algorithm to biomedical problems,particularly to endocrinology and metabolism fields,which involves two coupled differential equations with four parameters describing the glucose-insulin regulatory system that Ackerman proposed earlier.The enhanced approach may provide clinicians in endocrinology and metabolism field insight into the transition nature of human metabolic mechanism from normal to impaired glucose tolerance.