Stability and accuracy of central difference method for real-time dynamic substructure testing considering mass participation coefficient

For real-time dynamic substructure testing(RTDST),the influence of the inertia force of fluid specimens on the stability and accuracy of the integration algorithms has never been investigated.Therefore,this study proposes to investigate the stability and accuracy of the central difference method(CDM)for RTDST considering the specimen mass participation coefficient.First,the theory of the CDM for RTDST is presented.Next,the stability and accuracy of the CDM for RTDST considering the specimen mass participation coefficient are investigated.Finally,numerical simulations and experimental tests are conducted for verifying the effectiveness of the method.The study indicates that the stability of the algorithm is affected by the mass participation coefficient of the specimen,and the stability limit first increases and then decreases as the mass participation coefficient increases.In most cases,the mass participation coefficient will increase the stability limit of the algorithm,but in specific circumstances,the algorithm may lose its stability.The stability and accuracy of the CDM considering the mass participation coefficient are verified by numerical simulations and experimental tests on a three-story frame structure with a tuned liquid damper.

Mechanical anisotropy associated with beddings in shale under Brazilian test conditions:Insights from acoustic emission statistics

A comprehensive understanding of shale’s bedding anisotropy is crucial for shale-related engineering activities,such as hydraulic fracturing,drilling and underground excavation.In this study,seven Brazilian tests were conducted on shale samples at different bedding orientations with respect to the loading direction(0°,45°and 90°)and the disc end face(0°,45°and 90°).An acoustic emission(AE)system was employed to capture the evolution of damage and the temporal-spatial distribution of microcracks under splitting-tensile stress.The results show that the Brazilian tensile strength decreases with increasing bedding inclination with respect to the disc end face,while it increases with the angle between bedding and loading directions.Increasing the bedding inclination with respect to the end face facilitates the reduction in b value and enhances the shale’s resistance to microcrack growth during the loading process.Misalignment between the bedding orientation and the end face suppresses the growth of mixed tensile-shear microcracks,while reducing the bedding angle relative to the loading direction is beneficial for creating mixed tensile-shear and tensile cracks.The observed microscopic failure characteristics are attributed to the competing effects of bedding activation and breakage of shale matrix at different bedding inclinations.The temporal-spatial distribution of microcracks,characterized by AE statistics including the correlation dimension and spatial correlation length,illustrates that the fractal evolution of microcracks is independent of bedding anisotropy,whereas the spatial distribution shows a stronger correlation.The evolution features of correlation dimension and spatial correlation length could be potentially used as precursors for shale splitting failure.These findings may be useful for predicting rock mass instability and analyzing the causes of catastrophic rupture.

Delay-dependent stability and added damping of SDOF real-time dynamic hybrid testing

It is well-recognized that a transfer system response delay that reduces the test stability inevitably exists in real-time dynamic hybrid testing （RTDHT）. This paper focuses on the delay-dependent stability and added damping of SDOF systems in RTDHT. The exponential delay term is transferred into a rational fraction by the Pad6 approximation, and the delay-dependent stability conditions and instability mechanism of SDOF RTDHT systems are investigated by the root locus technique. First, the stability conditions are discussed separately for the cases of stiffness, mass, and damping experimental substructure. The use of root locus plots shows that the added damping effect and instability mechanism for mass are different from those for stiffness. For the stiffness experimental substructure case, the instability results from the inherent mode because of an obvious negative damping effect of the delay. For the mass case, the delay introduces an equivalent positive damping into the inherent mode, and instability occurs at an added high frequency mode. Then, the compound stability condition is investigated for a general case and the results show that the mass ratio may have both upper and lower limits to remain stable. Finally, a high-emulational virtual shaking table model is built to validate the stability conclusions.

Real-time embedded software testing method based on extended finite state machine

The reliability of real-time embedded software directly determines the reliability of the whole real-time embedded sys- tem, and the effective software testing is an important way to ensure software quality and reliability. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of real-time embedded software, the formal method is introduced into the real-time embedded software testing field and the real-time extended finite state machine （RT-EFSM） model is studied firstly. Then, the time zone division method of real-time embedded system is presented and the definition and description methods of time-constrained transition equivalence class （timeCTEC） are presented. Furthermore, the approaches of the testing sequence and test case generation are put forward. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a typical avionics real- time embedded software testing practice and the examples of the timeCTEC, testing sequences and test cases are given. With the analysis of the testing result, the application verification shows that the proposed method can effectively describe the real-time embedded software state transition characteristics and real-time requirements and play the advantages of the formal methods in accuracy, effectiveness and the automation supporting. Combined with the testing platform, the real-time, closed loop and automated simulation testing for real-time embedded software can be realized effectively.

On modeling approach for embedded real-time software simulation testing

Modeling technology has been introduced into software testing field. However, how to carry through the testing modeling effectively is still a difficulty. Based on combination of simulation modeling technology and embedded real-time software testing method, the process of simulation testing modeling is studied first. And then, the supporting environment of simulation testing modeling is put forward. Furthermore, an approach of embedded real-time software simulation testing modeling including modeling of cross-linked equipments of system under testing （SUT）, test case, testing scheduling, and testing system service is brought forward. Finally, the formalized description and execution system of testing models are given, with which we can realize real-time, closed loop, mad automated system testing for embedded real-time software.

Simulation of large-scale numerical substructure in real-time dynamic hybrid testing

A solution scheme is proposed in this paper for an existing RTDHT system to simulate large-scale finite element （FE） numerical substructures. The analysis of the FE numerical substructure is split into response analysis and signal generation tasks, and executed in two different target computers in real-time. One target computer implements the response analysis task, wherein a large time-step is used to solve the FE substructure, and another target computer implements the signal generation task, wherein an interpolation program is used to generate control signals in a small time-step to meet the input demand of the controller. By using this strategy, the scale of the FE numerical substructure simulation may be increased significantly. The proposed scheme is initially verified by two FE numerical substructure models with 98 and 1240 degrees of freedom （DOFs）. Thereafter, RTDHTs of a single frame-foundation structure are implemented where the foundation, considered as the numerical substructure, is simulated by the FE model with 1240 DOFs. Good agreements between the results of the RTDHT and those from the FE analysis in ABAQUS are obtained.

Real-Time Black Carbon Emissions from Light-Duty Passenger Vehicles Using a Portable Emissions Measurement System

Black carbon(BC)is considered the second largest anthropogenic climate forcer,but the radiative effects of BC are highly correlated with its combustion sources.On-road vehicles are an important source of anthropogenic BC.However,there are major uncertainties in the estimates of the BC emissions from on-road light-duty passenger vehicles(LDPVs),and results obtained with the portable emissions measurement system(PEMS)method are particularly lacking.We developed a PEMS platform and evaluated the on-road BC emissions from ten in-use LDPVs.We demonstrated that the BC emission factors(EFs)of gasoline direction injection(GDI)engine vehicles range from 1.10 to 1.56 mg.km^(-1),which are higher than the EFs of port fuel injection(PFI)engine vehicles(0.10–0.17 mg.km^(-1))by a factor of 11.The BC emissions during the cold-start phase contributed 2%–33%to the total emissions.A strong correlation(R^(2)=0.70)was observed between the relative BC EFs and average vehicle speed,indicating that traffic congestion alleviation could effectively mitigate BC emissions.Moreover,BC and particle number(PN)emissions were linearly correlated(R^(2)=0.90),and compared to PFI engine vehicles,the instantaneous PN-to-BC emission rates of GDI engine vehicles were less sensitive to vehicle specific power-to-velocity(VSPV)increase in all speed ranges.

Velocity plus displacement equivalent force control for real-time substructure testing

This paper employs a velocity plus displacement（V＋D）-based equivalent force control（EFC） method to solve the velocity/displacement difference equation in a real-time substructure test. This method uses type 2 feedback control loops to replace mathematical iteration to solve the nonlinear dynamic equation. A spectral radius analysis of the amplification matrix shows that the type 2 EFC-explicit, Newmark-β method has beneficial numerical characteristics for this method. Its stability limit of Ω = 2 remains unchanged regardless of the system damping because the velocity is achieved with very high accuracy during simulation. In contrast, the stability limits of the central difference method using direct velocity prediction and the EFC-average acceleration method with linear interpolation are shown to decrease with an increase in system damping. In fact, the EFC-average acceleration method is shown to change from unconditionally stable to conditionally stable. We also show that if an over-damped system with a damping ratio of 1.05 is considered, the stability limit is reduced to Ω =1.45. Finally, the results from an experiment with a single-degree-of-freedom structure installed with a magneto-rheological（MR） damper are presented. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to follow both displacement and velocity commands with moderate accuracy, resulting in improved test performance and accuracy for structures that are sensitive to both velocity and displacement inputs. Although the findings of the study are promising, additional test data and several further improvements will be required to draw general conclusions.

Ion Photon Emission Microscope for Single Event Effect Testing in CIAE

Ion photon emission microscopy （IPEM） is a new ion-induced emission microscopy. It employs a broad ion beam with high energy and low fluence rate impinging on a sample. The position of a single ion is detected by an optical system with objective lens, prism, microscope tube and charge coupled device （CCD）. A thin ZnS film doped with Ag ions is used as a luminescent material. Generation efficiency and transmission efficiency of photons in the ZnS（Ag） film created by irradiated Cl ions are calculated. A single Cl ion optical microscopic image is observed by high quantum efficiency CCD. The resolution of a single Cl ion given in this IPEM system is 6μm. Several factors influencing the resolution are discussed. A silicon diode is used to collect the electrical signals caused by the incident ions. Effective and accidental coincidence of optical images and electronic signals are illustrated. A two-dimensional map of single event effect is drawn out according to the data of effective coincidence.

Acoustic Emission Properties of Concrete Slab During Fatigue Testing with a Running-Wheel Load

AE （acoustic emission） signals from concrete slab during fatigue testing with a running-wheel load were evaluated. The signals were recorded by remote sensors connected to a computer network. The sensing equipment consisted of 60 kHz resonant-type AE sensors mounted on a reinforcing steel bar as a waveguide, together with a 16-channel sensor highway AE system. Because the detected AE signals included periodic mechanical noise from the motion of the wheel, these noises were eliminated by means of signal processing. The AE waveguide measurement over a length of 3 m detected fractures as vertical and horizontal cracks in the RC （reinforced concrete） slab. Those cracks were analyzed by correlating AE parameters with macroscopic distortions and the numbers of fatigue cycles. In the AE events and AE energy, two types of AE phenomena, active region and inactive region, were observed during fatigue testing. The vertical cracks were characterized by an AE amplitude of 58 dB, a peak frequency of 30 kHz, and a ratio of the rise time to the maximum amplitude value （RA） of 100. The horizontal cracks were characterized by an AE amplitude of 85 dB, a peak frequency of 60 kHz, and an RA value of 10.

A Portable Multi-functional Real-time Digital Simulator Dedicated to Protective Relay Testing

The paper intfoduces a PC-DSP based real-time digital simulator which is portable in size and aimed at the closed-loop testing of various types of protective relays for their design and application. The simulator can be widely used in not only concerning utilities but also manufacturers and research / certification institutes because of its many functions. The hardware architecture and software implementation of the simulator are described. The main features and functions of the simulator are also

Robot driver for vehicle durability emission test on chassis dynamometer

A method for a vehicle durability emission test using a robot driver insteadof human drivers on the chassis dynamometer is presented. The system architecture of vehicledurability emission test cell, the road load simulation strategy and the tele-monitoring systembased on Browser/Client structure are described. Furthermore, the construction of the robot driver,vehicle performance self-learning algorithm, multi-mode vehicle control model and vehicle speedtracking strategy based on fuzzy logic arealso discussed. Besides, the capability of controlparameters self-compensation on-line makes it possible to compensate the wear of vehicle componentsand the variety of clutch true bite point during the long term test. Experimental results show thattherobot driver can be applicable to a wide variety of vehicles and the obtained results stay withina tolerance band of ± 2 km/h. Moreover the robot driver is able to control tested vehicles withgood repeatability and consistency; therefore, this methodpresents a solution to eliminate theuncertainty of emission test results by human drivers and to ensure the accuracy and reliability ofemission test results.

Long-release-interval-first real-time scheduling algorithm and its schedulability test

To fulfill the requirements for hybrid real-time system scheduling, a long-release-interval-first （LRIF） real-time scheduling algorithm is proposed. The algorithm adopts both the fixed priority and the dynamic priority to assign priorities for tasks. By assigning higher priorities to the aperiodic soft real-time jobs with longer release intervals, it guarantees the executions for periodic hard real-time tasks and further probabilistically guarantees the executions for aperiodic soft real-time tasks. The schedulability test approach for the LRIF algorithm is presented. The implementation issues of the LRIF algorithm are also discussed. Simulation result shows that LRIF obtains better schedulable performance than the maximum urgency first （MUF） algorithm, the earliest deadline first （EDF） algorithm and EDF for hybrid tasks. LRIF has great capability to schedule both periodic hard real-time and aperiodic soft real-time tasks.

Acoustic emission characterization of microcracking in laboratory-scale hydraulic fracturing tests

Understanding microcracking near coalesced fracture generation is critically important for hydrocarbon and geothermal reservoir characterization as well as damage evaluation in civil engineering structures. Dense and sometimes random microcracking near coalesced fracture formation alters the mechanical properties of the nearby virgin material. Individual microcrack characterization is also significant in quantifying the material changes near the fracture faces （i.e. damage）. Acoustic emission （AE） monitoring and analysis provide unique information regarding the microcracking process temporally, and infor- mation concerning the source characterization of individual microcracks can be extracted. In this context, laboratory hydraulic fracture tests were carried out while monitoring the AEs from several piezoelectric transducers. In-depth post-processing of the AE event data was performed for the purpose of under- standing the individual source mechanisms. Several source characterization techniques including moment tensor inversion, event parametric analysis, and volumetric deformation analysis were adopted. Post-test fracture characterization through coring, slicing and micro-computed tomographic imaging was performed to determine the coalesced fracture location and structure. Distinct differences in fracture characteristics were found spatially in relation to the openhole injection interval. Individual microcrack AE analysis showed substantial energy reduction emanating spatially from the injection interval. It was quantitatively observed that the recorded AE signals provided sufficient information to generalize the damage radiating spatially away from the injection wellbore.

Comparison of real-time polymerase chain reaction with the COBAS Amplicor test for quantitation of hepatitis B virus DNA in serum samples

AIM:To compare the clinical performance of a real-time PCR assay with the COBAS Amplicor Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Monitor test for quantitation of HBV DNA in serum samples. METHODS: The reference sera of the Chinese National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products and the National Center for Clinical Laboratories of China, and 158 clinical serum samples were used in this study. The linearity, accuracy, reproducibility, assay time, and costs of the real-time PCR were evaluated and compared with those of the Cobas Amplicor test. RESULTS: The intra-assay and inter-assay variations of the real-time PCR ranged from 0.3% to 3.8% and 1.4% to 8.1%, respectively. The HBV DNA levels measured by the real-time PCR correlated very well with those obtained with the COBAS Amplicor test (r = 0.948). The real-time PCR HBV DNA kit was much cheaper and had a wider dynamic range. CONCLUSION: The real-time PCR assay is an excellent tool for monitoring of HBV DNA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Acoustic emission activity in directly tensile test on marble specimens and its tensile damage constitutive model

For understanding acoustic emission （AE） activity and accumulation of micro-damage inside rock under pure tensile state, the AE signals has been monitored on the test of directly tension on two kinds of marble specimens. A tensile constitutive model was proposed with the damage factor calculated by AE energy rate. The tensile strength of marble was discrete obviously and was sensitive to the inside microdefects and grain composition. With increasing of loading, the tensile stress-strain curve obviously showed nonlinear with the tensile tangent modulus decreasing. In repeated loading cycle, the tensile elastic modulus was less than that in the previous loading cycle because of the generation of micro damage during the prior loading. It means the linear weakening occurring in the specimens. The AE activity was corresponding with occurrence of nonlinear deformation. In the initial loading stage which only elastic deformation happened on the specimens, there were few AE events occurred; while when the nonlinear deformation happened with increasing of loading, lots of AE events were generated. The quantity and energy of AE events were proportionally related to the variation of tensile tangent modulus. The Kaiser effect of AE activity could be clearly observed in tensile cycle loading. Based on the theory of damage mechanics, the damage factor was defined by AE energy rate and the tensile damage constitutive model was proposed which only needed two property constants. The theoretical stress-strain curve was well fitted with the curve plotted with tested datum and the two property constants were easily gotten by the laboratory testing.

Uniaxial compression CT and acoustic emission test on the coal crack propagation destruction process

Acoustic emission test and CT scanning are important techniques in the study of coal crack propagation. A uniaxial compression test was performed on coal samples by integrating CT and acoustic emission. The test comparison analyzes the acoustic emission load and CT images for an effective observation on the entire process, from crack propagation to the samples＇ destruction. The box dimension of the coal samples＇ acoustic emission series and the CT images were obtained through calculations by using the authors＇ own program. The results show that the fractal dimension of both the acoustic emission energy and CT image increase rapidly, indicating coal and rock mass has entered a dangerous condition. Hence, measures should be taken to unload the pressure of the coal and rock mass. The test results provide intuitive observation data for the coal meso-damage model. The test contributes to in-depth studies of coal or rock crack propagation mechanisms and provides a theoretical basis for rock burst mechanism.

Interface fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of thermal barrier coatings investigated by indentation test and acoustic emission technique

Interface fracture toughness and fracture mechanisms of plasma-/sprayed thermal barrier coatings （TBCs） were investigated by interfacial indentation test （ HT） in combination with acoustic emission （ AE ） measurement. Critical load and AE energy were employed to calculate interface fracture toughness. The critical point at which crack appears at the interface was determined by the HT. AE signals produced during total indentation test not only are used to investigate the interface cracking behavior by Fast Fourier Transform （FFT） and wavelet transforms but also supply the mechanical information. The result shows that the AE signals associated with coating plastic deformation during indentation are of a more continuous type with a lower characteristic frequency content （30 -60 kHz） , whereas the instantaneous relaxation associated with interface crack initiation produces burst type AE signals with a characteristic frequency in the range 70 - 200 kHz. The AE signals energy is concentrated on different scales for the coating plastic deformation, interface crack initiation and interface crack propagation. Interface fracture toughness calculated by AE energy was 1. 19 MPam1/2 close to 1.58 MPam1/2 calculated by critical load. It indicates that the acoustic emission energy is suitable to reflect the interface fracture toughness.

Electrical Emissions from Concrete under Three-point Bending Tests

Electrical emission (EM) signals, which are generated from the concrete specimens under three-point bending tests, were conducted. It is shown that electrical emission phenomena are related to cracking of the specimens, cohesive failure, contact-separation etc. The simultaneous appearance of electric emission signals and visible cracks during the flexure loading of beams was also observed.