A Comparative Study on the Truck Frame Stiffness with Solid and Beam Element FEA Models

Truck frames should be designed and fabricated with enough rigidity to avoid excessive deflections. Finite element analysis (FEA) plays an important role in all stages of frame designs. While being accurate, 3D solid element FEA models are built upon frame configuration details which are not feasible in the preliminary design stage, partially because of limited available design data of frames and heavy computation costs. This research develops 1D beam element FEA models for simulating frame structures. In this paper, the CAD model of a truck frame is first created. The solid element FEA analysis, which is adopted as the baseline in this study, is subsequently conducted for the stiffness of the frame, Next, beam element FEA analysis is performed for validating the feasibility of the beam element FEA model by comparing the results from the solid and beam element FEA models. It is found that the beam element FEA model can predict the frame stiffness with acceptable accuracy and reduce the computation cost significantly.

Research on the Structural Rigidity Characteristics of a Reconfigurable TBM Thrust Mechanism

To improve the adaptability of TBMs in diverse geological environments,this paper proposes a reconfigurable Type-V thrust mechanism(V-TM)with rearrangeable working states,in which structural stiffness can be automatically altered during operation.Therefore,millions of configurations can be obtained,and thousands of instances of working status per configuration can be set respectively.Nonetheless,the complexity of configurations and diversity of working states contributes to further complications for the structural stiffness algorithm.This results in challenges such as difficulty calculating the payload compliance index and the environment adaptability index.To solve this problem,we use the configuration matrix to describe the relationship between propelling jacks under reconfiguration and adopt pattern vectors to describe the working state of each hydraulic cylinder.Then,both the dynamic compatible equation between propeller forces of the hydraulic cylinders and driving forces,and the kinematic harmonizing equation between the hydraulic cylinder displacements and their deformations are established.Next,we derive the stiffness analytical equation using Hooke’s law and the Jacobian Matrix.The proposed approach provides an effective algorithm to support structural rigidity analysis,and lays a solid theoretical foundation for calculating the performance indexes of the V-TM.We then analyze the rigidity characteristics of typical configurations under different working states,and obtain the main factors affecting structural stiffness of the V-TM.The results show the deviation degree of structural parameters in hydraulic cylinders within the same group,and the working status of propelling jacks.Finally,our constructive conclusions contribute valuable information for matching and optimization by drawing on the factors that affect the structural rigidity of the V-TM.

Overview and outlook on railway track stiffness measurement

Stiffness is one of the basic performance parameters for railway track. The efficient and accurate stiffness measurement has been considered as the foundation for further development of railway engineering, and therefore has great theoretical and practical significance. Based on a summary of the connotation and measurement of track stiffness, the state of the art of measurement methods for track stiffness was analyzed systematically. The standstill measurement of track stiffness can be performed with the traditional jack-loading method, impact hammer method, FWD （falling weight deflectometer） method, and track loading vehicle method. Although these methods can be adopted in stiffness measurement for a section of railway track, they are not desirable owning to small range and low efficiency. In the recent 20 years, researchers have proposed many methods like unbalancedloading laser displacement method, deflection basin deformation rate method, and eccentricity excitation method to continuously measure track stiffness; however, these methods have drawbacks like poor accuracy, low speed, and insufficient data analysis. In this work, the merits and demerits of these methods were summarized, and optimization suggestions were presented. Based on the wave transmission mechanism and principle of vibration energy harvesting, an overall conception on continuous measurement of stiffness and long-term stiffness monitoring for special sections was proposed.

Study on the Distribution Law of Horizontal Seismic Forces between Slab-Column and Shear Wall

In slab column-shear wall structures,both the whole structure′s seismic behavior and failure mode are greatly influenced by the distribution of horizontal seismic forces between slab-column and shear wall.In this paper,a pushover analysis of topical slab column-shear wall structure was carried out,the seismic shear force that the slab-column and shear wall should undertake was worked out,the influences of plastic internal force redistribution and structure stiffness characteristic value on horizontal seismic distribution were studied and the calculation formula was given.The analysis results showed that with the yield of the shear walls,the story shear force was undertaken by slab-columns correspondingly increased while with the decrease of characteristic value of stiffness of a structure,and the horizontal seismic force was undertaken by slab-columns correspondingly decreased.According to the code,the design of horizontal force distribution may be cause insecurity problems,so it is necessary to give the distribution law of horizontal seismic forces in slab-column shear wall structures as the supplement to the corresponding regulation of the Code.

基于拉压转换和变刚度斜坡结构的宽量程压缩传感结构

压力传感器仍然面临着将高灵敏度与宽检测范围相结合的挑战.基于此,我们设计了一种拉-压转换(TC)结构,并将其与变刚度策略相结合来制造压力传感器件.该结构能够将二维可拉伸材料的传感性能转换为三维可压缩设备的传感性能.传感和机械性能可以使用模拟和理论计算进行设计.斜面结构能够在24.3 N范围内提供线性传感.变刚度设计策略使传感器能够以高灵敏度(3.5 N^(-1))感知较小载荷,并具有宽的检测范围(0.002–24.300 N,扩展范围82.6 N).此外,该传感结构可以在水下环境中稳定工作.这种使用二维可拉伸应变传感器作为传感单元来开发压缩传感装置的设计策略将为未来提供新的思路.

Bionic soft robotic gripper with feedback control for adaptive grasping and capturing applications

Robots are playing an increasingly important role in engineering applications.Soft robots have promising applications in several fields due to their inherent advantages of compliance,low density,and soft interactions.A soft gripper based on bio-inspiration is proposed in this study.We analyze the cushioning and energy absorption mechanism of human fingertips in detail and provide insights for designing a soft gripper with a variable stiffness structure.We investigate the grasping modes through a large deformation modeling approach,which is verified through experiments.The characteristics of the three grasping modes are quantified through testing and can provide guidance for robotics manipulation.First,the adaptability of the soft gripper is verified by grasping multi-scale and extremely soft objects.Second,a cushioning model of the soft gripper is proposed,and the effectiveness of cushioning is verified by grasping extremely sharp objects and living organisms.Notably,we validate the advantages of the variable stiffness of the soft gripper,and the results show that the soft robot can robustly complete assemblies with a gap of only 0.1 mm.Owing to the unstructured nature of the engineering environment,the soft gripper can be applied in complex environments based on the abovementioned experimental analysis.Finally,we design the soft robotics system with feedback capture based on the inspiration of human catching behavior.The feasibility of engineering applications is initially verified through fast capture experiments on moving objects.The design concept of this robot can provide new insights for bionic machinery.

Thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic analysis of a specific multi-layer gas foil thrust bearing under thermal-fluid–solid coupling

Gas foil bearing faces severe and complex thermal-fluid–solid coupling issues when in ultra-high speed and miniaturized impeller machineries.In this study,a Thermo-Elasto-Hydrodynamic(TEHD)analysis of a specific multi-layer gas foil thrust bearing on the continuous loading process within a steady rotational speed is numerically investigated by a three-dimensional thermal-fluid–solid coupling method.Results indicate that the multi-layer foil exhibits nonlinear overall stiffness,with the thrust bottom foil serving as the primary elastic deformation structure,while the thrust top foil maintains a well-defined aerodynamic shape during a loading process,which helps reduce frictional damage and achieve an adequate loading capacity.For low loads,the fluctuation of the gas film is extremely sensitive,and it weakens dramatically as the load increases.The viscous heating and friction torque exhibit a linear relationship with an increasing bearing load after a rapid growth.Depending on the exact stacking sequence and contact position of the multi-layer gas foil,the overlapping configuration allows for efficient transfer of viscous-shearing heat accumulated at the smallest air film through thermal conduction while providing elastic support.Due to the strong inhomogeneity of the viscous heat under varying loads,the temperature distribution on the top foil surface shows pronounced variations,while the difference between the peak and average temperatures of the thrust plate and top foil surfaces widens substantially with an increasing load.

Crashworthiness Optimization Design of Thin-Walled Tube Filled with Re-entrant Triangles Honeycombs

A novel re-entrant triangles-filled tube(RTT)is proposed through decoupling structural stiffness and energy absorption.Inner re-entrant triangles are employed to satisfy energy absorption,and outer thin wall is used to acquire high stiffness.This paper starts from establishment of theoretical models between geometric parameters of re-entrant triangles and relative density,equivalent elastic modulus and energy absorption characteristics,which are validated by experiments.On this basis,the optimal geometric parameters of unit cell are sought to maximize unit volume energy absorption and minimize relative density by adopting NSGA-II method.Subsequently,the cross-section of tube with optimal stiffness is obtained with targets for maximizing axial stiffness and lateral stiffness by employing static topology optimization method.To verify the proposed optimization method,RTT is analyzed and compared with positive Poisson’s ratio foam-filled tube(PFT),non-filled traditionally optimized tube(NTT)and pre-optimized square tube(PST).The results show that the novel RTT can improve stiffness and energy absorption performance simultaneously.Compared with the positive Poisson’s ratio material,re-entrant triangles honeycomb shows superior advantages in energy absorption.In comparison with the PFT,energy absorption of the RTT increases by 17.23%,and the peak crush force reduces by 5.04%.Therefore,the proposed decoupling design method demonstrates superiority in satisfying various performance requirements simultaneously.

Trans-scale surface wrinkling model and scaling relationship analysis of stiff film-compliant substrate structures

The self-assembly of surface-order structures based on the surface wrinkling of stiff film-compliant substrate structures(SFCS)is potentially useful in the fabrication of functional devices,the manufacture of superhydrophobic or self-cleaning surfaces,and so on.Due to the influence of the intrinsic characteristic length(g),the surface wrinkling behavior of SFCS at the micro scale is different from that at the macro scale.In this work,based on the strain gradient theory,a trans-scale surface wrinkling model for SFCS is established.First,the effectiveness of this model is verified by previous experiments.Then,based on the model and dimensional analysis,the effect of g on the surface wrinkling behavior is investigated,and the scaling relationship of surface wrinkling of SFCS at different scales is analyzed.The results show that the influence of g cannot be neglected when the film thickness decreases to the one comparable to g.At the micro scale,g will lead to the increase of the critical wrinkling wavelength and load.In addition,the scaling relationship of surface wrinkling at the micro scale will not follow the traditional one.Our study explains the underlying mechanism of the dissimilarity of surface wrinkling behaviors of SFCS at different scales and lays a theoretical foundation for the precise control of surface-order structures.

Static response of a layered magneto-electro-elastic half-space structure under circular surface loading

A cylindrical system of vector functions, the stiffness matrix method and the corresponding recursive algorithm are proposed to investigate the static response of transversely isotropic,layered magneto-electro-elastic（MEE） structures over a homogeneous half-space substrate subjected to circular surface loading. In terms of the system of vector functions, we expand the extended displacements and stresses, and deduce two sets of ordinary differential equations, which are related to the expansion coeficients. The solution to one of the two sets of these ordinary differential equations can be evaluated by using the stiffness matrix method and the corresponding recursive algorithm. These expansion coeficients are then integrated by adaptive Gaussian quadrature to obtain the displacements and stresses in the physical domain. Two types of surface loads, mechanical pressure and electric loading,are considered in the numerical examples. The calculated results show that the proposed technique is stable and effective in analyzing the layered half-space MEE structures under surface loading.