Prediction of Load-Displacement Curve of Flexible Pipe Carcass Under Radial Compression Based on Residual Neural Network

The carcass layer of flexible pipe comprises a large-angle spiral structure with a complex interlocked stainless steel cross-section profile, which is mainly used to resist radial load. With the complex structure of the carcass layer, an equivalent simplified model is used to study the mechanical properties of the carcass layer. However, the current equivalent carcass model only considers the elastic deformation, and this simplification leads to huge errors in the calculation results. In this study, radial compression experiments were carried out to make the carcasses to undergo plastic deformation. Subsequently, a residual neural network based on the experimental data was established to predict the load-displacement curves of carcasses with different inner diameter in plastic states under radial compression.The established neural network model’s high precision was verified by experimental data, and the influence of the number of input variables on the accuracy of the neural network was discussed. The conclusion shows that the residual neural network model established based on the experimental data of the small-diameter carcass layer can predict the load-displacement curve of the large-diameter carcass layer in the plastic stage. With the decrease of input data, the prediction accuracy of residual network model in plasticity stage will decrease.

Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanisms with Geometrical Nonlinearities Using the Ground Structure Approach

The majority of topology optimization of compliant mechanisms uses linear finite element models to find the structure responses.Because the displacements of compliant mechanisms are intrinsically large,the topological design can not provide quantitatively accurate result.Thus,topological design of these mechanisms considering geometrical nonlinearities is essential.A new methodology for geometrical nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms under displacement loading is presented.Frame elements are chosen to represent the design domain because they are capable of capturing the bending modes.Geometrically nonlinear structural response is obtained by using the co-rotational total Lagrange finite element formulation,and the equilibrium is solved by using the incremental scheme combined with Newton-Raphson iteration.The multi-objective function is developed by the minimum strain energy and maximum geometric advantage to design the mechanism which meets both stiffness and flexibility requirements, respectively.The adjoint method and the direct differentiation method are applied to obtain the sensitivities of the objective functions. The method of moving asymptotes（MMA） is employed as optimizer.The numerical example is simulated to show that the optimal mechanism based on geometrically nonlinear formulation not only has more flexibility and stiffness than that based on linear formulation,but also has better stress distribution than the one.It is necessary to design compliant mechanisms using geometrically nonlinear topology optimization.Compared with linear formulation,the formulation for geometrically nonlinear topology optimization of compliant mechanisms can give the compliant mechanism that has better mechanical performance.A new method is provided for topological design of large displacement compliant mechanisms.

Investigation of Micro-mechanical Response of Asphalt Mixtures by a Three-dimensional Discrete Element Model

The micro-mechanical response of asphalt mixtures was studied using the discrete element method. The discrete element sample of stone mastic asphalt was generated first and the vehicle load was applied to the sample. A user-written program was coded with the FISH language in PFC3 D to extract the contact forces within the sample and the displacements of the particles. Then, the contact forces within the whole sample, in asphalt mastic, in coarse aggregates and between asphalt mastic and coarse aggregates were investigated. Finally, the movement of the particles in the sample was analyzed. The sample was divided into 15 areas and a figure was drawn to show how the balls move in each area according to the displacements of the balls in each area. The displacements of asphalt mastic balls and coarse aggregates were also analyzed. The experimental results explain how the asphalt mixture bears vehicle load and the potential reasons why the rutting forms from a micro-mechanical view.

Double⁃Shear Experiments of Cold⁃Formed Steel Stud⁃to⁃Sheathing Connections at Elevated Temperatures

The behavior of cold⁃formed steel(CFS)stud⁃to⁃sheathing connections at elevated temperatures is an important parameter for the fire resistance design and modeling of mid⁃rise CFS structures.In this paper,three kinds of sheathings,namely,medium⁃and low⁃density calcium⁃silicate boards and oriented strand board,were selected for double⁃shear experiments on the mechanical properties of 253 screw connections at ambient and elevated temperatures.The effects of the shear direction,screw edge distance and the number of screws on the behavior of the connections were studied.The results showed that the shear direction and the screw edge distance more significantly influenced the peak deformation,while their impacts on the peak load varied with the type of sheathings.Compared with the single⁃screw connections,the peak loads of the specimens with double⁃screw connections obviously increased but did not double.Finally,a simplified load⁃displacement curve model of stud⁃to⁃sheathing connections at elevated temperature was generated first by establishing the prediction formula for characteristic parameters,such as the peak load,the peak deformation and the elastic stiffness,and then by considering whether the curves corresponded to stiffness increase phenomena.The present investigation provides basic data for future studies on the numerical modeling of CFS structures under fire conditions.