Exploration of instantaneous frequency for local control assessment in real-time hybrid simulation

Local control parameters such as instantaneous delay and instantaneous amplitude play an essential role in evaluating the performance and maintaining the stability of real-time hybrid simulation(RTHS).However,existing methods have limitations in obtaining this local assessment in either the time domain or frequency domain.In this study,the instantaneous frequency is introduced to determine local control parameters for actuator tracking assessment in a real-time hybrid simulation.Instantaneous properties,including amplitude,delay,frequency and phase,are then calculated based on analytic signals translated from actuator tracking signals through the Hilbert transform.Potential issues are discussed and solutions are proposed for calculation of local control parameters.Numerical simulations are first conducted for sinusoidal and chirp signals with time varying amplitude error and delay to demonstrate the potential of the proposed method.Laboratory tests also are conducted for a predefined random signal as well as the RTHS of a single degree of freedom structure with a self-centering viscous damper to experimentally verify the effectiveness of the proposed use of the instantaneous frequency.Results from the ensuing analysis clearly demonstrate that the instantaneous frequency provides great potential for local control assessment,and the proposed method enables local tracking parameters with good accuracy.

Models to Simulate Effective Coverage of Fire Station Based on Real-Time Travel Times

In recent years,frequent fire disasters have led to enormous damage in China.Effective firefighting rescues can minimize the losses caused by fires.During the rescue processes,the travel time of fire trucks can be severely affected by traffic conditions,changing the effective coverage of fire stations.However,it is still challenging to determine the effective coverage of fire stations considering dynamic traffic conditions.This paper addresses this issue by combining the traveling time calculationmodelwith the effective coverage simulationmodel.In addition,it proposes a new index of total effective coverage area(TECA)based on the time-weighted average of the effective coverage area(ECA)to evaluate the urban fire services.It also selects China as the case study to validate the feasibility of the models,a fire station(FS-JX)in Changsha.FS-JX station and its surrounding 9,117 fire risk points are selected as the fire service supply and demand points,respectively.A total of 196 simulation scenarios throughout a consecutiveweek are analyzed.Eventually,1,933,815 sets of valid sample data are obtained.The results showed that the TECA of FS-JX is 3.27 km^(2),which is far below the standard requirement of 7.00 km^(2) due to the traffic conditions.The visualization results showed that three rivers around FS-JX interrupt the continuity of its effective coverage.The proposed method can provide data support to optimize the locations of fire stations by accurately and dynamically determining the effective coverage of fire stations.

Big Data Application Simulation Platform Design for Onboard Distributed Processing of LEO Mega-Constellation Networks

Due to the restricted satellite payloads in LEO mega-constellation networks(LMCNs),remote sensing image analysis,online learning and other big data services desirably need onboard distributed processing(OBDP).In existing technologies,the efficiency of big data applications(BDAs)in distributed systems hinges on the stable-state and low-latency links between worker nodes.However,LMCNs with high-dynamic nodes and long-distance links can not provide the above conditions,which makes the performance of OBDP hard to be intuitively measured.To bridge this gap,a multidimensional simulation platform is indispensable that can simulate the network environment of LMCNs and put BDAs in it for performance testing.Using STK's APIs and parallel computing framework,we achieve real-time simulation for thousands of satellite nodes,which are mapped as application nodes through software defined network(SDN)and container technologies.We elaborate the architecture and mechanism of the simulation platform,and take the Starlink and Hadoop as realistic examples for simulations.The results indicate that LMCNs have dynamic end-to-end latency which fluctuates periodically with the constellation movement.Compared to ground data center networks(GDCNs),LMCNs deteriorate the computing and storage job throughput,which can be alleviated by the utilization of erasure codes and data flow scheduling of worker nodes.

Simulation of Fracture Process of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Based on Digital Image Processing Technology

The mechanical properties and failure mechanism of lightweight aggregate concrete(LWAC)is a hot topic in the engineering field,and the relationship between its microstructure and macroscopic mechanical properties is also a frontier research topic in the academic field.In this study,the image processing technology is used to establish a micro-structure model of lightweight aggregate concrete.Through the information extraction and processing of the section image of actual light aggregate concrete specimens,the mesostructural model of light aggregate concrete with real aggregate characteristics is established.The numerical simulation of uniaxial tensile test,uniaxial compression test and three-point bending test of lightweight aggregate concrete are carried out using a new finite element method-the base force element method respectively.Firstly,the image processing technology is used to produce beam specimens,uniaxial compression specimens and uniaxial tensile specimens of light aggregate concrete,which can better simulate the aggregate shape and random distribution of real light aggregate concrete.Secondly,the three-point bending test is numerically simulated.Thirdly,the uniaxial compression specimen generated by image processing technology is numerically simulated.Fourth,the uniaxial tensile specimen generated by image processing technology is numerically simulated.The mechanical behavior and damage mode of the specimen during loading were analyzed.The results of numerical simulation are compared and analyzed with those of relevant experiments.The feasibility and correctness of the micromodel established in this study for analyzing the micromechanics of lightweight aggregate concrete materials are verified.Image processing technology has a broad application prospect in the field of concrete mesoscopic damage analysis.

Data-based real-time petrochemical gas diffusion simulation approach on virtual reality

Background Petrochemical products possess a high risk of flammability,explosivity,and toxicity,making petrochemical accidents exceedingly destructive.Therefore,disaster analysis,prediction,and real-time simulations have become important means of controlling and reducing accident hazards.Methods This study proposes a complete real-time simulation solution of gas diffusion with coordinate and concentration data,which was mainly aimed at simulating the types of harmful gas leakage and diffusion accidents in the petrochemical industry.The rendering effect was more continuous and accurate through grid homogenization and trilinear interpolation.This study presents a data processing and rendering parallelization process to enhance simulation efficiency.Gas concentration and fragment transparency were combined to synthesize transparent pixels in a scene.To ensure the approximate accuracy of the rendering effect,improve the efficiency of real-time rendering,and meet the requirement of intuitive perception using concentration data,a weighted blended order-independent transparency(OIT)with enhanced alpha weight is presented,which can provide a more intuitive perception of the hierarchical information of concentration data while preserving depth information.This study compares and analyzes three OIT algorithms-depth peeling,weighted blended OIT,and weighted blended OIT with enhanced alpha weight-in terms of rendering image quality,rendering time,required memory,and hierarchical information.Results Using weighted blended OIT with an enhanced alpha weight technique,the rendering time was shortened by 53.2%compared with that of the depth peeling algorithm,and the texture memory required was significantly smaller than that of the depth peeling algorithm.The rendering results of weighted blended OIT with an enhanced alpha weight were approximately accurate compared with those of the depth peeling algorithm as the ground truth,and there was no popping when surfaces passed through one another.Simultaneously,compared with weighted blended OIT,weighted blended OIT with an enhanced alpha weight achieved an intuitive perception of the hierarchical information of concentration data.

A multifunctional shear apparatus for rocks subjected to true triaxial stress and high temperature in real-time

Deep engineering disasters,such as rockbursts and collapses,are more related to the shear slip of rock joints.A novel multifunctional device was developed to study the shear failure mechanism in rocks.Using this device,the complete shearedeformation process and long-term shear creep tests could be performed on rocks under constant normal stiffness(CNS)or constant normal loading(CNL)conditions in real-time at high temperature and true-triaxial stress.During the research and development process,five key technologies were successfully broken through:(1)the ability to perform true-triaxial compressioneshear loading tests on rock samples with high stiffness;(2)a shear box with ultra-low friction throughout the entire stress space of the rock sample during loading;(3)a control system capable of maintaining high stress for a long time and responding rapidly to the brittle fracture of a rock sample as well;(4)a refined ability to measure the volumetric deformation of rock samples subjected to true triaxial shearing;and(5)a heating system capable of maintaining uniform heating of the rock sample over a long time.By developing these technologies,loading under high true triaxial stress conditions was realized.The apparatus has a maximum normal stiffness of 1000 GPa/m and a maximum operating temperature of 300C.The differences in the surface temperature of the sample are constant to within5C.Five types of true triaxial shear tests were conducted on homogeneous sandstone to verify that the apparatus has good performance and reliability.The results show that temperature,lateral stress,normal stress and time influence the shear deformation,failure mode and strength of the sandstone.The novel apparatus can be reliably used to conduct true-triaxial shear tests on rocks subjected to high temperatures and stress.

MicroMagnetic.jl:A Julia package for micromagnetic and atomistic simulations with GPU support

MicroMagnetic.jl is an open-source Julia package for micromagnetic and atomistic simulations.Using the features of the Julia programming language,MicroMagnetic.jl supports CPU and various GPU platforms,including NVIDIA,AMD,Intel,and Apple GPUs.Moreover,MicroMagnetic.jl supports Monte Carlo simulations for atomistic models and implements the nudged-elastic-band method for energy barrier computations.With built-in support for double and single precision modes and a design allowing easy extensibility to add new features,MicroMagnetic.jl provides a versatile toolset for researchers in micromagnetics and atomistic simulations.

A deep reinforcement learning approach to gasoline blending real-time optimization under uncertainty

The gasoline inline blending process has widely used real-time optimization techniques to achieve optimization objectives,such as minimizing the cost of production.However,the effectiveness of real-time optimization in gasoline blending relies on accurate blending models and is challenged by stochastic disturbances.Thus,we propose a real-time optimization algorithm based on the soft actor-critic(SAC)deep reinforcement learning strategy to optimize gasoline blending without relying on a single blending model and to be robust against disturbances.Our approach constructs the environment using nonlinear blending models and feedstocks with disturbances.The algorithm incorporates the Lagrange multiplier and path constraints in reward design to manage sparse product constraints.Carefully abstracted states facilitate algorithm convergence,and the normalized action vector in each optimization period allows the agent to generalize to some extent across different target production scenarios.Through these well-designed components,the algorithm based on the SAC outperforms real-time optimization methods based on either nonlinear or linear programming.It even demonstrates comparable performance with the time-horizon based real-time optimization method,which requires knowledge of uncertainty models,confirming its capability to handle uncertainty without accurate models.Our simulation illustrates a promising approach to free real-time optimization of the gasoline blending process from uncertainty models that are difficult to acquire in practice.

Numerical Simulation and Parallel Computing of Acoustic Wave Equation in Isotropic-Heterogeneous Media

In this paper,we consider the numerical implementation of the 2D wave equation in isotropic-heterogeneous media.The stability analysis of the scheme using the von Neumann stability method has been studied.We conducted a study on modeling the propagation of acoustic waves in a heterogeneous medium and performed numerical simulations in various heterogeneous media at different time steps.Developed parallel code using Compute Unified Device Architecture(CUDA)technology and tested on domains of various sizes.Performance analysis showed that our parallel approach showed significant speedup compared to sequential code on the Central Processing Unit(CPU).The proposed parallel visualization simulator can be an important tool for numerous wave control systems in engineering practice.

Molecular simulation study of the stabilization process of NEPE propellant

In this reported study, the density functional theory(DFT) was used at the(U)B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level to investigate the stabilization process of the nitrate ester plasticized polyether propellant(NEPE). Molecular simulations were conducted of the reaction that generates NO_(2), the autocatalytic and aging reaction triggered by the NO_(2), and the nitrogen dioxide absorption reaction of the stabilizers during the propellent stabilization process. These simulations were derived using the transition-state theory(TST)and variational transition-state theory(VTST). The simulation results suggested that the stabilization of the NEPE propellant consisted of three stages. First, heat and NO_(2) were generated during the denitrification reaction of nitroglycerine(NG) and 1,2,4-butanetriol trinitrate(BTTN) in the NEPE propellant.Second, nitroso products were generated by the reactions of N-Methyl-4-nitroaniline(MNA) and 2-nitrodiphenylamine(2NDPA) with NO_(2). Third, the stabilizers were exhausted and the autocatalytic reaction of NG and BTTN and the aging reaction of polyethylene glycol(PEG) were triggered by the heat and NO_(2)generated in the first stage. By comparing the energy barriers of the various reactions, it was found that the NO_(2)generated from the denitrification reaction significantly reduced the reaction energy barrier to 105.56-126.32 kJ/mol, also increased the reaction rate constant, and decreased the thermal stability and energetic properties of the NEPE propellant. In addition, the NO_(2)also weakened the mechanical properties of the NEPE propellant by attacking the-CH2groups and the O atoms in the PEG molecular chain. The energy barriers of the reactions of MNA and 2NDPA with NO_(2)(94.61-133.61 k J/mol) were lower than those of the autocatalytic and decomposition reactions of NG, BTTN, and the aging reactions of PEG(160.30-279.46 kJ/mol). This indicated that, by eliminating NO_(2), the stabilizer in the NEPE propellant can effectively prevent NO_(2)from reacting with the NG, BTTN, and PEG in the NEPE propellant. Consequently, this would help maintain the energy and mechanical properties of the NEPE propellant, thereby improving its thermal stability.

Three-dimensional finite element simulation and reconstruction of jointed rock models using CT scanning and photogrammetry

The geometry of joints has a significant influence on the mechanical properties of rocks.To simplify the curved joint shapes in rocks,the joint shape is usually treated as straight lines or planes in most laboratory experiments and numerical simulations.In this study,the computerized tomography (CT) scanning and photogrammetry were employed to obtain the internal and surface joint structures of a limestone sample,respectively.To describe the joint geometry,the edge detection algorithms and a three-dimensional (3D) matrix mapping method were applied to reconstruct CT-based and photogrammetry-based jointed rock models.For comparison tests,the numerical uniaxial compression tests were conducted on an intact rock sample and a sample with a joint simplified to a plane using the parallel computing method.The results indicate that the mechanical characteristics and failure process of jointed rocks are significantly affected by the geometry of joints.The presence of joints reduces the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS),elastic modulus,and released acoustic emission (AE) energy of rocks by 37%–67%,21%–24%,and 52%–90%,respectively.Compared to the simplified joint sample,the proposed photogrammetry-based numerical model makes the most of the limited geometry information of joints.The UCS,accumulative released AE energy,and elastic modulus of the photogrammetry-based sample were found to be very close to those of the CT-based sample.The UCS value of the simplified joint sample (i.e.38.5 MPa) is much lower than that of the CT-based sample (i.e.72.3 MPa).Additionally,the accumulative released AE energy observed in the simplified joint sample is 3.899 times lower than that observed in the CT-based sample.CT scanning provides a reliable means to visualize the joints in rocks,which can be used to verify the reliability of photogrammetry techniques.The application of the photogrammetry-based sample enables detailed analysis for estimating the mechanical properties of jointed rocks.

Chemical simulation teaching system based on virtual reality and gesture interaction

Background Most existing chemical experiment teaching systems lack solid immersive experiences,making it difficult to engage students.To address these challenges,we propose a chemical simulation teaching system based on virtual reality and gesture interaction.Methods The parameters of the models were obtained through actual investigation,whereby Blender and 3DS MAX were used to model and import these parameters into a physics engine.By establishing an interface for the physics engine,gesture interaction hardware,and virtual reality(VR)helmet,a highly realistic chemical experiment environment was created.Using code script logic,particle systems,as well as other systems,chemical phenomena were simulated.Furthermore,we created an online teaching platform using streaming media and databases to address the problems of distance teaching.Results The proposed system was evaluated against two mainstream products in the market.In the experiments,the proposed system outperformed the other products in terms of fidelity and practicality.Conclusions The proposed system which offers realistic simulations and practicability,can help improve the high school chemistry experimental education.

Image processing based three-dimensional model reconstruction for cross-platform numerical simulation

Numerical simulation is the most powerful computational and analysis tool for a large variety of engineering and physical problems.For a complex problem relating to multi-field,multi-process and multi-scale,different computing tools have to be developed so as to solve particular fields at different scales and for different processes.Therefore,the integration of different types of software is inevitable.However,it is difficult to perform the transfer of the meshes and simulated results among software packages because of the lack of shared data formats or encrypted data formats.An image processing based method for three-dimensional model reconstruction for numerical simulation was proposed,which presents a solution to the integration problem by a series of slice or projection images obtained by the post-processing modules of the numerical simulation software.By means of mapping image pixels to meshes of either finite difference or finite element models,the geometry contour can be extracted to export the stereolithography model.The values of results,represented by color,can be deduced and assigned to the meshes.All the models with data can be directly or indirectly integrated into other software as a continued or new numerical simulation.The three-dimensional reconstruction method has been validated in numerical simulation of castings and case studies were provided in this study.

Simulation Research on the Effect of Spreading Process Parameters on the Quality of Lunar Regolith Powder Bed in Additive Manufacturing

Lunar surface additive manufacturing with lunar regolith is a key step in in-situ resource utilization.The powder spreading process is the key process,which has a major impact on the quality of the powder bed and the precision of molded parts.In this study,the discrete element method(DEM)was adopted to simulate the powder spreading process with a roller.The three powder bed quality indicators,including the molding layer offset,voidage fraction,and surface roughness,were established.Besides,the influence of the three process parameters,which are roller’s translational speed,rotational speed,and powder spreading layer thickness on the powder bed quality indicators was also analyzed.The results show that with the reduction of the powder spreading layer thickness and the increase of the rotational speed,the offset increased significantly;when the translational speed increased,the offset first increased and then decreased,which resulted in an extreme value;with the increase of the layer thickness and the decrease of the translational speed,the values for voidage fraction and surface roughness significantly reduced.The powder bed quality indicators were adopted as the optimization objective,and the multi-objective parameter optimization was carried out.The predicted optimal powder spreading parameters and powder bed quality indicators were then obtained.Moreover,the optimal values were then verified.This study can provide informative guidance for in-situ manufacturing at the moon in future deep space exploration missions.

Real-Time Hybrid Simulation of Seismically Isolated Structures with Full-Scale Bearings and Large Computational Models

Hybrid simulation can be a cost effective approach for dynamic testing of structural components at full scale while capturing the system level response through interactions with a numerical model.The dynamic response of a seismically isolated structure depends on the combined characteristics of the ground motion,bearings,and superstructure.Therefore,dynamic full-scale system level tests of isolated structures under realistic dynamic loading conditions are desirable towards a holistic validation of this earthquake protection strategy.Moreover,bearing properties and their ultimate behavior have been shown to be highly dependent on rate-of-loading and scale size effects,especially under extreme loading conditions.Few laboratory facilities can test full-scale seismic isolation bearings under prescribed displacement and/or loading protocols.The adaptation of a full-scale bearing test machine for the implementation of real-time hybrid simulation is presented here with a focus on the challenges encountered in attaining reliable simulation results for large scale dynamic tests.These advanced real-time hybrid simulations of large and complex hybrid models with several thousands of degrees of freedom are some of the first to use high performance parallel computing to rapidly execute the numerical analyses.Challenges in the experimental setup included measured forces contaminated by delay and other systematic control errors in applying desired displacements.Friction and inertial forces generated by the large-scale loading apparatus can affect the accuracy of measured force feedbacks.Reliable results from real-time hybrid simulation requires implementation of compensation algorithms and correction of these various sources of errors.Overall,this research program confirms that real-time hybrid simulation is a viable testing method to experimentally assess the behavior of full-scale isolators while capturing interactions with the numerical models of the superstructure to evaluate system level and in-structure response.

FEM model for real-time guide wire simulation in vasculature

A model suitable for describing the mechanical response of thin elastic objects is proposed to simulate the deformation of guide wires in minimally invasive interventions. The main objective of this simulation is to provide doctors an opportunity to rehearse the surgery and select an optimal operation plan before the real surgery. In this model the guide wire is discretized with the multi-body representation and its elastic energy derivate from elastic theory is a polynomial function of the nodal displacements. The vascular structure is represented by a tetrahedron mesh extended from the triangular mesh of the artery, which can be extracted from the patient＇s CT image data. The model applies the energy decline process of the conjugate gradient method to the deformation simulation of the guide wire. Experimental results show that the polynomial relationship between elastic energy and nodal displacements tremendously simplifies the evaluation of the conjugate gradient method and significantly improves the model＇s efficiency. Compared with models depending on an explicit scheme for evaluation, the new model is not only non-conditionally stable but also more efficient. The model can be applied to the real-time simulation of guide wire in a vascular structure.

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.

Construction Simulation and Real-Time Control for High Arch Dam

A method of combining dynamic simulation with real-time control was proposed to fit the randomness and uncertainty in the high arch dam construction process. The mathematical logic model of high arch dam construction process was established. By combining dynamic construction simulation with schedule analysis, the process of construction schedule forecasting and analysis based on dynamic simulation was studied. The process of real-time schedule control was constructed and some measures for dynamic adjustment and control of construction schedule were provided. A system developed with the method is utilized in a being constructed hydroelectric project located at the Yellow River in northwest China, which can make the pouring plan of the dam in the next stage (a month, quarter or year) to guide the practical construction. The application result shows that the system provides an effective technical support for the construction and management of the dam.

A Class of Fast Algorithms in Real-Time Simulation

A class of hybrid algorithms of real-time simulation based on evaluation of non-integerstep right-hand side function are presented in this paper. And some results of the convergence and stability of the algorithms are given. Using the class of algorithms, evaluation for the right-hand side function is needed once in every integration-step. Moreover, comparing with the other methods with the same amount of work, their numerical stability regions are larger and the method errors are smaller, and the numerical experiments show that the algorithms are very effective.