Study on electron stochastic motions in the magnetosonic wave field: Test particle simulations

Using the test particle simulation method, we investigate the stochastic motion of electrons with energy of 300 keV in a monochromatic magnetosonic(MS) wave field. This study is motivated by the violation of the quasi-linear theory assumption, when strong MS waves(amplitude up to ~1 nT) are present in the Earth's magnetosphere. First, electron motion can become stochastic when the wave amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. If an electron initially resonates with the MS wave via bounce resonance, as the bounce resonance order increases, the amplitude threshold of electron stochastic motion increases until it reaches the peak at about the 11 th order in our study, then the amplitude threshold slowly declines. Further, we find that the coexistence of bounce and Landau resonances between electrons and MS waves will significantly reduce the amplitude threshold. In some cases, the electron motion can become stochastic in the field of an MS wave with amplitudes below 1 nT. Regardless, if neither the bounce nor Landau resonance condition is satisfied initially, then the amplitude threshold of stochastic motion shows an increasing trend for lower frequencies and a decreasing trend for higher frequencies, even though the amplitude threshold is always very large(> 5 nT). Our study suggests that electron stochastic motion should also be considered when modeling electron dynamics regulated by intense MS waves in the Earth's magnetosphere.

Performance-based global reliability assessment of a high-rise frame-core tube structure subjected to multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes

When evaluating the seismic safety and reliability of complex engineering structures,it is a critical problem to reasonably consider the randomness and multi-dimensional nature of ground motions.To this end,a proposed modeling strategy of multi-dimensional stochastic earthquakes is addressed in this study.This improved seismic model has several merits that enable it to better provide seismic analyses of structures.Specifically,at first,the ground motion model is compatible with the design response spectrum.Secondly,the evolutionary power spectrum involved in the model and the design response spectrum are constructed accordingly with sufficient consideration of the correlation between different seismic components.Thirdly,the random function-based dimension-reduction representation is applied,by which seismic modeling is established,with three elementary random variables.Numerical simulations of multi-dimensional stochastic ground motions in a specific design scenario indicate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling strategy.Moreover,the multi-dimensional seismic response and the global reliability of a high-rise frame-core tube structure is discussed in detail to further illustrate the engineering applicability of the proposed method.The analytical investigations demonstrate that the suggested stochastic model of multi-dimensional ground motion is available for accurate seismic response analysis and dynamic reliability assessment of complex engineering structures for performance-based seismic resistance design.

Serviceability evaluation of water supply networks under seismic loads utilizing their operational physical mechanism

The serviceability of water supply networks(WSNs)under seismic loads has significant importance for estimating the probable losses and the impact of diminished functionality on affected communities.The innovation presented in this paper is suggesting a new strategy to evaluate the seismic serviceability of WSNs,utilizing their operational physical mechanism.On one hand,this method can obtain the seismic serviceability of each node as well as entire WSNs.On the other hand,this method can dynamically reflect the propagation of randomness from ground motions to WSNs.First,a finite element model is established to capture the seismic response of buried pipe networks,and a leakage model is suggested to obtain the leakage area of WSNs.Second,the transient flow analysis of WSNs with or without leakage is derived to obtain dynamic water flow and pressure.Third,the seismic serviceability of WSNs is analyzed based on the probability density evolution method(PDEM).Finally,the seismic serviceability of a real WSN in Mianzhu city is assessed to illustrate the method.The case study shows that randomness from the ground motions can obviously affect the leakage state and the probability density of the nodal head during earthquakes.

Novel probabilistic rolling regular tetrahedron mechanism

With recent relevant publications on stochastic motion robots in Nature, Science, and other journals, research on such robots has gained increasing attention. However, theoretical and applied research on stochastic motion in the field of robotics and mechanisms face many challenges due to the uncertainty of stochastic motion. Currently, a large gap remains in the research of stochastic motion mechanism. In this study, a novel mechanism that can conduct probabilistic rolling is proposed to reach a designated position and achieve overlying movement over a particular area. The mechanism consists of a regular tetrahedron frame, a central node, and four connecting linear actuators. According to mobility and kinematic analyses, the mechanism can implement probabilistic rolling. Each rolling gait has three probable rolling directions, and the mechanism rolls in one of the three directions in probability. A kinematic simulation is conducted, and a control method is proposed on the basis of the moving path analysis. Furthermore, the mathematical principle of probabilistic rolling is revealed in terms of probability theory and statistics. Lastly, a prototype is fabricated. To achieve the rolling function, the design of the linear actuators is improved, and the extension ratio is increased from 0.58 to 1.13. Then, tests are conducted. In a 4 m2 test site, the mechanism makes 11 moves to reach the target position and covers 29.25% of the site.