Modal and Thermal Analysis of a Modified Connecting Rod of an Internal Combustion Engine Using Finite Element Method

The connecting rod is one of the most important moving components in an internal combustion engine. The present work determined the possibility of using aluminium alloy 7075 material to design and manufacture a connecting rod for weight optimisation without losing the strength of the connecting rod. It considered modal and thermal analyses to investigate the suitability of the material for connecting rod design. The parameters that were considered under the modal analysis were: total deformation, and natural frequency, while the thermal analysis looked at the temperature distribution, total heat flux and directional heat flux of the four connecting rods made with titanium alloy, grey cast iron, structural steel and aluminium 7075 alloy respectively. The connecting rod was modelled using Autodesk inventor2017 software using the calculated parameters. The steady-state thermal analysis was used to determine the induced heat flux and directional heat flux. The study found that Aluminium 7075 alloy deformed more than the remaining three other materials but has superior qualities in terms of vibrational natural frequency, total heat flux and lightweight compared to structural steel, grey cast iron and titanium alloy.

Mixed finite element and differential quadrature method for free and forced vibration and buckling analysis of rectangular plates

This paper presents a combined application of the finite element method （FEM） and the differential quadrature method （DQM） to vibration and buckling problems of rectangular plates. The proposed scheme combines the geometry flexibility of the FEM and the high accuracy and efficiency of the DQM. The accuracy of the present method is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results with those available in the literature. It is shown that highly accurate results can be obtained by using a small number of finite elements and DQM sample points. The proposed method is suitable for the problems considered due to its simplicity and potential for further development.

STRESS FIELD ANALYSIS OF EXTRA-HEIGHT FORGING DIE USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

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Transient analysis of 1D inhomogeneous media by dynamic inhomogeneous finite element method

The dynamic inhomogeneous finite element method is studied for use in the transient analysis of one dimensional inhomogeneous media. The general formula of the inhomogeneous consistent mass matrix is established based on the shape function. In order to research the advantages of this method, it is compared with the general finite element method. A linear bar element is chosen for the discretization tests of material parameters with two fictitious distributions. And, a numerical example is solved to observe the differences in the results between these two methods. Some characteristics of the dynamic inhomogeneous finite element method that demonstrate its advantages are obtained through comparison with the general finite element method. It is found that the method can be used to solve elastic wave motion problems with a large element scale and a large number of iteration steps.

B-Spline Wavelet on Interval Finite Element Method for Static and Vibration Analysis of Stiffened Flexible Thin Plate

A new wavelet finite element method(WFEM)is constructed in this paper and two elements for bending and free vibration problems of a stiffened plate are analyzed.By means of generalized potential energy function and virtual work principle,the formulations of the bending and free vibration problems of the stiffened plate are derived separately.Then,the scaling functions of the B-spline wavelet on the interval(BSWI)are introduced to discrete the solving field variables instead of conventional polynomial interpolation.Finally,the corresponding two problems can be resolved following the traditional finite element frame.There are some advantages of the constructed elements in structural analysis.Due to the excellent features of the wavelet,such as multi-scale and localization characteristics,and the excellent numerical approximation property of the BSWI,the precise and efficient analysis can be achieved.Besides,transformation matrix is used to translate the meaningless wavelet coefficients into physical space,thus the resolving process is simplified.In order to verify the superiority of the constructed method in stiffened plate analysis,several numerical examples are given in the end.

Development of Finite Element Limiting Analysis Method and Its Applications in Geotechnical Engineering

The Finite Element Limiting Analysis Method(LELAM) has the advantage of combining a numerical analysis method with traditional limiting equilibrium methods.It is particularly applicable to the analysis and design of geotechnical engineering.In the early 20th century,FELAM has been developed vigorously in domestic geotechnical engineering over international common finite element procedures.It has made great achievements in basic theory research and computational precision,thus broadening the application fields in practical projects.In order to gradually make innovations in geotechnical design methods,some of our research results are presented,mainly including geotechnical safety factor definitions,the principles for use of the method concerned,the overall failure criterion,the deduction and selection of the yield criterion,and the measurement to improve the computational precision,etc..The application field has been broadened from two-dimensional to three-dimensional,from soil slope to jointed rock slope and foundation,from stable seepage to non-stable seepage,from slope and foundation to tunnel.This method has also been used in search of many hidden sliding surfaces of complex landslides,conducting the structural support design considering the interaction between the soil and the structure,and computing simulation foundation bearing plates load tests,etc..

Cracking analysis of fracture mechanics by the finite element method of lines(FEMOL)

The Finite Element Method of Lines （FEMOL） is a semi-analytic approach and takes a position between FEM and analytic methods. First, FEMOL in Fracture Mechanics is presented in detail. Then, the method is applied to a set of examples such as edge-crack plate, the central-crack plate, the plate with cracks emanating from a hole under tensile or under combination loads of tensile and bending. Their dimensionless stress distribution, the stress intensify factor （SIF） and crack opening displacement （COD） are obtained, and comparison with known solutions by other methods are reported. It is found that a good accuracy is achieved by FEMOL. The method is successfully modified to remarkably increase the accuracy and reduce convergence difficulties. So it is a very useful and new tool in studying fracture mechanics problems.

Full－range nonlinear analysis of fatigue behaviors of reinforced concrete structures by finite element method

The offshore reinforced concrete structures are always subject to cyclic load, such as wave load.In this paper a new finite element analysis model is developed to analyze the stress and strain state of reinforced concrete structures including offshore concrete structures, subject to any number of the cyclic load. On the basis of the anal ysis of the experimental data,this model simplifies the number of cycles-total cyclic strain curve of concrete as three straight line segments,and it is assumed that the stress-strain curves of different cycles in each segment are the same, thus the elastoplastic analysis is only needed for the first cycle of each segment, and the stress or strain corresponding to any number of cycles can be obtained by superposition of stress or strain obtained by the above e lastoplastic analysis based on the cyclic numbers in each segment.This model spends less computer time,and can obtain the stress and strain states of the structures after any number of cycles.The endochronic-damage and ideal offshore concrete platform subject to cyclic loading are experimented and analyzed by the finite element method based on the model proposed in this paper. The results between the experiment and the finite element analysis are in good agreement,which demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the proposed model.

Design and Structural Analysis of Flexible Wearable Chair Using Finite Element Method

The flexible wearable chair is like a light weight mobile exoskeleton that allows people to sit any-where in any working position. The traditional chair is difficult to move to different working locations due to its large size, heavy weight (~5 - 7 kg) and rigid structure and thus, they are inappropriate for workplaces where enough space is not available. Flexible wearable chair has a gross weight of 3 kg as it utilizes light-weight aluminium alloy members. Unlike the traditional chair, it consists of kinematic pairs which enable taking halts between continuous movements at any working position and thus, it is capable of reducing the risk of the physical musculoskeletal disorder substantially among workers. The objective of this paper is to focus on the mechanical design and finite element analysis (FEA) of the mechanism using ANSYS® software. In the present work, all the parts of the mechanism are designed under static load condition. The results of the analysis indicate that flexible wearable chair satisfies equilibrium and stability criterion and is capable of reducing fatigue during working in an assembly line/factory.

NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED CONCRETE RECTANGULAR SLABS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

The nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete rectangular slabs undermonotonic transverse loads is performed by finite element method.The layered rectangu-lar element with 4 nodes and 20 degrees of freedom is developed,in whichbending-stretching coupling effect is taken into account.An orthotropic equivalentuniaxial stress-strain constitutive model of concrete is used.A program is worked out andused to calculate two reinforced concrete slabs.The results of calculation are in goodconformity with the corresponding test results.In addition,the influence of tension stif-fening effect of cracked concrete on the results of calculation is discussed.

Parametric Analysis of Tensile Properties of Bimodal Al Alloys by Finite Element Method

An axisymmetrical unit cell model was used to represent a bimodal Al alloy that was composed of both nano-grained （NG） and coarse-grained （CG） aluminum. Effects of microstructural and materials parameters on tensile properties of bimodal AI alloy were investigated by finite element method （FEM）. The parameters analyzed included aspect ratios of CG Al and the unit cell, volume fraction of CG Al （VFCG）, and yield strength and strain hardening exponent of CG Al. Aspect ratios of CG Al and the unit cell have no significant influence on tensile stress-strain response of the bimodal Al alloy. This phenomenon derives from the similarity in elastic modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion between CG AI and NG Al. Conversely, tensile properties of bimodal Al alloy are extremely sensitive to VFCG, yield strength and strain hardening exponent of CG Al. Specifically, as VFCG increases, both yield strength and ultimate tensile strength （UTS） of the bimodal Al alloy decreases, while uniform strain of bimodal AI alloy increases. In addition, an increase in yield strength of CG Al results in an increase in both yield stress and UTS of bimodal AI alloy and a decrease in uniform strain of bimodal Al alloy. The lower capability in lowering the increase of stress concentration in NG Al due to a higher yield strength of CG Al causes the lower uniform strain of the bimodal AI alloy. When strain hardening exponent of CG Al increases, 0.2% yield stress, UTS, and uniform strain of the bimodal Al alloy increases. This can be attributed to the increased work-hardening ability of CG Al with a higher strain hardening exponent.

Elasto-Plastic Analysis of Tubular Joints of Offshore Platforms by Finite Element Method

The plastic node method is reformulated by the variational principle and is applied to elasto-plastic finite element analysis of tubular joints, eventually including the effect of internal and external gussets, stiffener rings, etc., if necessary. Four different joints are studied here in detail for the elasto-plastic behavior, the strain at the hot spot, the strain concentration factor around the intersection line, and the propagation of the plastic region with loading up to collapse in order to determine the ultimate strength, safety factor, and development of the plastic field. The present results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF PERFORATED THIN PLATES AND FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR BUCKLING AND POST-BUCKLING ANALYSIS

On the basis of the general theory of perforated thin plates under large deflections, variational principles with deflection w and stress function F as variables are stated in detail.Based on these princi- ples,finite element method is established for analysing the buckling and post-buckling of perforated thin plates. It is found that the property of element is very complicated,owing to the multiple connexity of the region.

APPLICATION OF STOCHASTIC FINITE ELEMENT METHOD TO STRENGTH AND STABILITY ANALYSIS OF EARTH DAMS

This paper applies the stochastic finite element method to analyse the statistics of stresses in earth dams and assess the safety and reliability of the dams. Formulations of the stochastic finite element method are briefly reviewed and the procedure for assessing dam's strength and stability is described. As an example, a detailed analysis for an actual dam Nululin dam is performed. A practical method for studying built-dams based on the prototype observation data is described.

Goal-oriented error estimation applied to direct solution of steady-state analysis with frequency-domain finite element method

Based on the concept of the constitutive relation error along with the residuals of both the origin and the dual problems, a goal-oriented error estimation method with extended degrees of freedom is developed. It leads to the high quality locM error bounds in the problem of the direct-solution steady-state dynamic analysis with a frequency-domain finite element, which involves the enrichments with plural variable basis functions. The solution of the steady-state dynamic procedure calculates the harmonic response directly in terms of the physical degrees of freedom in the model, which uses the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices of the system. A three-dimensional finite element example is carried out to illustrate the computational procedures.

An explicit finite element method for dynamic analysis in three-medium coupling system and its application

In this paper, an explicit finite element method to analyze the dynamic responses of three-medium coupled systems with any terrain is developed on the basis of the numerical simulation of the continuous conditions on the bounda-ries among fluid saturated porous medium, elastic single-phase medium and ideal fluid medium. This method is a very effective one with the characteristic of high calculating speed and small memory needed because the formulae for this explicit finite element method have the characteristic of decoupling, and which does not need to solve sys-tem of linear equations. The method is applied to analyze the dynamic response of a reservoir with considering the dynamic interactions among water, dam, sediment and basement rock. The vertical displacement at the top point of the dam is calculated and some conclusions are given.

A FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR STRESS ANALYSIS OR ELASTOPLASTIC BODY WITH POLYGONAL LINE STRAIN——HARDENING

In this paper, the stress-strain curve of material is fitted by polygonal line composed of three lines. According to the theory of proportional loading in elastoplasticity, we simplify the complete stress-strain relations, which are given by the increment theory of elastoplasticity. Thus, the finite element equation with the solution of displacement is derived. The assemblage elastoplastic stiffness matrix can be obtained by adding something to the elastic matrix, hence it will shorten the computing time. The determination of every loading increment follows the von Mises yield criteria. The iterative method is used in computation. It omits the redecomposition of the assemblage stiffness matrix and it will step further to shorten the computing time. Illustrations are given to the high-order element application departure from proportional loading, the computation of unloading fitting to the curve and the problem of load estimation.

THE RATIONALISM THEORY AND ITS FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS METHOD OF SHELL STRUCTURES

In this paper, a kind of rationalism theory of shell is established which is of different mechanic characters in tension and in compression, and the finite element numerical analysis method is also described.

FINITE ELEMENT METHOD COMBINED WITH DYNAMIC PHOTOELASTIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE DYNAMIC STRESS-INTENSITY FACTORS

The present paper is addressed to the finite element method combined with dynamic photoelastic analysis of propagating cracks, that is, on the basis of [1] by Chien Wei-zang, finite elements which incorporate the propagating crack-tip singularity intrinsic to two-dimensional elasticity are employed. THe relation between crack opening length and time step obtained from dynamic photoelaslie analysis is used as a definite condition for solving the dynamic equations and simulating the crack propagations as well As an example, the impact response of dynamie-bending-test specimen is investigated and the dynamic stress-intensity factor obtained from the mentioned finite element analysis and dynamic photoelasticity is in reasonable agreement with each other.

A WEIGHTED PENALTY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POWER-LAW FLUID FLOW PROBLEMS

In this paper, a new finite element method for the flow analysis of the viscous incompressible power-law fluid is proposed by the use of penalty-hybrid/mixed finite element formulation and by the introduction of an alternative perturbation, which is weighted by viscosity, of the continuity equation. A numerical example is presented to exhibit the efficiency of the method.