Joint probability density function of the stochastic responses of nonlinear structures

The joint probability density fimction （PDF） of different structural responses is a very important topic in the stochastic response analysis of nonlinear structures. In this paper, the probability density evolution method, which is successfully developed to capture the instantaneous PDF of an arbitrary single response of interest, is extended to evaluate the joint PDF of any two responses. A two-dimensional partial differential equation in terms of the joint PDF is established. The strategy of selecting representative points via the number theoretical method and sieved by a hyper-ellipsoid is outlined. A two-dimensional difference scheme is developed. The free vibration of an SDOF system is examined to verify the proposed method, and a flame structure exhibiting hysteresis subjected to stochastic ground motion is investigated. It is pointed out that the correlation of different responses results from the fact that randomness of different responses comes from the same set of basic random parameters involved. In other words, the essence of the probabilistic correlation is a physical correlation.

Theoretical insights into the role of defects in the optimization of the electrochemical capacitance of graphene

Graphene-based frameworks suffer from a low quantum capacitance due to graphene’s Dirac point at the Fermi level.This theoretical study investigated the effect structural defects,nitrogen and boron doping,and surface epoxy/hydroxy groups have on the electronic structure and capacitance of graphene.Density functional theory calculations reveal that the lowest energy configurations for nitrogen or boron substitutional doping occur when the dopant atoms are segregated.This elucidates why the magnetic transition for nitrogen doping is experimentally only observed at higher doping levels.We also highlight that the lowest energy configuration for a single vacancy defect is magnetic.Joint density functional theory calculations show that the fixed band approximation becomes increasingly inaccurate for electrolytes with lower dielectric constants.The introduction of structural defects rather than nitrogen or boron substitutional doping,or the introduction of adatoms leads to the largest increase in density of states and capacitance around graphene’s Dirac point.However,the presence of adatoms or substitutional doping leads to a larger shift of the potential of zero charge away from graphene’s Dirac point.

Method for extracting geometrical characteristics of joint probability density based on contour lines

This paper presents a method for extracting geometrical features of the joint probability density function(PDF)of two-dimensional systems based on its contour lines,with particular interests given to the number and position of peaks and craters.In order to detect those two types of structures,a series of horizontal planes are applied to truncate the joint PDF with contour lines generated.Starting with the analysis of contour lines in a single plane,shape characteristics of the peak and the crater can be reflected on the contour lines in the aspects of gradient direction and inclusion relationship.Aided by the properties of PDF,the information about gradient direction and inclusion relationship of contour lines can be obtained simultaneously if the contour tree is built.According to the contour tree,the contour lines can be classified as two groups.Then the corresponding relation between contour lines in different planes is discussed.Based on the corresponding relation,clustering analysis about contour lines belonging to the same group but having different heights is performed.Two sets of contour lines are finally obtained as the simplest expression of geometrical characteristics of a joint PDF.They can be used to obtain the number and position of each peak and crater.Three oscillators of different types are chosen to test this method,which shows that this method can pave the way for numerical calculation about the stochastic P-bifurcation of multi-dimensional systems.

Dynamics and geometry of developing planar jets based on the invariants of the velocity gradient tensor

Based on the direct numerical simulation （DNS）, the developing planar jets under different initial conditions, e.g., the con- ditions of the exit Reynolds number and the exit mean velocity profile, are investigated. We mainly focus on the characteristics of the invariants of the velocity gradient tensor, which provides insights into the evolution of the dynamics and the geometry of the planar jets along with the flow transition. The results show that the initial flow near the jet exit is strongly predominated by the dissipation over the enstrophy, the flow transition is accompanied by a severe rotation and straining of the flow elements, where the vortex structure evolves faster than the fluid element deformation, in the fully-developed state, the irrotational dissipation is dominant and the most probable geometry of the fluid elements should remain between the biaxial stretching and the axisymmetric stretching. In addition, with a small exit Re and a parabolic profile for the exit mean streamwise velocity, the decay of the mean flow field and the magnitude of the turbulent variables will be strengthened in the process of the flow transition, however, a large exit Re will promote the flow transition to the fully-developed state. The cross-impact between the exit Re and the exit mean velocity profile is also observed in the present study.