An 8-Node Plane Hybrid Element for StructuralMechanics Problems Based on the Hellinger-Reissner Variational Principle

The finite element method (FEM) plays a valuable role in computer modeling and is beneficial to the mechanicaldesign of various structural parts. However, the elements produced by conventional FEM are easily inaccurate andunstable when applied. Therefore, developing new elements within the framework of the generalized variationalprinciple is of great significance. In this paper, an 8-node plane hybrid finite element with 15 parameters (PHQ8-15β) is developed for structural mechanics problems based on the Hellinger-Reissner variational principle.According to the design principle of Pian, 15 unknown parameters are adopted in the selection of stress modes toavoid the zero energy modes.Meanwhile, the stress functions within each element satisfy both the equilibrium andthe compatibility relations of plane stress problems. Subsequently, numerical examples are presented to illustrate theeffectiveness and robustness of the proposed finite element. Numerical results show that various common lockingbehaviors of plane elements can be overcome. The PH-Q8-15β element has excellent performance in all benchmarkproblems, especially for structures with varying cross sections. Furthermore, in bending problems, the reasonablemesh shape of the new element for curved edge structures is analyzed in detail, which can be a useful means toimprove numerical accuracy.

NUMERICAL RESOLVENT METHODS FOR CONSTRAINED PROBLEMS IN MECHANICS

Resolvent methods are presented for generating systematically iterative numerical algorithms for constrained problems in mechanics.The abstract framework corresponds to a general mixed finite element subdif-ferential model,with dual and primal evolution versions,which is shown to apply to problems of fluid dynamics,transport phenomena and solid mechanics,among others.In this manner,Uzawa's type methods and penalization-duality schemes,as well as macro-hybrid formulations,are generalized to non necessarily potential nanlinear mechanical problems.

THE PROBLEM OF INEQUALITY IN SOLID MECHANICS

In this paper the problem of inequality in solid mechanics, the contents of which consist of some main concepts, methods and results of the stationary and evolutionary as well as determinate and random problems in variational principle and variational ine -quality, is studied in detail.

Turning mechanism problems of the Changjiang River diluted water

Some main ideas about the turning of the Changjiang River diluted water (CDW) and their deficiencies are reviewed in this paper. According to a large number of observation data it is pointed out that the turning phenomena of the CDW are related not only to the discharge of the Changjiang River but also to the sea surface slope and wind stress curl in the southeast coast of China. Exsistence of the sea surface slope reflects essentially the effect of the Taiwan Warm Currc (TWC) on the turning of the CDW.

Evolutionary game analysis of problem processing mechanism in new collaboration

This paper analyzes a problem processing mechanism in a new collaboration system between the main manufacturer and the supplier in the"main manufacturer-supplier"mode,which has been widely applied in the collaborative development management of the complex product.This paper adopts the collaboration theory,the evolutionary game theory and numerical simulation to analyze the decision-making mechanism where one upstream supplier and one downstream manufacturer must process an unpredicted problem without any advance contract in common.Results show that both players'decision-makings are in some correlation with the initial state,income impact coefficients,and dealing cost.It is worth noting that only the initial state influences the final decision,while income impact coefficients and dealing cost just influence the decision process.This paper shows reasonable and practical suggestions for the manufacturer and supplier in a new collaboration system for the first time and is dedicated to the managerial implications on reducing risks of processing problems.

Preface for Special Issue on“Key Mechanical Problems of Marine Energy Development Equipment”

There are abundant energy reserves such as oil,natural gas,hydrate,and wind energy in the ocean.Countries around the globe are competing to advance their marine energy development technologies.The exploitation of marine resources relies on cutting-edge industrial equipment.After decades of R&D endeavors,China has obtained most of the key technologies for the design,production,testing,and field application of marine energy development equipment(Xie and Zeng,2021).

Development of Glass Optical Fibers 1970-2020,Providing Us the Digitalized Communication World

New types of communication cables were found to be needed already during the 1960-decade,because the copper cables had,and still would have,too high attenuation and especially limited bandwidth,due to extremely high dispersion at communication signals above 2 Mbit/s.Already the first commercially available multimode optical fibers(1979),developed from pure silica glass with a Ge-doped core,had much lower attenuation at signal frequencies of the order of 2-9 Mbit/s and above it.However,fiber core,cladding and coating materials,cable structures and materials,as well as manufacturing-,measurements-and test methods have been needed to be developed much further to get the reliable fiber cable communication networks.The important development stages and solutions to the most significant childhood problems of the optical fibers and cables are described in this paper.Now over 500 million km of optical fibers are manufactured and installed worldwide for the communication networks.The understanding of how to make the fibers with the very good transmission,mechanical and reliability properties exists at the manufacturers of the fibers and cables.

Comparative Performance Analysis of Differential Evolution Variants on Engineering Design Problems

Because of their superior problem-solving ability,nature-inspired optimization algorithms are being regularly used in solving complex real-world optimization problems.Engineering academics have recently focused on meta-heuristic algorithms to solve various optimization challenges.Among the state-of-the-art algorithms,Differential Evolution(DE)is one of the most successful algorithms and is frequently used to solve various industrial problems.Over the previous 2 decades,DE has been heavily modified to improve its capabilities.Several DE variations secured positions in IEEE CEC competitions,establishing their efficacy.However,to our knowledge,there has never been a comparison of performance across various CEC-winning DE versions,which could aid in determining which is the most successful.In this study,the performance of DE and its eight other IEEE CEC competition-winning variants are compared.First,the algorithms have evaluated IEEE CEC 2019 and 2020 bound-constrained functions,and the performances have been compared.One unconstrained problem from IEEE CEC 2011 problem suite and five other constrained mechanical engineering design problems,out of which four issues have been taken from IEEE CEC 2020 non-convex constrained optimization suite,have been solved to compare the performances.Statistical analyses like Friedman's test and Wilcoxon's test are executed to verify the algorithm’s ability statistically.Performance analysis exposes that none of the DE variants can solve all the problems efficiently.Performance of SHADE and ELSHADE-SPACMA are considerable among the methods used for comparison to solve such mechanical design problems.