Optimal Experiment Design for the Identification of the Interfacial Heat Transfer Coefficient in Sand Casting

The interfacial heat transfer coefficient(IHTC)is one of the main input parameters required by casting simulation software.It plays an important role in the accurate modeling of the solidification process.However,its value is not easily identifiable by means of experimental methods requiring temperature measurements during the solidification process itself.For these reasons,an optimal experiment design was performed in this study to determine the optimal position for the temperature measurement and the optimal thickness of the rectangular cast iron part.This parameter was identified using an inverse technique.In particular,two different algorithms were used:Levenberg Marquard(LM)and Monte Carlo(MC).A numerical model of the solidification process was associated with the optimization algorithm.The temperature was measured at different positions from the mould/metal interface at d=0 mm(mould/metal interface),30 mm,60 mm and 90 mm.the thicknesses of the cast part were:L1=40 mm,60 mm and 80 mm.A comparative study on the IHTC identification was then carried out by varying the initial value of the IHTC between 500 Wm^(-2)K^(-1) and 1050 Wm^(-2)K^(-1).Results showed that the MC algorithm used for estimating the IHTC gives the best results,and the optimal position was at d=30 mm,the position closest to the mould/metal interface,for the lowest thickness L1=40 mm.

A Multi-Objective Optimal Experimental Design Framework for Enhancing the Efficiency of Online Model Identification Platforms

Recent advances in automation and digitization enable the close integration of physical devices with their virtual counterparts, facilitating the real-time modeling and optimization of a multitude of processes in an automatic way. The rich and continuously updated data environment provided by such systems makes it possible for decisions to be made over time to drive the process toward optimal targets. In many man- ufacturing processes, in order to achieve an overall optimal process, the simultaneous assessment of mul- tiple objective functions related to process performance and cost is necessary. In this work, a multi- objective optimal experimental design framework is proposed to enhance the ef ciency of online model-identi cation platforms. The proposed framework permits exibility in the choice of trade-off experimental design solutions, which are calculated online that is, during the execution of experiments. The application of this framework to improve the online identi cation of kinetic models in ow reactors is illustrated using a case study in which a kinetic model is identi ed for the esteri cation of benzoic acid and ethanol in a microreactor.

Control-Relevant Identification Test Design for Open-Loop Experiment

An optimal experiment design (DED) with respect to the use of designing model-base controller was studied. The mean squared error at the setpoint is chosen as the performance criterion. Simple design formulas are derived based on the asymptotic theory. The signal is used for the open loop experiment. The design constraint is the power of the process signal or the process input signal. The results give guideline for identification application.

Multi-type sensor placement and response reconstruction for building structures: Experimental investigations

Estimation of lateral displacement and acceleration responses is essential to assess safety and serviceability of high-rise buildings under dynamic loadings including earthquake excitations. However, the measurement information from the limited number of sensors installed in a building structure is often insufficient for the complete structural performance assessment. An integrated multi-type sensor placement and response reconstruction method has thus been proposed by the authors to tackle this problem. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, an experimental investigation using a cantilever beam with multi-type sensors is performed and reported in this paper. The experimental setup is first introduced. The finite element modelling and model updating of the cantilever beam are then performed. The optimal sensor placement for the best response reconstruction is determined by the proposed method based on the updated FE model of the beam. After the sensors are installed on the physical cantilever beam, a number of experiments are carried out. The responses at key locations are reconstructed and compared with the measured ones. The reconstructed responses achieve a good match with the measured ones, manifesting the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Besides, the proposed method is also examined for the cases of different excitations and unknown excitation, and the results prove the proposed method to be robust and effective. The superiority of the optimized sensor placement scheme is finally demonstrated through comparison with two other different sensor placement schemes： the accelerometer-only scheme and non-optimal sensor placement scheme. The proposed method can be applied to high-rise buildings for seismic performance assessment.

Theoretical and Experimental Optimization of InGaAs Channels in GaAs PHEMT Structure

The ground-state energy level （GEL） and electron distribution of GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistors （PHEMTs） are analyzed by a self-consistent solution to the Schrodinger-Poisson equations. The indium composition and thickness of the InGaAs channel are optimized according to the GEL position. The GEL position is not in direct proportion to 1/d^2 （d is the channel thickness） by considering the influence of electron distribution in the InGaAs channel. Indium composition 0.22 and channel thickness 9 nm are obtained by considering the mismatch between InGaAs and AlGaAs. Several PHEMT samples are grown according to the theoretical results and mobility 6300 cm^2 /V.s is achieved.

Experimental Optimization of the Output Power of a Copper Vapor Laser Using Air as a Buffer Gas

In order to investigate the effect of the pressure buffer gas and frequency on the output power, a copper vapor laser with active medium length of 60 cm and bore of 16 mm has been operated and optimized using air as a buffer gas. The observed oscillatory behavior of the output power versus frequency is in good agreement with the previous reports. The measured results show the maximum output power of ~1.6W at the optimum pressure of 3.8 torr and frequency of 17 kHz. Abundance of the air and reduction of the system volume due to elimination of the gas handling system as well as the economically benefits are the advantages of the employing air as a buffer gas in the copper vapor laser operation.

Numerical simulation and optimization of red mud separation thickener with self-dilute feed

In order to acquire the flow pattern and investigate the settling behavior of the red mud in the separation thickener,computational fluid dynamics(CFD),custom subroutines and agglomerates settling theory were employed to simulate the three-dimensional flow field in an industrial scale thickener with the introduction of a self-dilute feed system.The simulation results show good agreement with the measurement onsite and the flow patterns of the thickener are presented and discussed on both velocity and concentration field.Optimization experiments on feed well and self-dilute system were also carried out,and indicate that the optimal thickener system can dilute the solid concentration in feed well from 110 g/L to 86 g/L which would help the agglomerates' formation and improve the red mud settling speed.Furthermore,the additional power of recirculation pump can be saved and flocculants dosage was reduced from 105g/t to 85g/t in the operation.

Combined Size and Shape Optimization of Structures with DOE,RSM and GA

In this paper,size and shape optimization problem of a machine gun system is addressed with an efficient hybrid method,in which a novel and flexible mesh morphing technique is employed to achieve fast parameterization and modification of complexity structure without going back to CAD for reconstruction of geometric models or to finite element analysis（ FEA） for remodeling. Design of experiments（ DOE） and response surface method（ RSM） are applied to approximate the constitutive parameters of a machine gun system based on experimental tests. Further FEA,secondary development technique and genetic algorithm（ GA） are introduced to find all the optimal solutions in one go and the optimal design of the demonstrated machine gun system is obtained. Results of the rigid-flexible coupling dynamic analysis and exterior ballistics calculation validate the proposed methodology,which is relatively time-saving,reliable and has the potential to solve similar problems.

An experiment for obtaining DOP ellipsoid using particle swarm optimization algorithm

The degree of polarization (DOP) ellipsoid can be used as either feedback or feedforward signal for automatic polarization mode dispersion compensation. We have realized the experiment for obtaining DOP ellipsoid from 100 sampling data of output states of polarization using particle swarm optimization (PSO) as ellipsoid data fitting algorithm. It was shown that the PSO algorithm was powerful for ellipsoid data fitting with high precision within 250 ms.

Improved dynamic grey wolf optimizer

In the standard grey wolf optimizer(GWO), the search wolf must wait to update its current position until the comparison between the other search wolves and the three leader wolves is completed. During this waiting period, the standard GWO is seen as the static GWO. To get rid of this waiting period, two dynamic GWO algorithms are proposed: the first dynamic grey wolf optimizer(DGWO1) and the second dynamic grey wolf optimizer(DGWO2). In the dynamic GWO algorithms, the current search wolf does not need to wait for the comparisons between all other search wolves and the leading wolves, and its position can be updated after completing the comparison between itself or the previous search wolf and the leading wolves. The position of the search wolf is promptly updated in the dynamic GWO algorithms, which increases the iterative convergence rate. Based on the structure of the dynamic GWOs, the performance of the other improved GWOs is examined, verifying that for the same improved algorithm, the one based on dynamic GWO has better performance than that based on static GWO in most instances.

Nanomechanical Behaviour of the Membranous Wings of Dragonfly Pantala flavescens Fabricius

The dragonfly has excellent flying capacity and its wings are typical 2-dimensional composite materials in micro-scale or nano-scale. The nanomechanical behavior of dragonfly membranous wings was investigated with a nanoindenter. It was shown that the maxima of the reduced modulus and nanohardness of the in-vivo and fresh dragonfly wings are about at position of 0.7L, where L is the wing length. It was found that the reduced modulus and nanohardness of radius of the wings of dragonfly are large. The reduced modulus and nanohardness of Costa, Radius and Postal veins of the in-vivo dragonfly wings are larger than those of the fresh ones. The deformation, stress and strain under the uniform load were analyzed with finite element simulation software ANSYS. The deformation is little and the distribution trend of the strain is probably in agreement with that of the stress. It is shown that the main veins have better stabilities and load-bearing capacities. The understanding of dragonfly wings＇ nanomechanical properties would provide some references for improving some properties of 2-dimentional composite materials through the biomimetic designs. The realization of nanomechanical properties of dragonfly wings will provide inspirations for designing some new structures and materials of mechanical parts.

Rotorcraft flight endurance estimation based on a new battery discharge model

To avoid the numerical complexities of the battery discharge law of electric-powered rotorcrafts,this study uses the Kriging method to model the discharge characteristics of Li-Po batteries under standard conditions.A linear current compensation term and an ambient temperature compensation term based on radial basis functions are then applied to the trained Kriging model,leading to the complete discharged capacity-terminal voltage model.Using an orthogonal experimental design and a sequential method,the coefficients of the current and ambient temperature compensation terms are determined through robust optimization.An endurance calculation model for electric-powered rotorcrafts is then established,based on the battery discharge model,through numerical integration.Laboratory tests show that the maximum relative error of the proposed discharged capacity-terminal voltage model at detection points is 0.0086,and that of the rotorcraft endurance calculation model is 0.0195,thus verifying their accuracy.A flight test further demonstrates the applicability of the proposed endurance model to general electric-powered rotorcrafts.

Flight dynamics modeling of a small ducted fan aerial vehicle based on parameter identifcation

This paper presents a simple and useful modeling method to acquire a dynamics model of an aerial vehicle containing unknown parameters using mechanism modeling,and then to design different identifcation experiments to identify the parameters based on the sources and features of its unknown parameters.Based on the mathematical model of the aerial vehicle acquired by modeling and identifcation,a design for the structural parameters of the attitude control system is carried out,and the results of the attitude control flaps are verifed by simulation experiments and flight tests of the aerial vehicle.Results of the mathematical simulation and flight tests show that the mathematical model acquired using parameter identifcation is comparatively accurate and of clear mechanics,and can be used as the reference and basis for the structural design.