GEOMETRICALLY NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF SPATIAL THIN-WALLED BEAMS WITH GENERAL OPEN CROSS SECTION

Based on the theory of Timoshenko and thin-walled beams, a new finite element model of spatial thin-walled beams with general open cross sections is presented in the paper, in which several factors are included such as lateral shear deformation, warp generated by nonuni- form torsion and second-order shear stress, coupling of flexure and torsion, and large displacement with small strain. With an additional internal node in the element, the element stiffness matrix is deduced by incremental virtual work in updated Lagrangian （UL） formulation. Numerical examples demonstrate that the presented model well describes the geometrically nonlinear property of spatial thin-walled beams.

A new finite element of spatial thin-walled beams

Based on the theories of Timoshenko＇s beams and Vlasov＇s thin-walled members, a new spatial thin-walled beam element with an interior node is developed. By independently interpolating bending angles and warp, factors such as transverse shear deformation, torsional shear deformation and their Coupling, coupling of flexure and torsion, and second shear stress are considered. According to the generalized variational theory of Hellinger-Reissner, the element stiffness matrix is derived. Examples show that the developed model is accurate and can be applied in the finite element analysis of thinwalled structures.

A geometrical and physical nonlinear finite element model for spatial thin-walled beams with arbitrary section

Based on the theories of Bernoulli-Euler beams and Vlasov's thin-walled members,a new geometrical and physical nonlinear beam element model is developed by applying an interior node in the element and independent interpolations on bending angles and warp,in which factors such as traverse shear deformation,torsional shear deformation and their coupling,coupling of flexure and torsion,and second shear stress are all considered.Thereafter,geometrical nonlinear strain in total Lagarange(TL) and the corresponding stiffness matrix are formulated.Ideal plastic model is applied to physical nonlinearity to comply with the yield rule of Von Mises and incremental relationship of Prandtle-Reuss.Elastoplastic stiffness matrix is derived by numerical integration on the basis of the finite segment method.Examples show that the developed model is feasible in analysis of thin-walled structures with high accuracy.

Modeling and Free Vibration Behavior of Rotating Composite Thin-walled Closed-section Beams with SMA Fibers

Smart structure with active materials embedded in a rotating composite thin-walled beam is a class of typical structure which is using in study of vibration control of helicopter blades and wind turbine blades. The dynamic behavior investigation of these structures has significance in theory and practice. However, so far dynamic study on the above-mentioned structures is limited only the rotating composite beams with piezoelectric actuation. The free vibration of the rotating composite thin-walled beams with shape memory alloy（SMA） fiber actuation is studied. SMA fiber actuators are embedded into the walls of the composite beam. The equations of motion are derived based on Hamilton＇s principle and the asymptotically correct constitutive relation of single-cell cross-section accounting for SMA fiber actuation. The partial differential equations of motion are reduced to the ordinary differential equations of motion by using the Galerkin＇s method. The formulation for free vibration analysis includes anisotropy, pitch and precone angle, centrifugal force and SMA actuation effect. Numerical results of natural frequency are obtained for two configuration composite beams. It is shown that natural frequencies of the composite thin-walled beam decrease as SMA fiber volume and initial strain increase and the decrease in natural frequency becomes more significant as SMA fiber volume increases. The actuation performance of SMA fibers is found to be closely related to the rotational speeds and ply-angle. In addition, the effect of the pitch angle appears to be more significant for the lower-bending mode ones. Finally, in all cases, the precone angle appears to have marginal effect on free vibration frequencies. The developed model can be capable of describing natural vibration behaviors of rotating composite thin-walled beam with active SMA fiber actuation. The present work extends the previous analysis done for modeling passive rotating composite thin-walled beam.

Novel Method for Spatial Angle Measurement Based on Rotating Planar Laser Beams

Spatial angle measurement, especially the measurement of horizontal and vertical angle, is a basic method used for industrial large-scale coordinate measurement. As main equipments in use, both theodolites and laser trackers can provide very high accuracy for spatial angle measurement. However, their industrial applications are limited by low level of automation and poor parallelism. For the purpose of improving measurement efficiency, a lot of studies have been conducted and several alternative methods have been proposed. Unfortunately, all these means are either low precision or too expensive. In this paper, a novel method of spatial angle measurement based on two rotating planar laser beams is proposed and demonstrated. Photoelectric receivers placed on measured points are used to receive the rotating planner laser signals transmitted by laser transmitters. The scanning time intervals of laser planes were measured, and then measured point＇s horizontal/vertical angles can be calculated. Laser plane＇s angle parameters are utilized to establish the abstract geometric model of transmitter. Calculating formulas of receiver＇s horizontal/vertical angles have been derived. Measurement equations＇ solvability conditions and judgment method of imaginary solutions are also presented after analyzing. Proposed method for spatial angle measurement is experimentally verified through a platform consisting of one laser transmitter and one optical receiver. The transmitters used in new method are only responsible for providing rotating light plane signals carrying angle information. Receivers automatically measure scanning time of laser planes and upload data to the workstation to calculate horizontal angle and vertical angle. Simultaneous measurement of multiple receivers can be realized since there is no human intervention in measurement process .Spatial angle measurement result indicates that the repeatable accuracy of new method is better than 10＂. Proposed method can improve measurement＇s automation degree and speed while ensuring measurement accuracy.

Nonlinear Free Vibration Analysis of Thin-walled Curved Beam with Non-symmetric Open Cross Section

A finite element formulation was presented for the nonlinear free vibration of thin-walled curved beams with non-symmetric open across section. The kinetic and potential energies were derived by the virtual principle. The energy function includes the effect of fiexural-torsional coupling, the torsion warping and the shear centre location. For finite element analysis, cubic polynomials were utilized as the shape functions of the two nodal thin-walled curved elements. Each node possesses seven degrees freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The nonlinear eigenvalue problem was solved by the direct iteration technique. The results are compared with those for straight beams as available in the literature. The results for nonlinear free vibration analysis of curved beams for various radii and subtended angle are presented.

Fusion of Multi-Pinched Plasma Beams Converging with Spatial Symmetry

Fusion reactions can be achieved by using deuterium from sea water as the fuel.The amount of deuterium in one gallon of sea water contains energy equivalent to three hundred gallons of gasoline.Satisfactory conditions of plasma temperature and density necessary to initiate fusion have been achieved in various research facilities.However,the confinement time is not sufficient for ignition due to plasma instabilities.Here we show that fatal plasma instabilities could be suppressed by the ingenious arrangement of multi-pinched plasma beams converging symmetrically in space based on the minimization principle of plasma potential energy.Confirmation tests are proposed using tiny wires containing deuterium.If successful,the results could lead to a feasible approach to obtaining commercial fusion power from sea water,hence without the need to use expensive and radioactive tritium as the fuel.

Finite element analysis of spatial curved beam in large deformation

For the purpose of carrying out the large deformation finite element analysis of spatial curved beams,the total Lagrangian（TL）and the updated Lagrangian（UL）incremental formulations for arbitrary spatial curved beam elements are established with displacement vector interpolation,which is improved from component interpolation of the straight beam displacement.A strategy of replacing the actual curve with the isoparametric curve is used to expand the applications of the UL formulation.The examples indicate that the process of establishing the curved beam element is correct,and the accuracy with the curved beam element is obviously higher than that with the straight beam element.Generally,the same level of computational accuracy can be achieved with 1/5 as many curved beam elements as otherwise with straight beam elements.

Bending behaviour of lightweight aggregate concrete-filled steel tube spatial truss beam

A lightweight aggregate concrete-filled steel tube(LACFST) spatial truss beam was tested under bending load. The performance was studied by the analysis of the beam deflection and strains in its chords and webs. According to the test results, several assumptions were made to deduce the bearing capacity calculation method based on the force balance of the whole section. An optimal dimension relationship for the truss beam chords was proposed and verified by finite element analysis. Results show that the LACFST spatial truss beam failed after excessive deflection. The strain distribution agreed with Bernoulli-Euler theoretical prediction. The truss beam flexural bearing capacity calculation results matched test evidence with only a 3% difference between the two. Finite element analyses with different chord dimensions show that the ultimate bearing capacity increases as the chord dimensions increase when the chords have a diameter smaller than optimal one; otherwise, it remains almost unchanged as the chord dimensions increase.

Transversal reverse transformation of anomalous hollow beams in strongly isotropic nonlocal media

Based on the nonlocal nonlinear Schr6dinger equation, the propagation properties of anomalous hollow beams in strongly isotropic nonlocal media are investigated. The analytical expressions of the beam propagation, the on-axis intensity and the beam width are obt.ained. The results show that the evolution of the beam is periodical and the input power is the most important parameter. The input power determines the variation of the period. Furthermore, it is found that there exists a critical input power in the x direction and in the y direction separately when the initial beam widths in the two transversal directions are unequal. The beam width remains invariant in the corresponding transversal direction when the input power equals the critical power in one of the transversal directions. Selecting a properinput power, the beam can be broadened or compressed in the two transversal directions at the same time, In particular, the beam can be broadened （compressed） in one transversal direction, whereas in the other transversal direction, it is compressed （broadened）, i.e., the transversal reverse transformation.

Shear deformable finite beam elements for composite box beams

The shear deformable thin-walled composite beams with closed cross-sections have been developed for coupled flexural, torsional, and buckling analyses. A theoretical model applicable to the thin-walled laminated composite box beams is presented by taking into account all the structural couplings coming from the material anisotropy and the shear deformation effects. The current composite beam includes the transverse shear and the restrained warping induced shear deformation by using the first-order shear deformation beam theory. Seven governing equations are derived for the coupled axial-flexural-torsional-shearing buckling based on the principle of minimum total potential energy. Based on the present analytical model, three different types of finite composite beam elements, namely, linear, quadratic and cubic elements are developed to analyze the flexural, torsional, and buckling problems. In order to demonstrate the accuracy and superiority of the beam theory and the finite beam elements developed by this study,numerical solutions are presented and compared with the results obtained by other researchers and the detailed threedimensional analysis results using the shell elements of ABAQUS. Especially, the influences of the modulus ratio and the simplified assumptions in stress-strain relations on the deflection, twisting angle, and critical buckling loads of composite box beams are investigated.

Screw theoretic view on dynamics of spatially compliant beam

Beams with spatial compliance can be deformed as bending in a plane, twisting, and extending. In terms of the screw theory on rigid body motions, the concept of ＂deflection screw＂ is introduced, a spatial compliant beam theory via the deflection screw is proposed, and the spatial compliance of such a beam system is presented and analysed based on the material theory and fundamental kinematic assumptions. To study the dynamics of the spatially compliant beam, the potential energy and the kinetic energy of the beam are discussed by using the screw theory to obtain the Lagrangian. The Rayleigh-Ritz method is used to compute the vibrational frequencies based on discussions of boundary conditions and shape functions. The eigenfrequencies of the beam with spatial compliance are compared with those of individual deformation cases, pure bending, extension, or torsion. Finally, dynamics of a robot with two spatial compliant links and perpendicular joints is studied using the spatial compliant beam theory. Coupling between the joint rigid body motions and the deformations of spatial compliant links can easily be found in dynamic simulation. The study shows the effectiveness of using the screw theory to deal with the problems of dynamic modeling and analysis of mechanisms with spatially compliant links.

Generation of Mathieu beams using angular pupil modulation

By using an amplitude-type spatial light modulator to load angular spectrum of Mathieu function distribution along a narrow annular pupils, the Durnin’s experimental setup is extended to generate various types of Mathieu beams. As a special type of Mathieu beams, Bessel beams are also generated using this optical setup. Furthermore, the optical morphology of the Mathieu beams family are also presented and analyzed.

Reflectionless spatial beam benders with arbitrary bending angle by introducing optic-null medium into transformation optics

By introducing an optic-null medium into the finite embedded transformation,a reflectionless spatial beam bender is designed,which can steer the output beam by a fixed pre-designed angleβfor an arbitrary incident angle.The bending angleβof the beam bender is determined by the geometrical angle of the device,which can be changed by simply choosing different geometrical angles.For various bending angles,the designed spatial beam bender can be realized by the same materials(i.e.,an optic-null medium),which is a homogenous anisotropic material.Numerical simulations verify the reflectionless bending effect and rotated imaging ability of the proposed beam bender.A reduction model of the optic-null medium is studied,which can also be used for a reflectionless spatial beam bender with a pre-designed bending angle.

A nonlinear explicit dynamic GBT formulation for modeling impact response of thin-walled steel members

A nonlinear explicit dynamic finite element formulation based on the generalized beam theory(GBT)is proposed and developed to simulate the dynamic responses of prismatic thin-walled steel members under transverse impulsive loads.Considering the rate strengthening and thermal softening effects on member impact behavior,a modified Cowper-Symonds model for constructional steels is utilized.The element displacement field is built upon the superposition of GBT cross-section deformation modes,so arbitrary deformations such as cross-section distortions,local buckling and warping shear can all be involved by the proposed model.The amplitude function of each cross-section deformation mode is approximated by the cubic non-uniform B-spline basis functions.The Kirchhoff s thin-plate assumption is utilized in the construction of the bending related displacements.The Green-Lagrange strain tensor and the second Piola-Kirchhoff(PK2)stress tensor are employed to measure deformations and stresses at any material point,where stresses are assumed to be in plane-stress state.In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed GBT model,three numerical cases involving impulsive loading of the thin-walled parts are given.The GBT results are compared with those of the Ls-Dyna shell finite element.It is shown that the proposed model and the shell finite element analysis has equivalent accuracy in displacement and stress.Moreover,the proposed model is much more computationally efficient and structurally clearer than the shell finite elements.

Far-zone behaviors of scattering-induced statistical properties of partially polarized spatially and spectrally partially coherent electromagnetic pulsed beam

In this study, we explore the far-zero behaviors of a scattered partially polarized spatially and spectrally partially coherent electromagnetic pulsed beam irradiating on a deterministic medium. The analytical formula for the cross-spectral density matrix elements of this beam in the spherical coordinate system is derived. Within the framework of the first-order Born approximation, the effects of the scattering angle θ, the source parameters (i.e., the pulse duration T0 and the temporal coherence length Tcxx), and the scatterer parameter (i.e., the effective width of the medium σR) on the spectral density, the spectral shift, the spectral degree of polarization, and the degree of spectral coherence of the scattered source in the far-zero field are studied numerically and comparatively. Our work improves the scattering theory of stochastic electromagnetic beams and it may be useful for the applications involving the interaction between incident light waves and scattering media.

Internal Vibration and Synchronization of Four Coupled Self-Excited Elastic Beams

The vibration behavior and the synchronization between some internal points of four coupled self-excited beams are numerically studied. Coupling through the root of the beams is considered. The transverse displacements of the internal points and the beam tips are monitored, and the power spectra of the resulting time series are employed to determine the oscillation frequencies. The synchronization between beams is analyzed using phase portraits and correlation coefficients. Numerical results show multiple frequencies in the vibration pattern, and complex patterns of synchronization between pairs of beams.

Effect of multiple coulomb scattering on the beam tests of silicon pixel detectors

In the research and development of new silicon pixel detectors,a collimated monoenergetic charged-particle test beam equipped with a high-resolution pixel-beam telescope is crucial for prototype verification and performance evaluation.When the beam energy is low,the effect of multiple Coulomb scattering on the measured resolution of the Device Under Test(DUT)must be considered to accurately evaluate the performance of the pixel chips and detectors.This study aimed to investigate the effect of multiple Coulomb scattering on the measured resolution,particularly at low beam energies.Simulations were conducted using Allpix^(2) to study the effects of multiple Coulomb scattering under different beam energies,material budgets,and telescope layouts.The simulations also provided the minimum energy at which the effect of multiple Coulomb scattering could be ignored.Compared with the results of a five-layer detector system tested with an electron beam at DESY,the simulation results were consistent with the beam test results,confirming the reliability of the simulations.

Spatial Correlation Characteristics Analysis of Multi-Beam Channels of Mobile Satellite System

Due to the influence of scatterers around the receiving antenna, the multipath signal in satellite mobile communication systems is correlated with each other which would influence the system performance. There is no systematic standard on the channel modelling of the wideband satellite channel at present, so the study of the modelling of the wideband satellite channel is of great importance. In this paper, firstly we created a multi-beam model which can figure out the antenna gain of the nth component beam. Secondly, we combined the characteristics of multi-beam satellite channel and the distribution of the scatterers, and set up a three-dimension random channel model. This model is more realistic for satellite communication system since it considers the height of scatterers. According to the channel models, we had the formula of spatial correlation coefficient. We used the formula to calculate the relationship between spatial correlation coefficient and the interval of antennas. The result shows that the spatial correlation exists and cannot be ignored while modeling for mobile satellite system.

Evolution on spatial patterns of structured laser beams:from spontaneous organization to multiple transformations

Spatial patterns are a significant characteristic of lasers.The knowledge of spatial patterns of structured laser beams is rapidly expanding,along with the progress of studies on laser physics and technology.Particularly in the last decades,owing to the in-depth attention on structured light with multiple degrees of freedom,the research on spatial and spatiotemporal structures of laser beams has been promptly developed.Such beams have hatched various breakthroughs in many fields,including imaging,microscopy,metrology,communication,optical trapping,and quantum information processing.Here,we would like to provide an overview of the extensive research on several areas relevant to spatial patterns of structured laser beams,from spontaneous organization to multiple transformations.These include the early theory of beam pattern formation based on the Maxwell–Bloch equations,the recent eigenmodes superposition theory based on the time-averaged Helmholtz equations,the beam patterns extension of ultrafast lasers to the spatiotemporal beam structures,and the structural transformations in the nonlinear frequency conversion process of structured beams.