A Deep Learning Approach to Shape Optimization Problems for Flexoelectric Materials Using the Isogeometric Finite Element Method

A new approach for flexoelectricmaterial shape optimization is proposed in this study.In this work,a proxymodel based on artificial neural network(ANN)is used to solve the parameter optimization and shape optimization problems.To improve the fitting ability of the neural network,we use the idea of pre-training to determine the structure of the neural network and combine different optimizers for training.The isogeometric analysis-finite element method(IGA-FEM)is used to discretize the flexural theoretical formulas and obtain samples,which helps ANN to build a proxy model from the model shape to the target value.The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through two numerical examples of parameter optimization and one numerical example of shape optimization.

OPTIMIZATION OF AUTOBODY PANEL STAMPING PROCESS BASED ON DYNAMIC EXPLICIT FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Taking CPU time cost and analysis accuracy into account, dynamic explicit finite ele- ment method is adopted to optimize the forming process of autobody panels that often have large sizes and complex geometry. In this paper, for the sake of illustrating in detail how dynamic explicit finite element method is applied to the numerical simulation of the autobody panel forming process,an example of optimization of stamping process pain meters of an inner door panel is presented. Using dynamic explicit finite element code Ls-DYNA3D, the inner door panel has been optimized by adapting pa- rameters such as the initial blank geometry and position, blank-holder forces and the location of drawbeads, and satisfied results are obtained.

A Cell-Based Linear Smoothed Finite Element Method for Polygonal Topology Optimization

The aim of this work is to employ a modified cell-based smoothed finite element method(S-FEM)for topology optimization with the domain discretized with arbitrary polygons.In the present work,the linear polynomial basis function is used as the weight function instead of the constant weight function used in the standard S-FEM.This improves the accuracy and yields an optimal convergence rate.The gradients are smoothed over each smoothing domain,then used to compute the stiffness matrix.Within the proposed scheme,an optimum topology procedure is conducted over the smoothing domains.Structural materials are distributed over each smoothing domain and the filtering scheme relies on the smoothing domain.Numerical tests are carried out to pursue the performance of the proposed optimization by comparing convergence,efficiency and accuracy.

SHAPE OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF CRUSH TOOTH USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

The load condition of the mineral sizer is discussed. Acoording to three typical load cases presented, FEM and optimization models are established. Computed the model problems by use of ANSYS software and sequential unconstrained minimization technique, the stress distribution on c rush tooth and it's optimal shape are aquired. After analyzing the results, the relation between stress distribution and structural parameters is presented.

Finite Element Analysis and Structural Optimization of a Vibration Feeder Based on ANSYS

Based on ANSYS software, a finite element model is built for the fatigue break of a vibration feeder influenced by an exciting force alternate load. We first study the harmonic response of the feeder and discovers the weak links which is an angle steel junction of side plate, feed inlet and the junction panel between the no-feed side plate and the bottom plate. Then, we carry out structural optimization. A streamlined method for optimum design of a vibration feeder is presented.

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.

A Simple and Efficient Structural Topology Optimization Implementation Using Open-Source Software for All Steps of the Algorithm:Modeling, Sensitivity Analysis and Optimization

This work analyzes the implementation of a continuous method of structural topology optimization(STO)using open-source software for all stages of the topology optimization problem:modeling,sensitivity analysis and optimization.Its implementation involves three main components:numerical analysis using the Finite Element Method(FEM),sensitivity analysis using an Adjoint method and an optimization solver.In order to allow the automated numerical solution of Partial Differential Equations(PDEs)and perform a sensitivity analysis,FEniCS and Dolfin Adjoint software are used as tools,which are open-source code.For the optimization process,Ipopt(Interior Point OPTimizer)is used,which is a software package for nonlinear optimization scale designed to find(local)solutions of mathematical optimization problems.The topological optimization method used is based on the SIMP-Solid IsotropicMaterial with Penalization interpolation.The considered problem is the minimization of compliance/maximization of stiffness,considering the examples of recurrent structures in the literature in 2D and 3D.A density filtering algorithm based on Helmholtz formulation is used.The complete code involves 51 lines of programming and is presented and commented in detail in this article.

Topology Optimization of Sound-Absorbing Materials for Two-Dimensional Acoustic Problems Using Isogeometric Boundary Element Method

In this work,an acoustic topology optimizationmethod for structural surface design covered by porous materials is proposed.The analysis of acoustic problems is performed using the isogeometric boundary elementmethod.Taking the element density of porousmaterials as the design variable,the volume of porousmaterials as the constraint,and the minimum sound pressure or maximum scattered sound power as the design goal,the topology optimization is carried out by solid isotropic material with penalization(SIMP)method.To get a limpid 0–1 distribution,a smoothing Heaviside-like function is proposed.To obtain the gradient value of the objective function,a sensitivity analysis method based on the adjoint variable method(AVM)is proposed.To find the optimal solution,the optimization problems are solved by the method of moving asymptotes(MMA)based on gradient information.Numerical examples verify the effectiveness of the proposed topology optimization method in the optimization process of two-dimensional acoustic problems.Furthermore,the optimal distribution of sound-absorbingmaterials is highly frequency-dependent and usually needs to be performed within a frequency band.

A symplectic finite element method based on Galerkin discretization for solving linear systems

We propose a novel symplectic finite element method to solve the structural dynamic responses of linear elastic systems.For the dynamic responses of continuous medium structures,the traditional numerical algorithm is the dissipative algorithm and cannot maintain long-term energy conservation.Thus,a symplectic finite element method with energy conservation is constructed in this paper.A linear elastic system can be discretized into multiple elements,and a Hamiltonian system of each element can be constructed.The single element is discretized by the Galerkin method,and then the Hamiltonian system is constructed into the Birkhoffian system.Finally,all the elements are combined to obtain the vibration equation of the continuous system and solved by the symplectic difference scheme.Through the numerical experiments of the vibration response of the Bernoulli-Euler beam and composite plate,it is found that the vibration response solution and energy obtained with the algorithm are superior to those of the Runge-Kutta algorithm.The results show that the symplectic finite element method can keep energy conservation for a long time and has higher stability in solving the dynamic responses of linear elastic systems.

Structural Integrity Analysis of Containers Lost at Sea Using Finite Element Method

Unlike traditional transportation,container transportation is a relatively new logistics transportation mode.Shipping containers lost at sea have raised safety concerns.In this study,finite element analysis of containers subjected to hydrostatic pressure,using commercial software ANSYS APDL was performed.A computer model that can reasonably predict the state of an ISO cargo shipping container was developed.The von Mises stress distribution of the container was determined and the yield strength was adopted as the failure criterion.Numerical investigations showed that the conventional ship container cannot withstand hydrostatic pressure in deep water conditions.A strengthened container option was considered for the container to retain its structural integrity in water conditions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finite Element Analysis for the Structure Optimization Design of the CPUE Load-Bearing Wheel of Tracked Vehicle

A new kind of material cast polyurethane elastomers (CPUE) is introduced to take the place of rubber on load bearing wheel for the first time. Based on load bearing wheel dimensions, material properties and operating conditions, the structure of wheel flange is optimized by zero order finite element method. A detailed three dimensional finite element model of flange of load bearing wheel is developed and utilized to optimize structure of wheel flange. Its service life, which is affected by flange structure parameter, is analyzed by comparing the optimization results with those of prototype of wheel. The results of optimization are presented and the stress field of load bearing wheel in optimal dimension obtained by using finite element analysis method is demonstrated. The finite element analysis and optimization results show that the CPUE load bearing wheel is feasible and suitable for the tracked vehicle and has a guiding value in practice of the weighting design of the whole tracked vehicle.

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.

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.

THE SATELLITE STRUCTURE TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION BASED ON HOMOGENIZATION METHOD AND ITS SIZE SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

With the development of satellite structure technology, more and more design parameters will affect its structural performance. It is desirable to obtain an optimal structure design with a minimum weight, including optimal configuration and sizes. The present paper aims to describe an optimization analysis for a satellite structure, including topology optimization and size optimization. Based on the homogenization method, the topology optimization is carried out for the main supporting frame of service module under given constraints and load conditions, and then the sensitivity analysis is made of 15 structural size parameters of the whole satellite and the optimal sizes are obtained. The numerical result shows that the present optimization design method is very effective.