The New Application of Multilevel Method of Moments in Analysis of Wire-Antenna Arrays

This paper introduces the principle of the multi-level method of moments (MoM) and its application in the analysis of the wire-antenna arrays. The multi-level MoM broadens the usage of the iterative methods in the MoM. Our numerical results show that when applying it to the wire-antenna array analysis with the consideration of the mutual coupling between elements, it can allow a rapid and accurate evaluation of the current distribution on the antennas, and the computational cost is less, especially when the number of antennas is large.

A WEIGHTED RESIDUAL METHOD FOR ELASTIC-PLASTIC ANALYSIS NEAR A CRACK TIP AND THE CALCULATION OF THE PLASTIC STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS

In this paper, a weighted residual method for the elastic-plastic analysis near a crack tip is systematically given by taking the model of power-law hardening under plane strain condition as a sample. The elastic-plastic solutions of the crack lip field and an approach based on the superposition of the nonlinear finite element method on the complete solution in the whole crack body field, to calculate the plastic stress intensity factors, are also developed. Therefore, a complete analvsis based on the calculation both for the crack tip field and for the whole crack body field is provided.

The Quality Specifications of Mischmetal Wire and Rod and the Method of Adding Rare Earth in Steel

The quality of mischmetal wire and rod and the method of adding rare earth into steel are quite important for making high quality steel. This paper proposes a quality specification of wire and rod as well as related adding method. The paper also provides principles for selecting raw material and adding method.

Study of Hygrothermal Behavior of Bio-Sourced Material Treated Ecologically for Improving Thermal Performance of Buildings

Creating sustainable cities is the only way to live in a clean environment,and this problem can be solved by using bio-sourced and recycled materials.For this purpose,the authors contribute to the valuation of sheep wool waste as an eco-friendly material to be used in insulation.The paper investigates the thermal,hygrothermal,and biological aspects of sheep wool by testing a traditional treatment.The biological method of aerobic mesophilicflora has been applied.Fluorescence X was used to determine the chemical composition of the materials used.Also,thermal characterization has been conducted.The thermal conductivity is above 0.046(W·m^(-1)·K^(-1))and the thermal diffusivity is 1.56.10^(-6) m^(2)·s^(-1).Besides,the energy efficiency of using sheep wool in buildings was studied.Furthermore,its humidity behavior was evaluated in different aspects in both winter and summer.Results of biological analyses show the efficiency of the treatment by removing the majority of the microorgan-isms:the value of yeast and mildew was reduced from 38.10^(2) to 2.10^(2)(UFC·g^(-1)).In addition to that,sheep wool permits obtaining a low thermal transmittance on the scale of the walls and low cooling needs on the scale of the building with a gain of 45%and 52%,respectively.

Simulation of faceted dendrite growth of non-isothermal alloy in forced flow by phase field method

Numerical simulation based on a new regularized phase field model was presented to simulate the dendritic shape of a non-isothermal alloy with strong anisotropy in a forced flow. The simulation results show that a crystal nucleus grows into a symmetric dendrite in a free flow and into an asymmetry dendrite in a forced flow. As the forced flow velocity is increased, both of the promoting effect on the upstream arm and the inhibiting effects on the downstream and perpendicular arms are intensified, and the perpendicular arm tilts to the upstream direction. With increasing the anisotropy value to 0.14, all of the dendrite arms tip velocities are gradually stabilized and finally reach their relative saturation values. In addition, the effects of an undercooling parameter and a forced compound flow on the faceted dendrite growth were also investigated.

Computation of the Strand Resistance Using the Core Wire Strain Measurement

This paper proposes a method enabling to compute the prestressing strand resistance using the strain measured on only one core wire. Numerical analysis is conducted considering the pitch length of the strand and the diameters of the core wire and helical wires as parameters. The results verify that the relation between the stresses of the core wire and helical wires can be expressed in terms of the helical angle. Based on this observation, a formula computing directly the prestress force in the strand from the strain measured in the core wire is suggested. Owing to the recently developed measurement method for the core wire strain, the proposed formula can be exploited to determine the prestress of the strand.

Dynamic modeling of ultra-precision fly cutting machine tool and the effect of ambient vibration on its tool tip response

The dynamic performances of an ultra-precision fly cutting machine tool(UFCMT)has a dramatic impact on the quality of ultra-precision machining.In this study,the dynamic model of an UFCMT was established based on the transfer matrix method for multibody systems.In particular,the large-span scale flow field mesh model was created;and the variation in linear and angular stiffness of journal and thrust bearings with respect to film thickness was investigated by adopting the dynamic mesh technique.The dynamic model was proven to be valid by comparing the dynamic characteristics of the machine tool obtained by numerical simulation with the experimental results.In addition,the power spectrum density estimation method was adopted to simulate the statistical ambient vibration excitation by processing the ambient vibration signal measured over a long period of time.Applying it to the dynamic model,the dynamic response of the tool tip under ambient vibration was investigated.The results elucidated that the tool tip response was significantly affected by ambient vibration,and the isolation foundation had a good effect on vibration isolation.

Ultra-Wideband Design of the Wire Conical Antenna

Using the wire construction technique, a conical monopole antenna is fabricated. With the method of moments, the dependences of the voltage standing wave ratio （VSWR） on the number of the trapezoid wire elements, conical angles, wire radius, etc. are investigated. The calculation and the experiment show that the designed wire conical antenna has the ultra-wideband property and can be used for the engineering.

Microstructures and wear resistance of high boron and low carbon ferroalloy using hybrid powder/wire overlaying method

The high boron alloy surfacing layer was easily cracked due to its insufficient toughness by using hybrid powder/ wire overlaying method. In order to explore the cracked mechanism, the microstructures and the wear resistance of the samples with different boron contents were studied. Further, phases analysis, microhardness, macrohardness and wear test were also carried out. The boron content depended microstructures were observed. The precipitation of the Fe2B, Fe3 （ C, B）, Fe23 （C, B）6 were increased with the increase of boron content. It was found that the wear resistance was independent of the macrohardness as the macrohardness increased firstly and then remained steady at -62 HRC. However, the wear resistance was depended on the boron contents, and which increased with the increase of the boron contents. The abrasive loss mechanism changed from plastic deformation removal to fracture removal.

Modeling asymmetric fracture mechanics of Mg alloy wire in drawing process

In this study,a numerical analysis was conducted on the ductile fracture of a 2-mm diameter Mg-1Zn-0.5Mn-0.5Sr-0.1Ca alloy wire during drawing.The hexagonally close-packed crystal structure of Mg alloys causes asymmetric fracture behavior,especially in the compression region.The aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive damage model for Mg alloy wire that accurately predicts ductile fracture,with a focus on the compression region.A novel experimental method was introduced to measure the ductile fracture of Mg alloy wires under different stress states.The wire drawing process was simulated using the Generalized Incremental Stress-State dependent damage(GISSMO)Model and the Semi-Analytical Model for Polymers(SAMP)model.The damage model's prediction and the experimental results were found to be in excellent agreement,especially in determining crack initiation.Computational analysis established a safe zone diagram for die angle and reduction ratio,and experimental validation confirmed the feasibility of this approach.The proposed damage model can provide a practical and reliable analysis for optimizing the drawing process of Mg alloy wire.

Optimisation Method for Determination of Crack Tip Position Based on Gauss-Newton Iterative Technique

In the digital image correlation research of fatigue crack growth rate,the accuracy of the crack tip position determines the accuracy of the calculation of the stress intensity factor,thereby affecting the life prediction.This paper proposes a Gauss-Newton iteration method for solving the crack tip position.The conventional linear fitting method provides an iterative initial solution for this method,and the preconditioned conjugate gradient method is used to solve the ill-conditioned matrix.A noise-added artificial displacement field is used to verify the feasibility of the method,which shows that all parameters can be solved with satisfactory results.The actual stress intensity factor solution case shows that the stress intensity factor value obtained by the method in this paper is very close to the finite element result,and the relative error between the two is only−0.621%;The Williams coefficient obtained by this method can also better define the contour of the plastic zone at the crack tip,and the maximum relative error with the test plastic zone area is−11.29%.The relative error between the contour of the plastic zone defined by the conventional method and the area of the experimental plastic zone reached a maximum of 26.05%.The crack tip coordinates,stress intensity factors,and plastic zone contour changes in the loading and unloading phases are explored.The results show that the crack tip change during the loading process is faster than the change during the unloading process;the stress intensity factor during the unloading process under the same load condition is larger than that during the loading process;under the same load,the theoretical plastic zone during the unloading process is higher than that during the loading process.

DETERMINATION OF THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY FOR PARTICULATE MATERIALS

A modified hot wire method was applied to measure the thermal conductivity of different kinds of parti culate materials. With a cylindrical device, a heating rod and two thermocouples, the measurement can be finished within several minutes. Compared with the reference data, the results obtained from the measurements were quite reasonable.

Processing limit maps for the stable deformation of dieless drawing

Tin bronze wires were produced by dieless drawing. The effects of heating power, the distance between cooler and heater as well as feeding speed on the diameter, the temperature field, and the deformation region profile of the wires were investigated. The results indi-cated that each processing parameter exhibited both lower and upper limits of stable deformation based on the criterion of stable deformation with the diameter fluctuation of ±0.05 mm. Both the temperature and its gradient of the deformation region increased with increasing heating power under stable deformation, but decreased with an increase in feeding speed. As the distance between cooler and heater increased, the temperature of the deformation region increased and the slope of the deformation region profile decreased. The processing limit map of sta-ble deformation exhibited a closed curve and the unstable deformation consisted of wire breakage and diameter fluctuations.

ON J-INTEGRALS IN THE PLANE FRACTURE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

By using a complex function method in this paper, the complex form of J-integral of mixed mode crack tip for unidirectional plate of linear-elastic orthotropic composites is obtained first by substituting crack tip stresses and displacements into general formula of J-integral. And then, the path-independence of this J-integral is proved. Finally, the computing formula of this J-integral is derived. As special examples, the complex forms, path-independence and computing formulae of J-integrals of mode I and mode II crack tips for unidirectional plate of linear-elastic orthotropic composites are given.

SPECIAL HIGH-ORDER BENDING CRACK TIP FINITE ELEMENT FOR THE REISSNER PLATE

Based on the crack tip field expansion of the Reissner plate, a special high order bending crack tip element is developed, and the element stiffness matrix is given in the explicit form, which is especially convenient for engineering analyses. A numerical example is presented and compared with previous results to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the special element.

Simulation of Temperature and Flow Field by Three Dimension Finite ElementMethod for Castex Process of AS Wire

Castex of AS wire is a new technology of near net shape. To study the variation of temperature and velocity of liquid (or semisolid) aluminum during dynamic solidification the numerical simulation was carried out with the theory of heat-transfer and hydrodynamics by means of 3-dimensional finite element method. From simulation results, it is found that the variation of temperature and velocityis mainly influenced by the casting temperature of aluminum, rotating speed of Castex wheel and flow of cooling water. Among theseinfluencing factors, the casting temperature distributes most to the length of liquid phase metal. Moreover, the faster the metal solidifies,the higher the metal there moves with the overall trend of descending from the bottom of the wheel to the shoe wall as well as from sidewalls to the center of wheel groove. In comparison with the practical value, the simulation is reliable.

Numerical simulation for isothermal dendritic growth of succinonitrile-acetone alloy

Numerical simulation based on phase field method was developed to describe the solidification of two-dimensional isothermal binary alloys. The evolution of the interface morphology was shown and the effects of phase field parameters were formulated for succinonitrile-acetone alloy. The results indicate that an anti-trapping current(ATC) can suppress many trapped molten packets, which is caused by the thickened interface. With increasing the anisotropy value from 0 to 0.05, a small circular seed grows to develope secondary dendritic, dendritic tip velocity increases monotonically, and the solute accumulation of solid/liquid interface is diminished distinctly. Furthermore, with the increase of the coupling parameter value, the interface becomes unstable and the side branches of crystals appear and grow gradually.

Phase field method simulation of faceted dendrite growth with arbitrary symmetries

A numerical simulation based on a regularized phase field model is developed to describe faceted dendrite growth morphology. The effects of mesh grid, anisotropy, supersaturation and fold symmetry on dendrite growth morphology were investigated, respectively. These results indicate that the nucleus grows into a hexagonal symmetry faceted dendrite. When the mesh grid is above 640×640, the size has no much effect on the shape. With the increase in the anisotropy value, the tip velocities of faceted dendrite increase and reach a balance value, and then decrease gradually. With the increase in the supersaturation value, crystal evolves from circle to the developed faceted dendrite morphology. Based on the Wulff theory and faceted symmetry morphology diagram, the proposed model was proved to be effective, and it can be generalized to arbitrary crystal symmetries.

ANALYSIS OF STRESS FIELD NEAR CRACK TIP BASED ON ELECTRIC SATURATION MODEL

Within the framework of nonlinear eleetroelasticity, the stress field near to the crack tip in an infinite piezoelectric media subject to a far field uniform loading is studied by using an electrical strip saturation model and the complex variable method. And the emphasis is placed on the stress field near to the crack tip. The obtained solutions show that the normalized stress components at an arbitrary point near to the crack tip are determined by the angle of the point. Moreover, the stress components are independent of the distance from the point to the ori- gin of the coordinate. The distributions of in-plane stress components near to the crack tip are analyzed based on numerical results for PZT-SH. Compared with some related solutions, results show that the solutions are valid.

Friction Characteristics of Nanoscale Sliding Contacts between Multi-Asperity Tips and Textured Surfaces

Nanoscale sliding contacts of smooth surfaces or between a single asperity and a smooth surface have been widely investigated by molecular dynamics simulations, while there are few studies on the sliding contacts between two rough surfaces. Actually, the friction of two rough surfaces considering interactions between more asperities should be more realistic. By using multiscale method, friction characteristics of two dimensional nanoscale sliding contacts between rigid multi-asperity tips and elastic textured surfaces are investigated. Four nanoscale textured surfaces with different texture shapes are designed, and six multi-asperity tips composed of cylindrical asperities with different radii are used to slide on the textured surfaces. Friction forces are compared for different tips, and effects of the asperity radii on the friction characteristics are investigated. Average friction forces for all the cases are listed and compared, and effects of texture shapes of the textured surfaces are discussed. The results show that textured surface II has a better structure to reduce friction forces. The multi-asperity tips composed of asperities with R=20r0 （r0=0.227 7 nm） or R=30r0 get higher friction forces compared with other cases, and more atoms of the textured surfaces are taken away by these two tips, which are harmful to reduce friction or wear. For the case of R=10ro, friction forces are also high due to large contact areas, but the sliding processes are stable and few atoms are taken away by the tip. The proposed research considers interactions between more asperities to make the model approach to the real sliding contact problems. The results will help to vary or even control friction characteristics by textured surfaces, or provide references to the design of textured surfaces.