Transient thermo-mechanical analysis for bimorph soft robot based on thermally responsive liquid crystal elastomers

Thermally responsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) hold great promise in applications of soft robots and actuators because of the induced size and shape change with temperature. Experiments have successfully demonstrated that the LCE based bimorphs can be effective soft robots once integrated with soft sensors and thermal actuators. Here, we present an analytical transient thermo-mechanical model for a bimorph structure based soft robot, which consists of a strip of LCE and a thermal inert polymer actuated by an ultra-thin stretchable open-mesh shaped heater to mimic the unique locomotion behaviors of an inchworm. The coupled mechanical and thermal analysis based on the thermo-mechanical theory is carried out to underpin the transient bending behavior, and a systematic understanding is therefore achieved. The key analytical results reveal that the thickness and the modulus ratio of the LCE and the inert polymer layer dominate the transient bending deformation. The analytical results will not only render fundamental understanding of the actuation of bimorph structures, but also facilitate the rational design of soft robotics.

Well interference evaluation considering complex fracture networks through pressure and rate transient analysis in unconventional reservoirs

Severe well interference through complex fracture networks(CFNs)can be observed among multi-well pads in low permeability reservoirs.The well interference analysis between multi-fractured horizontal wells(MFHWs)is vitally important for reservoir effective development.Well interference has been historically investigated by pressure transient analysis,while it has shown that rate transient analysis has great potential in well interference diagnosis.However,the impact of complex fracture networks(CFNs)on rate transient behavior of parent well and child well in unconventional reservoirs is still not clear.To further investigate,this paper develops an integrated approach combining pressure and rate transient analysis for well interference diagnosis considering CFNs.To perform multi-well simulation considering CFNs,non-intrusive embedded discrete fracture model approach was applied for coupling fracture with reservoir models.The impact of CFN including natural fractures and frac-hits on pressure and rate transient behavior in multi-well system was investigated.On a logelog plot,interference flow and compound linear flow are two new flow regimes caused by nearby producers.When both NFs and frac-hits are present in the reservoir,frac-hits have a greater impact on well#1 which contains frac-hits,and NFs have greater impact on well#3 which does not have frac-hits.For all well producing circumstances,it might be challenging to see divergence during pseudosteady state flow brought on by frac-hits on the logelog plot.Besides,when NFs occur,reservoir depletion becomes noticeable in comparison to frac-hits in pressure distribution.Application of this integrated approach demonstrates that it works well to characterize the well interference among different multi-fractured horizontal wells in a well pad.Better reservoir evaluation can be acquired based on the new features observed in the novel model,demonstrating the practicability of the proposed approach.The findings of this study can help for better evaluating well interference degree in multi-well systems combing PTA and RTA,which can reduce the uncertainty and improve the accuracy of the well interference analysis based on both field pressure and rate data.

Spudcan Penetration Simulation Using the Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Method with Thermo-Mechanical Coupled Analysis

A novel modeling technique based on the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian(CEL) method is provided to solve the geotechnical problems with large deformations. The technique is intended to solve the update problem of soil mechanical properties during spudcan penetration in normally consolidated clay soil. In the CEL model, the normal method of assigning an increasing shear strength profile with depth(NA) is defective due to its Eulerian framework. In this paper, a new technique is proposed to update soil material properties by introducing thermo-mechanical coupled analysis(TMCA) to the CEL models. During establishment of the CEL models, the optimal penetration velocity and minimum mesh size are determined through parametric studies. Reasonability and accuracy are then verified through comparison of the preliminary results with the soil flow configuration and penetration resistance(Fv) of a centrifuge test, and the results of the proposed method are compared with those of the remeshing and interpolation technique with small strain(RITSS) method. To achieve a CEL model with satisfactory accuracy, the NA and TMCA methods implemented in the CEL models and the RITSS method are first adopted in weightless soil. Comparison of the findings with those obtained in previous studies shows that the TMCA method can update material properties and predict Fv. The TMCA method is then applied to soils with self-weight and different shear strength profiles. Results show that the proposed method is capable of accurately modeling the large deformation problem of spudcan penetration in non-homogeneous clay.

Multiscale Nonlinear Thermo-Mechanical Coupling Analysis of Composite Structures with Quasi-Periodic Properties

This paper reports a multiscale analysis method to predict the thermomechanical coupling performance of composite structures with quasi-periodic properties.In these material structures,the configurations are periodic,and the material coefficients are quasi-periodic,i.e.,they depend not only on the microscale information but also on the macro location.Also,a mutual interaction between displacement and temperature fields is considered in the problem,which is our particular interest in this study.The multiscale asymptotic expansions of the temperature and displacement fields are constructed and associated error estimation in nearly pointwise sense is presented.Then,a finite element-difference algorithm based on the multiscale analysis method is brought forward in detail.Finally,some numerical examples are given.And the numerical results show that the multiscale method presented in this paper is effective and reliable to study the nonlinear thermo-mechanical coupling problem of composite structures with quasiperiodic properties.

Design and Coupled Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Silicon Carbide Primary Mirror Assembly

Based on the principle that the thermal expansion coefficient of the support structure should match that of the mirror, three schemes of primary mirror assembly were designed. Of them, the first is fused silica mirror plus 4J32 flexible support plus ZTC4 support back plate, the second K9 mirror plus 4J45 flexible support plus ZTC4 support back plate, and the third SiC mirror plus SiC rigid support back plate. A coupled thermo-mechanical analysis of the three primary mirror assemblies was made with finite element method. The results show that the SiC assembly is the best of all schemes in terms of their combination properties due to its elimination of the thermal expansion mismatch between the materials. The analytical results on the cryogenic property of the SiC primary mirror assembly show a higher surface finish of the SiC mirror even under the cryogenic condition.

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.

Transient Temperature Analysis for Industrial AC Arc Furnace Bottom

Heat losses from the furnaces depend on the design and size. The surface heat loss from the bottom of an industrial AC electric arc furnace (EAF) possesses an important fraction of overall losses. So in this study the transient temperature variation at the bottom of the EAF was investigated. The transient temperature analysis was carried out using MATLAB computer program. T=T(r, t) for different bottom lining layers was depicted.

Transient thermal analysis as measurement method for IC package structural integrity

Practices of IC package reliability testing are reviewed briefly, and the application of transient thermal analysis is examined in great depth. For the design of light sources based on light emitting diode （LED） efficient and accurate reliability testing is required to realize the potential lifetimes of 105 h. Transient thermal analysis is a standard method to determine the transient thermal impedance of semiconductor devices, e.g. power electronics and LEDs. The temperature of the semiconductor junctions is assessed by time-resolved measurement of their forward voltage （Vf）. The thermal path in the IC package is resolved by the transient technique in the time domain. This enables analyzing the structural integrity of the semiconductor package. However, to evaluate thermal resistance, one must also measure the dissipated energy of the device （i.e., the thermal load） and the k-factor. This is time consuming, and measurement errors reduce the accuracy. To overcome these limitations, an innovative approach, the relative thermal resistance method, was developed to reduce the measurement effort, increase accuracy and enable automatic data evaluation. This new way of evaluating data simplifies the thermal transient analysis by eliminating measurement of the k-factor and thermal load, i.e. measurement of the lumen flux for LEDs, by normalizing the transient Vf data. This is especially advantageous for reliability testing where changes in the thermal path, like cracks and delaminations, can be determined without measuring the k-factor and thermal load. Different failure modes can be separated in the time domain. The sensitivity of the method is demonstrated by its application to high- power white InGaN LEDs. For detailed analysis and identification of the failure mode of the LED packages, the transient signals are simulated by time-resolved finite element （FE） simulations. Using the new approach, the transient thermal analysis is enhanced to a powerful tool for reliability investigation of semiconductor packages in accelerated lifetime tests and for inline inspection. This enables automatic data analysis of the transient thermal data required for processing a large amount of data in production and reliability testing. Based on the method, the integrity of LED packages can be tested by inline, outgoing inspection and the lifetime prediction of the products is improved.

A review of pressure transient analysis in reservoirs with natural fractures,vugs and/or caves

A review of the pressure transient analysis of flow in reservoirs having natural fractures,vugs and/or caves is presented to provide an insight into how much knowledge has been acquired about this phenomenon and to highlight the gaps still open for further research.A comparison-based approach is adopted which involved the review of works by several authors and identifying the limiting assumptions,model restrictions and applicability.Pressure transient analysis provides information to aid the identification of important features of reservoirs.It also provides an explanation to complex reservoir pressuredependent variations which have led to improved understanding and optimization of the reservoir dynamics.Pressure transient analysis techniques,however,have limitations as not all its models find application in naturally fractured and vuggy reservoirs as the flow dynamics differ considerably.Pollard’s model presented in 1953 provided the foundation for existing pressure transient analysis in these types of reservoirs,and since then,several authors have modified this basic model and come up with more accurate models to characterize the dynamic pressure behavior in reservoirs with natural fractures,vugs and/or caves,with most having inherent limitations.This paper summarizes what has been done,what knowledge is considered established and the gaps left to be researched on.

NEW PERTURBATION TECHNIQUE FOR TRANSIENT ANALYSIS AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN DC-DC PWM SWITCHING POWER CONVERTERS

An improved perturbation technique proposed in a recent paper (Int. J. Electronics, vol. 63, pp.403-414) has been successfully applied to steady-state analysis of PWM switching converters. This paper extends the algorithm to transient analysis of a broader class of non-linear systems. As an example, the transient response of a Boost PWM switching converter is analyzed to demonstrate its simplicity and accuracy.

Transient Stability Analysis of Power System Based on an Improved Neural Network

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Short-duration transient visual evoked potentials and color reflectivity discretization analysis in glaucoma patients and suspects

AIM： To evaluate the use of short-duration transient visual evoked potentials（VEP） and color reflectivity discretization analysis（CORDA） in glaucomatous eyes,eyes suspected of having glaucoma,and healthy eyes.METHODS： The study included 136 eyes from 136 subjects： 49 eyes with glaucoma,45 glaucoma suspect eyes,and 42 healthy eyes.Subjects underwent Humphrey visual field（VF） testing,VEP testing,as well as peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer optical coherence tomography imaging studies with post-acquisition CORDA applied.Statistical analysis was performed using means and ranges,ANOVA,post-hoc comparisons using Turkey＇s adjustment,Fisher＇s Exact test,area under the curve,and Spearman correlation coefficients.RESULTS： Parameters from VEP and CORDA correlated significantly with VF mean deviation（MD）（P〈0.05）.In distinguishing glaucomatous eyes from controls,VEP demonstrated area under the curve（AUC） values of 0.64-0.75 for amplitude and 0.67-0.81 for latency.The CORDA HR1 parameter was highly discriminative for glaucomatous eyes vs controls（AUC=0.94）.CONCLUSION： Significant correlations are found between MD and parameters of short-duration transient VEP and CORDA,diagnostic modalities which warrant further consideration in identifying glaucoma characteristics.

Transient analysis and optimization of passive residual heat removal heat exchanger in advanced nuclear power plant

The transient performance and optimization of a passive residual heat removal heat exchanger(PRHR HX)were investigated.First,a calculation method was developed for predicting the heat transfer of the PRHR HX.The calculation results were validated through comparisons with ROSA experimental data.The heat-transfer performance of the AP1000 PRHR HX in the initial period was predicted,and it satisfied the design requirements.Second,the distributions of the heat flux,tube-inside/outside heattransfer coefficients,and heat load for the AP1000 PRHR HX over 2000 s were examined.Third,an optimization study was conducted by adjusting the horizontal length and tube diameter.Their effects on the four main heat-transfer parameters and the heat-transfer area were analyzed.Furthermore,the influence of the initial in-containment refueling water storage tank(IRWST)temperature was investigated using an established simulation procedure.The results indicated that it significantly affected the trends of the IRWST temperature and reactor outlet temperature.Finally,the minimum required flow rates over time to maintain the reactor outlet temperature at the safety line were determined for different start-up times.The trends of the minimum required flow rate and the peak flow rate were analyzed.

Diagnostic accuracy of transient elastography (Fibro Scan) in detection of esophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis: A meta-analysis

AIM To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of Fibro Scan(FS) in detecting esophageal varices(EV) in cirrhotic patients.METHODS Through a systemic literature search of multiple databases, we reviewed 15 studies using endoscopy as a reference standard, with the data necessary to calculate pooled sensitivity(SEN) and specificity(SPE), positive and negative LR, diagnostic odds ratio(DOR) and area under receiver operating characteristics(AUROC). The quality of the studies was rated by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy studies-2 tool. Clinical utility of FS for EV was evaluated by a Fagan plot. Heterogeneity was explored using meta-regression and subgroup analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted via Stata12.0, MetaD isc1.4 and RevM an5.RESULTS In 15 studies(n = 2697), FS detected the presence of EV with the summary sensitivities of 84%(95%CI: 81.0%-86.0%), specificities of 62%(95%CI: 58.0%-66.0%), a positive LR of 2.3(95%CI: 1.81-2.94), a negative LR of 0.26(95%CI: 0.19-0.35), a DOR of 9.33(95%CI: 5.84-14.92) and an AUROC of 0.8262. FS diagnosed the presence of large EV with the pooled SEN of 0.78(95%CI: 75.0%-81.0%), SPE of 0.76(95%CI: 73.0%-78.0%), a positive and negative LR of 3.03(95%CI: 2.38-3.86) and 0.30(95%CI: 0.23-0.39) respectively, a summary diagnostic OR of 10.69(95%CI: 6.81-16.78), and an AUROC of 0.8321. A meta-regression and subgroup analysis indicated different etiology could serve as a potential source of heterogeneity in the diagnosis of the presence of EV group. A Deek's funnel plot suggested a low probability for publication bias.CONCLUSION Using FS to measure liver stiffness cannot provide high accuracy for the size of EV due to the various cutoff and different etiologies. These limitations preclude widespread use in clinical practice at this time; therefore, the results should be interpreted cautiously given its SEN and SPE.

Pressure transient characteristics of non-uniform conductivity fractured wells in viscoelasticity polymer flooding based on oil-water two-phase flow

Polymer flooding in fractured wells has been extensively applied in oilfields to enhance oil recovery.In contrast to water,polymer solution exhibits non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior such as effects of shear thinning and shear thickening,polymer convection,diffusion,adsorption retention,inaccessible pore volume and reduced effective permeability.Meanwhile,the flux density and fracture conductivity along the hydraulic fracture are generally non-uniform due to the effects of pressure distribution,formation damage,and proppant breakage.In this paper,we present an oil-water two-phase flow model that captures these complex non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior,and non-uniform fracture characteristics in fractured polymer flooding.The hydraulic fracture is firstly divided into two parts:high-conductivity fracture near the wellbore and low-conductivity fracture in the far-wellbore section.A hybrid grid system,including perpendicular bisection(PEBI)and Cartesian grid,is applied to discrete the partial differential flow equations,and the local grid refinement method is applied in the near-wellbore region to accurately calculate the pressure distribution and shear rate of polymer solution.The combination of polymer behavior characterizations and numerical flow simulations are applied,resulting in the calculation for the distribution of water saturation,polymer concentration and reservoir pressure.Compared with the polymer flooding well with uniform fracture conductivity,this non-uniform fracture conductivity model exhibits the larger pressure difference,and the shorter bilinear flow period due to the decrease of fracture flow ability in the far-wellbore section.The field case of the fall-off test demonstrates that the proposed method characterizes fracture characteristics more accurately,and yields fracture half-lengths that better match engineering reality,enabling a quantitative segmented characterization of the near-wellbore section with high fracture conductivity and the far-wellbore section with low fracture conductivity.The novelty of this paper is the analysis of pressure performances caused by the fracture dynamics and polymer rheology,as well as an analysis method that derives formation and fracture parameters based on the pressure and its derivative curves.

A specialized code for operation transient analysis and its application in fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors

Fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors(FHRs) include many attractive features, such as high temperature, large heat capacity, low pressure and strong inherent safety. Transient characteristics of FHR are particularly important for evaluating its operation performance. Thus, a specialized code OCFHR(operation and control analysis code of FHR) issued to study an experimental FHR's operation behaviors. The geometric modeling of OCFHR is based on one-dimensional lumped parameter method, and some simplifications are taken into consideration during simulation due to the existence of complex structures such as pebble bed, intermediate heat exchanger(IHX), air radiator(AR) and multiply channels.A point neutron kinetics model is developed, and neutron physics calculation is needed to provide some key inputs including axial power density distribution, reactivity coefficients and parameters about delayed neutron precursors. For analyzing the operational performance, five disturbed transients are simulated, involving reactivity step insertion, variations of coolant mass flow rate of primary loop and intermediate loop, adjustment of air inlet temperature and mass flow rate of air cooling system.Simulation results indicate that inherent self-stability of FHR restrains severe consequences under above transients,and some dynamic features are observed, such as large negative temperature feedbacks, remarkable thermal inertia and high response delay.

A Transient-Pressure-Based Numerical Approach for Interlayer Identification in Sand Reservoirs

Almost all sandstone reservoirs contain interlayers. The identification and characterization of these interlayers iscritical for minimizing the uncertainty associated with oilfield development and improving oil and gas recovery.Identifying interlayers outside wells using identification methods based on logging data and machine learning isdifficult and seismic-based identification techniques are expensive. Herein, a numerical model based on seepageand well-testing theories is introduced to identify interlayers using transient pressure data. The proposed modelrelies on the open-source MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox. The effects of the interlayer thickness, position,and width on the pressure response are thoroughly investigated. A procedure for inverting interlayer parametersin the reservoir using the bottom-hole pressure is also proposed. This method uses only transient pressuredata during well testing and can effectively identify the interlayer distribution near the wellbore at an extremelylow cost. The reliability of the model is verified using effective oilfield examples.

Stability and dispersion analysis of reproducing kernel collocation method for transient dynamics

A reproducing kernel collocation method based on strong formulation is introduced for transient dynamics. To study the stability property of this method, an algorithm based on the von Neumann hypothesis is proposed to predict the critical time step. A numerical test is conducted to validate the algorithm. The numerical critical time step and the predicted critical time step are in good agreement. The results are compared with those obtained based on the radial basis collocation method, and they axe in good agreement. Several important conclusions for choosing a proper support size of the reproducing kernel shape function are given to improve the stability condition.

Consideration of transient heat conduction in a semi-infinite medium using homotopy analysis method

In the current work, transient heat conduction in a semi-infinite medium is considered for its many applications in various heat fields. Here, the homotopy analysis method （HAM） is applied to solve this problem and analytical results are compared with those of the exact and integral methods results. The results show that the HAM can give much better approximations than the other approximate methods： Changes in heat fluxes and profiles of temperature are obtained at different times and positions for copper, iron and aluminum.

Finite element analysis of three-dimensional laser-induced transient thermal grating in diamond/ZnSe system

This paper uses finite element method to obtain the three-dimensional temperature field of laser-induced transient thermal grating （TTG） for two-layered structure of diamond film on ZnSe substrate. The numerical results indicate that unique two-times heating process is gradually experienced in the area between two adjacent grating stripes. However, there is a little change for the temperature field along the depth direction for the diamond film due to its great thermal conductivity. It further finds that the thickness of the diamond film has a significant influence on the temperature field in diamond/ZnSe system. The results are useful for the application of laser-induced TTG technique in film/substrate system.