Buckling Properties of Water-Drop-Shaped Pressure Hulls with Various Shape Indices Under Hydrostatic External Pressure

The water-drop-shaped pressure hull has a good streamline,which has good application prospect in the underwater observatory.Therefore,this study conducted analytical,experimental and numerical investigation of the buckling properties of water-drop-shaped pressure hulls under hydrostatic pressure.A water-drop experiment was conducted to design water-drop-shaped pressure hulls with various shape indices.The critical loads for the water-drop-shaped pressure hulls were resolved by using Mushtari’s formula.Several numerical simulations including linear buckling analysis and nonlinear buckling analysis including eigenmode imperfections were performed.The results indicated that the critical loads resolved by Mushtari's formula were in good agreement with the linear buckling loads from the numerical simulations.This formula can be extended to estimate the buckling capacity of water-drop-shaped pressure hulls.In addition,three groups of pressure hulls were fabricated by using stereolithography,a rapid prototyping technique.Subsequently,three groups of the pressure hulls were subjected to ultrasonic measurements,optical scanning,hydrostatic testing and numerical analysis.The experimental results were consistent with the numerical results.The results indicate that the sharp end of the water-drop-shaped pressure hulls exhibited instability compared with the blunt end.This paper provides a new solution to the limitations of experimental studies on the water-drop-shaped pressure hulls as well as a new configuration and evaluation method for underwater observatories.

FEA-Based Fatigue Life Assessment of Cycloidal Displacement Cam and Flat-Faced Follower Mechanism

Cam-followers provide reliable and controlled motions in various mechanical systems. Due to the highly fluctuating load between the cam and follower in operation, the cam-follower may be subjected to a high risk of contact fatigue failure. This paper assesses the fatigue life of a cycloidal displacement cam and a flat-faced follower under the defined loads and constraints. Computer-aided design (CAD) model of the cam-follower is developed in CATIA software and imported to ANSYS software for finite element analysis (FEA) of fatigue life. MATLAB programming is developed for determining the appropriate spring constant and pre-load force to always keep the cam and follower in contact. The fatigue life of the cam-follower has been estimated under the specified operating conditions. The analysis method can be applied to investigate the fatigue life of cams with other profiles, including the modified trapezoidal functions, polynomial functions, etc.

Landslide susceptibility prediction using slope unit-based machine learning models considering the heterogeneity of conditioning factors

To perform landslide susceptibility prediction(LSP),it is important to select appropriate mapping unit and landslide-related conditioning factors.The efficient and automatic multi-scale segmentation(MSS)method proposed by the authors promotes the application of slope units.However,LSP modeling based on these slope units has not been performed.Moreover,the heterogeneity of conditioning factors in slope units is neglected,leading to incomplete input variables of LSP modeling.In this study,the slope units extracted by the MSS method are used to construct LSP modeling,and the heterogeneity of conditioning factors is represented by the internal variations of conditioning factors within slope unit using the descriptive statistics features of mean,standard deviation and range.Thus,slope units-based machine learning models considering internal variations of conditioning factors(variant slope-machine learning)are proposed.The Chongyi County is selected as the case study and is divided into 53,055 slope units.Fifteen original slope unit-based conditioning factors are expanded to 38 slope unit-based conditioning factors through considering their internal variations.Random forest(RF)and multi-layer perceptron(MLP)machine learning models are used to construct variant Slope-RF and Slope-MLP models.Meanwhile,the Slope-RF and Slope-MLP models without considering the internal variations of conditioning factors,and conventional grid units-based machine learning(Grid-RF and MLP)models are built for comparisons through the LSP performance assessments.Results show that the variant Slopemachine learning models have higher LSP performances than Slope-machine learning models;LSP results of variant Slope-machine learning models have stronger directivity and practical application than Grid-machine learning models.It is concluded that slope units extracted by MSS method can be appropriate for LSP modeling,and the heterogeneity of conditioning factors within slope units can more comprehensively reflect the relationships between conditioning factors and landslides.The research results have important reference significance for land use and landslide prevention.

Design method of organizational structure for MAVs and UAVs heterogeneous team with adjustable autonomy

The increasingly complex battlefield environment requests much closer connection in a team having both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles(MAVs and UAVs). This special heterogeneous team structure causes demands for effective organizational structure design solutions. Implementing adjustable autonomy in the organizational structure, the expected evaluation function is established based on the physical resource, intelligent resource, network efficiency, network vulnerability and task execution reliability. According to the above constraints, together with interaction latency, decision-making information processing capacity, and decision-making latency, we aim to find a preferential organizational structure. The proposed organizational structure includes cooperative relationships, supervisory control relationships, and decision-making authorization relationships. In addition,by considering the influence on the intelligent support capabilities and the task execution reliability created by adjustable autonomy, it helps to build the proposed organizational structure designed with certain degree of flexibility to deal with the potential changes in the unpredictable battlefield environment. Simulation is conducted to confirm our design to be valid. And the method is still valid under different battlefield environments and interventions.

Finite Element Analysis of Deformed Legs of Offshore Platform Structures

The element stiffness matrix of the equivalent beam or pipe element of the deformed leg of the platform is derived by the finite element method. The stresses and displacements of some damaged components are calculated, and the numerical solutions agree well with those obtained by the fine mesh finite element method. Finally, as an application of this method, the stresses of some platform structures are calculated and analyzed.

On the Development of an Effective Pressure Driving System for Ultra-Low Permeability Reservoirs

Given its relevance to the exploitation of ultra-low permeability reservoirs,which account for a substantial proportion of the world’s exploited and still unexploited reserves,in the present study the development of an adequate water injection system is considered.Due to the poor properties and weak seepage capacity of these reservoirs,the water injection pressure typically increases continuously during water flooding.In this research,the impact on such a process of factors as permeability,row spacing,and pressure gradient is evaluated experimentally using a high-pressure large-scale outcrop model.On this basis,a comprehensive evaluation coefficient is introduced able to account for the effective driving pressure.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr billet prepared by direct chill casting

High-quality Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr magnesium alloy billets with diameter of 200 mm were successfully prepared by direct chill(DC)casting.The results show that microstructures of the as-cast billet prepared by DC casting are mainly composed of equiaxed a-Mg and Mg 12 Nd eutectic compound distributing along the grain boundaries.The average grain size decreases along the radius of the billet.And the alloying elements of Nd and Zn distribute homogeneously across the large billet.The optimum process parameters for DC casting of the Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr magnesium alloy billet with diameter of 200 mm have been experimentally determined as follows:casting temperature 710℃ and casting speed 80 mm/min.

Modeling and Analyzing Dynamic Response for An Offshore Bottom-Fixed Wind Turbine with Individual Pitch Control

The asymmetric or periodically varying blade loads resulted by wind shear become more significant as the blade length is increased to capture more wind power.Additionally,compared with the onshore wind turbines,their offshore counterparts are subjected to additional wave loadings in addition to wind loadings within their lifetime.Therefore,vibration control and fatigue load mitigation are crucial for safe operation of large-scale offshore wind turbines.In view of this,a multi-body model of an offshore bottom-fixed wind turbine including a detailed drivetrain is established in this paper.Then,an individual pitch controller(IPC)is designed using disturbance accommodating control.State feedback is used to add damping in flexible modes of concern,and a state estimator is designed to predict unmeasured signals.Continued,a coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic model is constructed.Based on this coupled model,the load reduction effect of IPC and the dynamic responses of the drivetrain are investigated.The results showed that the designed IPC can effectively reduce the structural loads of the wind turbine while stabilizing the turbine power out-put.Moreover,it is found that the drivetrain dynamic responses are improved under IPC.

IN SlTU TRUING/DRESSING OF DIAMOND WHEEL FOR PRECISION GRINDING

An application for achieving on-machine truing/dressing and monitoring of diamond wheel is dealt with in dry grinding. A dry electrical discharge （ED） assisted truing and dressing method is adopted in preparation of diamond grinding wheels. Effective and precise truing/dressing of a diamond wheel is carried out on a CNC curve grinding machine by utilizing an ED assisted diamond dresser. The dressed wheel is monitored online by a CCD vision system. It detects the topography changes of a wheel surface. The wear condition is evaluated by analyzing the edge deviation of a wheel image. The benefits of the proposed methods are confirmed by the grinding experiments. The designed truing/dressing device has high material removal rate, low dresser wear, and hence guarantees a desired wheel surface. Real-time monitoring of the wheel profile facilitates determining the optimum dressing amount, dressing interval, and the compensation error.

Processes Governing the Retention of Phosphorus and Nitrogen in Nyashishi Wetland

One of the important functions of the wetland is the retention of catchment nutrients and improving lacustrine water quality. This study analyzed how much nutrients were retained in the Nyashishi wetland, southern part of Lake Victoria, and went further to analyze the processes which were responsible in the reduction of nutrients. Three major processes were analysed in this study, namely nutrients uptake by three macrophyte species (Eichhornia crassipes, Cyperus papyrus and Typha domingensis) dominating the Nyashishi wetland, nitrification and denitrification processes. The study demonstrated high nutrients retention especially phosphorus nutrients of which up to 98% were retained. In some occasions, particularly for nitrogen nutrients, there was 0% retention especially during wet season. In some other instances, the inflow exceeded the outflow meaning that, more nutrients were generated by the wetland itself. Among the three processes analyzed, nutrients uptaken by macrophytes were more efficient in reducing nutrients in wetland water. Biological nitrification and denitrification which are believed to be the major pathway for ammonia removal in both natural and constructed wetlands were less important in this study. Among the macrophyte species, Eichhornia crassipes demonstrated higher uptake rate than the other two species possibly due to its high turnover rate. This ability can be exploited in removing excess nutrients from runoff by frequent harvesting of the mature plants.

Technology Roadmap of IGCC Industry in China

With the increasing energy demand and environmental pressures caused by consumption of fossil fuels, the world casts their eyes on new energy, hoping to transform the existing energy structure through technological innovation to new energy field, to promote the optimization and upgrading of the world’s energy structure. The new energy in key areas of Chinese high-tech industries includes mainly nuclear power, wind power, solar power, IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle), new energy vehicles and smart grids. The present paper will carry on an in-depth study on IGCC industry technology roadmap in China. Technology roadmap is a kind of technology management tool, expressing the structure and time dimension of technical elements’ evolution with icons. It spans a wide range of applications from a single company to industry, and national and international coalition, from detailed product technology to component technology, as well as the integration of several relevant industry technologies. The roadmap is a kind of multi-layered time-dependent icon. IGCC industry has excellent environmental characteristics and benefits, which are in accordance with the principle of coordinated development between energy and environment. Based on the analysis of current situation, market demand, industry objectives and technical barriers of IGCC technology, we highlight IGCC industrial development model with Chinese characteristics, and concisely propose the major research needs and technology projects of key technology areas in IGCC industry. We highlight IGCC industrial development model with Chinese characteristics, and concisely propose the major research needs and technology projects of key technology areas in IGCC industry. Furthermore, some relevant suggestions on IGCC technology management and industry development are put forward to promote the remarkable progress in the development of IGCC industry in China and build an efficient, economical and clean sustainable energy supply system in line with the requirements of low-carbon economy.

Control System Design and Implementation at Flexible, Distributed Offshore Sensor Test Sites in the Yangtze Estuary Area

Marine in situ testing is a necessary step for stereotyping newly developed marine sensors. The use of test sites in the Yangtze Estuary area, which has high turbidity and abundant nutrients, can effectively reduce the needed testing time owing to its harsh conditions. Five test stations were established, and a floating buoy and fixed test equipment were designed. A control system, including a sensor connection, data processor, video remote transmission, and corresponding control algorithm, was developed. The control system enabled the nondestructive monitoring of biological attachments and bidirectional, real-time communication between an upper server on land and the control system at the test sites. The dissolved oxygen(DO), temperature, and pH data of DOS600 and DPS600 sensors were compared with those of AP2000 sensors. Temperature recording using the DOS600 sensor was performed nearly as well as that of the AP2000 sensor. The mean DO values(standard deviations) were 8.414 mg L-1(2.068) and 6.896 mg L-1(1.235) for the DOS600 and AP2000 sensors, respectively, indicating that the DOS600 performance was unsatisfactory. The pH recording of the DPS600 was slightly worse than that of the AP2000 sensor. Experimental results showed that the DO value was more easily affected by the buoy movement of waves compared to the pH and temperature. Moreover, data fluctuations showed that the DO and pH parameters were more vulnerable to biofouling than temperature. Waves and biofouling create a harsh test environment, and the performance difference between the developed sensors and a standard sensor can be obtained in a short time period.

Mechanical Properties and Electronic Structures of Cotunnite TiO2

Based on the first-principles plane-wave basis pseudopotential calculations, we investigate mechanical properties and electronic structures of the hardest known oxide, cotunnite TiO2. The calculated results show that cotunnite TiO2 has the highest bulk modulus （348 GPa） and hardness （32 GPa） among the high-pressure phases of TiO2, but its mechanical properties are not superior to those of c-BN. Moreover, the high hardness of cotunnite TiO2 can be understood from both the dense crystal structure （high valence electron density and short bond lengths） and the unusual mixtures of covalent and ionic bonding of Ti-O.

Dynamic Response Analysis and Vibration Control for A Fixed-Bottom Offshore Wind Turbine Subjected to Multiple External Excitations

For the offshore wind turbines installed in earthquake areas,their operation is affected by seismic loads in addition to wind and wave loads.Therefore,it is necessary to study the dynamic responses and vibration control of the wind turbines.In previous studies,the structural responses of offshore wind turbines are usually investigated in the parked case,while the blade rotation effect is usually not considered.The evaluation on the structural responses may be inaccurate under this condition,further affecting the evaluation on the vibration control performance of a control system.In view of it,this paper established a complete multi-body model of a fixed-bottom offshore wind turbine considering pile-soil interaction,and then performed simulations when the wind turbine was subjected to multiple external excitations.Continued,a single tuned mass damper(STMD)system and a multiple tuned mass dampers(MTMDs)system were applied to control structural vibrations of the wind turbine.Then,based on the construction of a simplified main structure-TMD system,TMD parameters were optimized.Finally,twelve load cases including operating and parked conditions were selected to perform simulations.Results show that the influence of the seismic excitation on blade responses is greater under the parked condition than that under the operating condition.Moreover,STMD/MTMDS exhibit better performance under the parked condition than that under the operating condition.Compared with STMD,MTMDS can better suppress the vibrations at both the fundamental and high-order modes,and exhibits significant robustness under the condition of changing soil parameters.

Application of Association Rule Mining Theory in Sina Weibo

A user profile contains information about a user. A substantial effort has been made so as to understand users’ behavior through analyzing their profile data. Online social networks provide an enormous amount of such information for researchers. Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform, has achieved a great success in China although studies on it are still in an initial state. This paper aims to explore the relationships among different profile attributes in Sina Weibo. We use the techniques of association rule mining to identify the dependency among the attributes and we found that if a user’s posts are welcomed, he or she is more likely to have a large number of followers. Our results demonstrate how the relationships among the profile attributes are affected by a user’s verified type. We also put some efforts on data transformation and analyze the influence of the statistical properties of the data distribution on data discretization.

Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis and Optimum Design of Spot-Welded Joints and Weld-Bonded Joints

Resistance spot welding and hybrid weld bonding have wide applications in the body work construction within the automobile industry. The integrity of the spot welds and applied adhesives determines the body assembly rigidity and dynamic performance. Incorporating contact nonlinearity and geometric nonlinearity, finite element analysis (FEA) have been carried out to investigate the structural stiffness and strength of both spot-welded and weld-bonded assemblies. Topology optimization has been performed to reveal the distributions of material effectiveness in the overlap regions and suggest a feasible method for removing underutilized material for weight reduction. Design optimization has been conducted with an aim to reduce the maximum von Mises stress in the assembly to minimum by choosing optimum values for a set of design variables, including the weld spacing, weld diameter and overlap width.

Parametric CAD Modelling of Aircraft Wings for FEA Vibration Analysis

Excessive vibration of aircraft wings during flight is harmful and may cause propagation of existing cracks in the material, leading to catastrophic failures as a result of material fatigue. This study investigates the variations of modal characteristics of aircraft wings with respect to changes in the structural configurations. We develop parametric Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models to capture new design intend on the aircraft wing architectures. Subsequent Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based vibration analysis is performed to study the effects of architecture changes on the wing’s natural frequencies and mode shapes. It is concluded that the spar placement and the number of ribs have significant influence on the wing’s natural vibration properties. Integrating CAD modelling and FEA vibration analysis enables designers to develop alternative wing architectures to implement design requirements in the preliminary design stage.