Wave nature of Rosensweig instability

The explicit analytical solution of Rosensweig instability spikes'shapes obtained by Navier-Stokes(NS)equation in diverse magnetic field H vertical to the flat free surface of ferrofluids are systematically studied experimentally and theoretically.After carefully analyzing and solving the NS equation in elliptic form,the force balanced surface equations of spikes in Rosensweig instability are expressed as cosine wave in perturbated magnetic field and hyperbolic tangent in large magnetic field,whose results both reveal the wave-like nature of Rosensweig instability.The results of hyperbolic tangent form are perfectly fitted to the experimental results in this paper,which indicates that the analytical solution is basically correct.Using the forementioned theoretical results,the total energy of the spike distribution pattern is calculated.By analyzing the energy components under different magnetic field intensities H,the hexagon-square transition of Rosensweig instability is systematically discussed and explained in an explicit way.

Influence of layer thickness on formation quality,microstructure,mechanical properties,and corrosion resistance of WE43 magnesium alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)of Mg alloys has provided tremendous opportunities for customized production of aeronautical and medical parts.Layer thickness(LT)is of great significance to the L-PBF process but has not been studied for Mg alloys.In this study,WE43 Mg alloy bulk cubes,porous scaffolds,and thin walls with layer thicknesses of 10,20,30,and 40μm were fabricated.The required laser energy input increased with increasing layer thickness and was different for the bulk cubes and porous scaffolds.Porosity tended to occur at the connection joints in porous scaffolds for LT40 and could be eliminated by reducing the laser energy input.For thin wall parts,a large overhang angle or a small wall thickness resulted in porosity when a large layer thicknesses was used,and the porosity disappeared by reducing the layer thickness or laser energy input.A deeper keyhole penetration was found in all occasions with porosity,explaining the influence of layer thickness,geometrical structure,and laser energy input on the porosity.All the samples achieved a high fusion quality with a relative density of over 99.5%using the optimized laser energy input.The increased layer thickness resulted to more precipitation phases,finer grain sizes and decreased grain texture.With the similar high fusion quality,the tensile strength and elongation of bulk samples were significantly improved from 257 MPa and 1.41%with the 10μm layer to 287 MPa and 15.12%with the 40μm layer,in accordance with the microstructural change.The effect of layer thickness on the compressive properties of porous scaffolds was limited.However,the corrosion rate of bulk samples accelerated with increasing the layer thickness,mainly attributed to the increased number of precipitation phases.

Improving corrosion resistance of additively manufactured WE43 magnesium alloy by high temperature oxidation for biodegradable applications

Laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)has been employed to additively manufacture WE43 magnesium(Mg)alloy biodegradable implants,but WE43 L-PBF samples exhibit excessively rapid corrosion.In this work,dense WE43 L-PBF samples were built with the relativity density reaching 99.9%.High temperature oxidation was performed on the L-PBF samples in circulating air via various heating temperatures and holding durations.The oxidation and diffusion at the elevated temperature generated a gradient structure composed of an oxide layer at the surface,a transition layer in the middle and the matrix.The oxide layer consisted of rare earth(RE)oxides,and became dense and thick with increasing the holding duration.The matrix was composed ofα-Mg,RE oxides and Mg_(24)RE_(5) precipitates.The precipitates almost disappeared in the transition layer.Enhanced passivation effect was observed in the samples treated by a suitable high temperature oxidation.The original L-PBF samples lost 40%weight after 3-day immersion in Hank’s solution,and broke into fragments after 7-day immersion.The casted and solution treated samples lost roughly half of the weight after 28-day immersion.The high temperature oxidation samples,which were heated at 525℃ for 8 h,kept the structural integrity,and lost only 6.88%weight after 28-day immersion.The substantially improved corrosion resistance was contributed to the gradient structure at the surface.On one hand,the outmost dense layer of RE oxides isolated the corrosive medium;on the other hand,the transition layer considerably inhibited the corrosion owing to the lack of precipitates.Overall,high temperature oxidation provides an efficient,economic and safe approach to inhibit the corrosion of WE43 L-PBF samples,and has promising prospects for future clinical applications.

Tribology Performance and Adhesive Strength Evaluation of TiAlSiN Coating

Scratch test and friction test were performed to evaluate the internal and external interface behaviors of TiAlSiN coating, respectively. The critical compressive and shearing stress of coating failure during scratch test were calculated and the values are 30.84 MPa and 4.98 MPa respectively. The average friction coefficients of TiAlSiN coating against 2Cr12Ni4Mo3VNbN steel are 0.70 (sliding speed 50 m/min), 0.63 (sliding speed 100 m/min), and 0.81 (sliding speed 150 m/min). The elements diffusion was analyzed by EDS. Al and Si element of coating material diffuse to the steel disc, except Ti element. The oxidation decreases with the increase of sliding speed, but the adhesion increases with the increase of sliding speed. More Al element diffuses to the steel disc at the high sliding speed, but the diffusion of Si element keeps almost constant at different sliding speeds.

Micro sliding friction model considering periodic variation stress distribution of contact surface and experimental verification

Micro sliding phenomenon widely exists in the operation process of mechanical systems,and the micro sliding friction mechanism is always a research hotspot.In this work,based on the total reflection method,a measuring device for interface contact behavior under two-dimensional(2D)vibration is built.The stress distribution is characterized by the light intensity distribution of the contact image,and the interface contact behavior in the 2D vibration process is studied.It is found that the vibration angle of the normal direction of the contact surface and its fluctuation affect the interface friction coefficient,the tangential stiffness,and the fluctuation amplitude of the stress distribution.Then they will affect the change of friction state and energy dissipation in the process of micro sliding.Further,an improved micro sliding friction model is proposed based on the experimental analysis,with the nonlinear change of contact parameters caused by the normal contact stress distribution fluctuation taken into account.This model considers the interface tangential stiffness fluctuation,friction coefficient hysteresis,and stress distribution fluctuation,whose simulation results are consistent well with the experimental results.It is found that considering the nonlinear effect of a certain contact parameter alone may bring a greater error to the prediction of friction behavior.Only by integrating multiple contact parameters can the accuracy of friction prediction is improved.

Progresses on cryo-tribology:lubrication mechanisms,detection methods and applications

Tribology at cryogenic temperatures has attracted much attention since the 1950s with the acceleration of its applications in high-tech equipment such as cryogenic wind tunnels,liquid fuel rockets,space infrared telescopes,superconducting devices,and planetary exploration,which require solid lubrication for moving parts at low temperatures down to 4 K in cryogenic liquid,gaseous,or vacuum environments.Herein,the research progress regarding cryo-tribology is reviewed.The tribological properties and mechanisms of solid lubricants listed as carbon materials,molybdenum disulfide,polymers,and polymer-based composites with decreasing temperature are summarized.The friction coefficient increases with decreasing temperature induced by thermally activated processes.The mechanism of transfer film formation should be considered as a significant way to enhance the tribological properties of solid lubricants.In addition,applications of solid lubrication on moving parts under cryogenic conditions,such as spherical plain bearings and roller bearings,are introduced.The technology for tribological testing of materials and bearings at cryogenic temperatures is summarized,where the environmental control,motion and loading realization,as well as friction and wear measurement together in a low-temperature environment,result in the difficulties and challenges of the low-temperature tribotester.In particular,novel technologies and tribotesters have been developed for tribotests and tribological studies of solid lubricants,spherical plain bearings,and roller bearings,overcoming limitations regarding cooling in vacuum and resolution of friction measurement,among others,and concentrating on in-situ observation of friction interface.These not only promote a deep understanding of friction and wear mechanism at low temperatures,but also provide insights into the performance of moving parts or components in cryogenic applications.

Simultaneous enhancement of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of as-cast Mg-5Zn via microstructural modification by friction stir processing

Magnesium alloys are ideal lightweight materials;however,their applications are extremely limited due to their low strength,poor ductility,and weak corrosion resistance.In the present study,a friction stir processing(FSP)treatment was employed to optimize the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of an as-cast Mg-5Zn alloy.The average grain size of the Mg-5Zn alloy was refined from 133.8μm to1.3μm as a result of FSP.Along different directions,FSP exhibited the enhancement effects on different mechanical properties.Furthermore,according to the potentiodynamic polarization results,the corrosion current density at the free-corrosion potential of the FSPed sample,was 4.1×10^(-6)A/cm^(2)in 3.5 wt.%Na Cl aqueous solution,which was significantly lower than that of the as-cast sample.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the polarization impedance,Rp,of the FSPed sample was 1534Ω/cm^(2)in 3.5 wt.%NaCl aqueous solution,which was 71.4%greater than that of the as-cast sample.The corrosion morphology of the FSPed sample in 3.5 wt.%NaCl aqueous solution exhibited largely uniform corrosion,rather than severe localized corrosion characteristics,which further reduced the corrosion depth on the basis of reducing the corrosion current density.The results presented herein indicate that FSP is a viable technique for simultaneously improving the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the as-cast Mg-5Zn alloy.

Microstructures and electrochemical behaviors of casting magnesium alloys with enhanced compression strengths and decomposition rates

New-type magnesium alloy with prominent solubility and mechanical property lays foundation for preparing fracturing part in petroleum extraction.Herein,Mg-xZn-Zr-SiC alloy is prepared with casting strategy.Electrochemical and compression tests are conducted to assess the feasibility as decomposable material.Morphology,composition,phase and distribution are characterized to investigate decomposition mechanism.Results indicate that floccule,substrate component and reticulate secondary phase are formed on as-prepared surface.Sample also acts out enhanced compression strength to maintain pressure and guarantee stability in dissolution process.Furthermore,as decomposition time and zinc content increase,couple corrosion intensifies,resulting in gradually enhanced decomposition rate.Rapid sample decomposition is mainly due to basal anode dissolution,micro particle exfoliation and poor decomposition resistance of corroding product.Such work shows profound significance in preparing new-type accessible alloy to ensure rapid dissolution of fracturing part and guarantee stable compression strength in oil-gas reservoir exploitation.

Tribological Properties of Ti-DLC Coatings on Piston-pin Surfaces

A magnetically filtered cathode vacuum arc deposition system was used to deposit Ti-doped diamond-like carbon coatings(Ti-DLC)on pin surfaces to improve the wear resistance of high-power density diesel engine piston pins.The coating structure,composition,and morphology were characterised using field emission scanning electron microscopy(FE-SEM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),Raman spectroscopy,and other techniques.Friction tests were carried out using a universal tribometer to study the tribological properties of pins with or without coatings under dry friction and oil lubrication.The surface morphology and cross-sectional morphology of the Ti-DLC coating show that the coating has a uniform crosssection and good surface properties.The XPS spectrum shows that the coating contains Ti-C,Ti-C*,sp2-C,sp3-C,and C-O/C=O.Raman spectroscopy shows that there is an amorphous carbon phase in the Ti-DLC coating.The friction test shows that the friction temperature increase of the pin with the Ti-DLC coating is lower than that without the coating,especially under dry-friction conditions.At the end of the test,the difierence in temperature increase is 16.7%.The friction coefficient when using high-viscosity lubricating oil with a coating is relatively lower than that without a coating,especially under low-speed and heavy-duty conditions.In the dryfriction state,the coated surface has better wear resistance than the uncoated surface,which primarily manifests as abrasive wear,and the surface without a coating mainly experiences adhesive wear.

Improvement of hydrogen permeation barrier performance by iron sulphide surface films

Fe–S compounds with hexagonal crystal structure are potential hydrogen permeation barrier during H2S corrosion. Hexagonal system Fe–S films were prepared on carbon steel through corrosion and CVD deposition, and the barrier effect of different Fe–S films on hydrogen permeation was tested using electrochemical hydrogen permeation method. After that, the electrical properties of Fe–S compound during phase transformation were measured using thermoelectric measurement system. Results show that the mackinawite has no obvious barrier effect on hydrogen penetration, as a p-type semiconductor, and pyrrhotite (including troilite) has obvious barrier effect on hydrogen penetration,as an n-type semiconductor. Hydrogen permeation tests showed peak permeation performance when the surface was deposited with a continuous film of pyrrhotite (Fe_(1–x)S) and troilite. The FeS compounds suppressed hydrogen permeation by the promotion of the hydrogen evolution reaction, semiconducting inversion from p-to n-type, and the migration of ions at the interface.

Simulation analysis of wear characteristics of connecting rod bearing bush based on improved mixed lubrication model

The failure rate of crankpin bearing bush of diesel engine under complex working conditions such as high temperature,dynamic load and variable speed is high.After serious wear,it is easy to deteriorate the stress state of connecting rod body and connecting rod bolt,resulting in serious accidents such as connecting rod fracture and body damage.Based on the mixed lubrication characteristics of connecting rod big endbearing shell of diesel engine under high explosion pressure impact load,an improved mixed lubrication mechanism model is established,which considers the influence of viscoelastic micro deformation of bearing bush material,integrates the full film lubrication model and dry friction model,couples dynamic equation of connecting rod.Then the actual lubrication state of big end bearing shell is simulated numerically.Further,the correctness of the theoretical research results is verified by fault simulation experiments.The results show that the high-frequency impact signal with fixed angle domain characteristics will be generated after the serious wear of bearing bush and the deterioration of lubrication state.The fault feature capture and alarm can be realized through the condition monitoring system,which can be applied to the fault monitoring of connecting rod bearing bush of diesel engine in the future.

Elliptical vibration chiseling:a novel process for texturing ultra-high-aspect-ratio microstructures on the metallic surface

High-aspect-ratio metallic surface microstructures are increasingly demanded in breakthrough applications,such as high-performance heat transfer enhancement and surface plasmon devices.However,the fast and cost-effective fabrication of high-aspect-ratio microstructures on metallic surfaces remains challenging for existing techniques.This study proposes a novel cutting-based process,namely elliptical vibration chiseling(EV-chiseling),for the high-efficiency texturing of surface microstructures with an ultrahigh aspect ratio.Unlike conventional cutting,EV-chiseling superimposes a microscale EV on a backward-moving tool.The tool chisels into the material in each vibration cycle to generate an upright chip with a high aspect ratio through material deformation.Thanks to the tool’s backward movement,the chip is left on the material surface to form a microstructure rather than falling off.Since one microstructure is generated in one vibration cycle,the process can be highly efficient using ultrafast(>1 kHz)tool vibration.A finite element analysis model is established to explore the process mechanics of EV-chiseling.Next,a mechanistic model of the microstructured surface generation is developed to describe the microstructures’aspect ratio dependency on the process parameters.Then,surface texturing tests are performed on copper to verify the efficacy of EV-chiseling.Uniformed micro ribs with a spacing of 1–10μm and an aspect ratio of 2–5 have been successfully textured on copper.Compared with the conventional EV-cutting that uses a forward-moving tool,EV-chiseling can improve the aspect ratio of textured microstructure by up to 40 times.The experimental results also verify the accuracy of the developed surface generation model of microstructures.Finally,the effects of elliptical trajectory,depth of cut,tool shape,and tool edge radius on the surface generation of micro ribs have been discussed.

Artificial Intelligence Meets Flexible Sensors:Emerging Smart Flexible Sensing Systems Driven by Machine Learning and Artificial Synapses

The recent wave of the artificial intelligence(AI)revolution has aroused unprecedented interest in the intelligentialize of human society.As an essential component that bridges the physical world and digital signals,flexible sensors are evolving from a single sensing element to a smarter system,which is capable of highly efficient acquisition,analysis,and even perception of vast,multifaceted data.While challenging from a manual perspective,the development of intelligent flexible sensing has been remarkably facilitated owing to the rapid advances of brain-inspired AI innovations from both the algorithm(machine learning)and the framework(artificial synapses)level.This review presents the recent progress of the emerging AI-driven,intelligent flexible sensing systems.The basic concept of machine learning and artificial synapses are introduced.The new enabling features induced by the fusion of AI and flexible sensing are comprehensively reviewed,which significantly advances the applications such as flexible sensory systems,soft/humanoid robotics,and human activity monitoring.As two of the most profound innovations in the twenty-first century,the deep incorporation of flexible sensing and AI technology holds tremendous potential for creating a smarter world for human beings.

Effects of Meridional Flow Passage Shape on Hydraulic Performance of Mixed-flow Pump Impellers

During the process of designing the mixed-flow pump impeller, the meridional flow passage shape directly affects the obtained meridional flow field, which then has an influence on the three-dimensional impeller shape. However, the meridional flow passage shape is too complicated to be described by a simple formula for now. Therefore, reasonable parameter selection for the meridional flow passage is essential to the investigation. In order to explore the effects of the meridional flow passage shape on the impeller design and the hydraulic performance of the mixed-flow pump, the hub and shroud radius ratio (HSRR) of impeller and the outlet diffusion angle (ODA) of outlet zone are selected as the meridional flow passage parameters. 25 mixed-flow pump impellers, with specific speed of 496 under the design condition, are designed with various parameter combinations. Among these impellers, one with HSRR of 1.94 and ODA of 90° is selected to carry out the model test and the obtained experimental results are used to verify accuracies of the head and the hydraulic efficiency predicted by numerical simulation. Based on SIMPLE algorithm and standard k-ε two-equation turbulence model, the three-dimensional steady incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved and the effects of different parameters on hydraulic performance of mixed-flow pump impellers are analyzed. The analysis results demonstrate that there are optimal values of HSRR and ODA available, so the hydraulic performance and the internal flow of mixed-flow pumps can be improved by selecting appropriate values for the meridional flow passage parameters. The research on these two parameters, HSRR and ODA, has further illustrated influences of the meridional flow passage shape on the hydraulic performance of the mixed-flow pump, and is beneficial to improving the design of the mixed-flow pump impeller.

Effect of Rare Earths on Tribological Properties of Carbon Fibers Reinforced PTFE Composites

Carbon fibers （CF） were surface treated with air-oxidation and rare earths （RE）, respectively. The effect of RE surface treatment on tensile strength and tribological properties of CF reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene （PTFE） composites was invest/gated. Experimental results revealed that RE was superior to air ox/dation in improving the tensile strength, elongation, and the tensile modulus of CF reinforced PTFE （CF/PTFE） composite. Compared to the untreated and air-oxidated CF/PTFE composite, the RE treated composite had the lowest friction coefficient and specific wear rate under a given applied load and reciprocating sliding frequency. The RE treatment effectively improved the interfacial adhesion between CF and PTFE. With strong interfacial coupling, the carbon fibers carried most of the load, and direct contact and adhesion between PTFE and the counterpart were reduced, accordingly the friction and wear properties of the composite were improved.

Influence of Blade Wrap Angle on Centrifugal Pump Performance by Numerical and Experimental Study

The existing research on improving the hydraulic performance of centrifugal pumps mainly focuses on the design method and the parameter optimization. The traditional design method for centrifugal impellers relies more on experience of engineers that typically only satisfies the continuity equation of the fluid. In this study, on the basis of the direct and inverse iteration design method which simultaneously solves the continuity and motion equations of the fluid and shapes the blade geometry by controlling the wrap angle, three centrifugal pump impellers are designed by altering blade wrap angles while keeping other parameters constant. The three-dimensional flow fields in three centrifugal pumps are numerically simulated, and the simulation results illustrate that the blade with larger wrap angle has more powerful control ability on the flow pattern in impeller. The three pumps have nearly the same pressure distributions at the small flow rate, but the pressure gradient increase in the pump with the largest wrap angle is smoother than the other two pumps at the design and large flow rates. The pump head and efficiency are also influenced by the blade wrap angle. The highest head and efficiency are also observed for the largest angle. An experiment rig is designed and built to test the performance of the pump with the largest wrap angle. The test results show that the wide space of its efficiency area and the stability of its operation ensure the excellent performance of the design method and verify the numerical analysis. The analysis on influence of the blade wrap angle for centrifugal pump performance in this paper can be beneficial to the optimization design of the centrifugal pump.

Deep Spatiotemporal Convolutional-Neural-Network-Based Remaining Useful Life Estimation of Bearings

The remaining useful life(RUL)estimation of bearings is critical for ensuring the reliability of mechanical systems.Owing to the rapid development of deep learning methods,a multitude of data-driven RUL estimation approaches have been proposed recently.However,the following problems remain in existing methods:1)Most network models use raw data or statistical features as input,which renders it difficult to extract complex fault-related information hidden in signals;2)for current observations,the dependence between current states is emphasized,but their complex dependence on previous states is often disregarded;3)the output of neural networks is directly used as the estimated RUL in most studies,resulting in extremely volatile prediction results that lack robustness.Hence,a novel prognostics approach is proposed based on a time-frequency representation(TFR)subsequence,three-dimensional convolutional neural network(3DCNN),and Gaussian process regression(GPR).The approach primarily comprises two aspects:construction of a health indicator(HI)using the TFR-subsequence-3DCNN model,and RUL estimation based on the GPR model.The raw signals of the bearings are converted into TFR-subsequences by continuous wavelet transform and a dislocated overlapping strategy.Subsequently,the 3DCNN is applied to extract the hidden spatiotemporal features from the TFR-subsequences and construct HIs.Finally,the RUL of the bearings is estimated using the GPR model,which can also define the probability distribution of the potential function and prediction confidence.Experiments on the PRONOSTIA platform demonstrate the superiority of the proposed TFR-subsequence-3DCNN-GPR approach.The use of degradation-related spatiotemporal features in signals is proposed herein to achieve a highly accurate bearing RUL prediction with uncertainty quantification.

A Comparison in Laser Precision Drilling of Stainless Steel 304 with Nanosecond and Picosecond Laser Pulses

Precision drilling with picosecond laser has been advocated to significantly improve the quality of micro-holes with reduced recast layer thickness and almost no heat affected zone.However,a detailed comparison between nanosecond and picosecond laser drilling techniques has rarely been reported in previous research.In the present study,a series of micro-holes are manufactured on stainless steel 304 using a nanosecond and a picosecond laser drilling system,respectively.The quality of the micro-holes,e.g.,recast layer,micro-crack,circularity,and conicity,etc,is evaluated by employing an optical microscope,an optical interferometer,and a scanning electron microscope.Additionally,the micro-structure of the samples between the edges of the micro-holes and the parent material is compared following etching treatment.The researching results show that a great amount of spattering material accumulated at the entrance ends of the nanosecond laser drilled micro-holes.The formation of a recast layer with a thickness of;5μm is detected on the side walls,associated with initiation of micro-cracks.Tapering phenomenon is also observed and the circularity of the micro-holes is rather poor.With regard to the micro-holes drilled by picosecond laser,the entrance ends,the exit ends,and the side walls are quite smooth without accumulation of spattering material,formation of recast layer and micro-cracks.The circularity of the micro-holes is fairly good without observation of tapering phenomenon.Furthermore,there is no obvious difference as for the micro-structure between the edges of the micro-holes and the parent material.This study proposes a picosecond laser helical drilling technique which can be used for effective manufacturing of high quality micro-holes.

Effect of SiO_2 concentration in silica sol on interface reaction during titanium alloy investment casting

Using silica sol as a binder for titanium investment casting is very attractive due to its good stability and reasonable cost as compared with yttrium sol and zirconium sol. However, the mechanism of interface reaction in the related system remains unclear. In this investigation, the interface reaction between Y_2O_3-SiO_2(YSi) shell mold and titanium alloys was studied. A group of shell molds were prepared by using Y_2O_3 sand and silica sol with different contents of SiO_2. Ti-6Al-4V alloy was cast under vacuum by gravity casting through cold crucible induction melting(CCIM) method. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(EDS) were employed to characterize the micromorphology and composition of the reaction area, respectively X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) was used to confirm the valence state of relevant elements. White ligh interferometer(WLI) was used to obtain the surface topography of Y-Si shells. The results show that the thickness of reaction layers is below 3 μm when the SiO_2 content of silica sol is below 20 wt.%. Whereas, when the SiO_2 content increases to 25 wt.%, the thickness of the reaction layer increases sharply to about 15 μm. There is a good balance between chemical inertness and mechanical performance when the SiO_2 content is between 15 and 20 wt.%. Moreover, it was found that the distribution of SiO_2 and the roughness at the surface of the shell are the key factors that determine the level of reaction.

Atlas Based Kinematic Optimum Design of the Stewart Parallel Manipulator

Optimum design is a key approach to make full use of potential advantages of a parallel manipulator. The optimum design of multi-parameter parallel manipulators（more than three design parameters）, such as Stewart manipulator, relies on analysis based and algorithm based optimum design methods, which fall to be accurate or intuitive. To solve this problem and achieve both accurate and intuition, atlas based optimum design of a general Stewart parallel manipulator is established, with rational selection of design parameters. Based on the defined spherical usable workspace（SUW）, primary kinematic performance indices of the Stewart manipulator involving workspace and condition number are introduced and analyzed. Then, corresponding performance atlases are drawn with the established non-dimensional design space, and impact of joint distribution angles on the manipulator performance is analyzed and illustrated. At last, an example on atlas based optimum design of the Stewart manipulator is accomplished to illustrate the optimum design process, considering the end-effector posture. Deduced atlases can be flexibly applied to both quantitative and qualitative analysis to get the desired optimal design for the Stewart manipulator with respect to related performance requirements. Besides, the established optimum design method can be further applied to other multi-parameter parallel manipulators.