A Shakedown Strength Based Parametric Optimization Technique and Its Application on an Airtight Module

In aerospace engineering,design and optimization of mechanical structures are usually performed with respect to elastic limit.Besides causing insufcient use of the material,such design concept fails to meet the ever growing needs of the light weight design.To remedy this problem,in the present study,a shakedown theory based numerical approach for performing parametric optimization is presented.Within this approach,strength of the structure is measured by its shakedown limit calculated from the direct method.The numerical method developed for the structural optimization consists of nested loops:the inner loop adopts the interior point method to solve shakedown problems pertained to fxed design parameters,while the outer loop employs the genetic algorithm to fnd optimal design parameters leading to the greatest shakedown limit.The method established is frst verifed by the classic plate-with-a-circular-hole example,and after that it is applied to an airtight module for determining few key design parameters.By carefully analyzing results generated during the optimization process,it is convinced that the approach can become a viable means for designing similar aerospace structures.

A Footpad Structure with Reusable Energy Absorption Capability for Deep Space Exploration Lander:Design and Analysis

The footpad structure of a deep space exploration lander is a critical system that makes the initial contact with the ground,and thereby plays a crucial role in determining the stability and energy absorption characteristics during the impact process.The conventional footpad is typically designed with an aluminum honeycomb structure that dissipates energy through plastic deformation.Nevertheless,its effectiveness in providing cushioning and energy absorption becomes significantly compromised when the structure is crushed,rendering it unusable for reusable landers in the future.This study presents a methodology for designing and evaluating structural energy absorption systems incorporating recoverable strain constraints of shape memory alloys(SMA).The topological configuration of the energy absorbing structure is derived using an equivalent static load method(ESL),and three lightweight footpad designs featuring honeycomb-like Ni-Ti shape memory alloys structures and having variable stiffness skins are proposed.To verify the accuracy of the numerical modelling,a honeycomb-like structure subjected to compression load is modeled and then compared with experimental results.Moreover,the influence of the configurations and thickness distribution of the proposed structures on their energy absorption performance is comprehensively evaluated using finite element simulations.The results demonstrate that the proposed design approach effectively regulates the strain threshold to maintain the SMA within the constraint of maximum recoverable strain,resulting in a structural energy absorption capacity of 362 J/kg with a crushing force efficiency greater than 63%.

A Compensation Algorithm for Large Element Characterizing the Damage Evolution Process and Its Application to Structure Collisions

When simulating the process from elastic–plastic deformation,damage to failure in a metal structure collision,it is necessary to use the large shell element due to the calculation efficiency,but this would affect the accuracy of damage evolution simulation.The compensation algorithm adjusting failure strain according to element size is usually used in the damage model to deal with the problem.In this paper,a new nonlinear compensation algorithm between failure strain and element size was proposed,which was incorporated in the damage model GISSMO(Generalized incremental stress state dependent damage model)to characterize ductile fracture.And associated material parameters were calibrated based on tensile experiments of aluminum alloy specimens with notches.Simulation and experimental results show that the new compensation algorithm significantly reduces the dependence of element size compared with the constant failure strain model and the damage model with the linear compensation algorithm.During the axial splitting process of a circular tubular structure,the new compensation algorithm keeps the failure prediction errors low over the stress states ranging from shear to biaxial tension,and achieves the objective prediction of the damage evolution process.This study demonstrates how the compensation algorithm resolves the contradiction between large element size and fracture prediction accuracy,and this facilitates the use of the damage model in ductile fracture prediction for engineering structures.

Static strength and crashworthiness analysis of a train cowcatcher at a running speed of 160 km/h

The cowcatcher is one of the unique devices at the front end of the train, which can remove obstacles on the track by crashing before the vehicle body to ensure the safety of the train. When a collision accident happens, the cowcatcher serves as the first energy-absorbing structure to dissipate and guide the collision energy. The design of the existing cowcatcher of multiple units generally focuses on the good ability to remove obstacles, while the secondary function, the crashworthiness of orderly deformation under collision, still needs further research. In this study, a finite element model of structural static load and collision analysis was established under standard EN 15227, with the cowcatcher for 160 km/h train as the prototype. Then the solution and simulation process was accomplished under the environment of ANSYS and LS-DYNA. The analysis results showed that the structural static strength of the current cowcatcher met the requirements of the standard EN 15227, and the longitudinal stiffness was evenly distributed. When removing the obstacles with low mass, the impact force was small and the structure would not produce obvious deformation;when removing the obstacles with large mass, the impact force was large and the shear fracture might occur at the connection of the cowcatcher.

Fatigue Characterization on a Cast Aluminum Beam of a High-Speed Train Through Numerical Simulation and Experiments

The cast aluminum beam is a key structure for carrying the body-hung traction motor of a high-speed train;its fatigue property is fundamental for predicting the residual life and service mileage of the structure.To characterize the structural fatigue property,a finite element-based method is developed to compute the stress concentration factor,which is used to obtain the structural fatigue strength reduction factors.A full-scale fatigue test on the cast aluminum beam is designed and implemented for up to ten million cycles,and the corresponding finite element model of the beam is validated using the measured data of the gauges.The results show that the maximum stress concentration occurs at the fillet of the supporting seat,where the structural fatigue strength reduction factor is 2.45 and the calculated fatigue limit is 35.4 MPa.Moreover,no surface cracks are detected using the liquid penetrant test.Both the experimental and simulation results indicate that the cast aluminum beam can satisfy the service life requirements under the designed loading conditions.

Statistical Analyses of the Strengths of Particulate Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites(PRMMCs)Subjected to Multiple Tensile and Shear Stresses

For design and application of particulate reinforced metal matrix composites(PRMMCs),it is essential to predict the material strengths and understand how do they relate to constituents and microstructural features.To this end,a computational approach consists of the direct methods,homogenization,and statistical analyses is introduced in our previous studies.Since failure of PRMMC materials are often caused by time-varied combinations of tensile and shear stresses,the established approach is extended in the present work to take into account of these situations.In this paper,ultimate strengths and endurance limits of an exemplary PRMMC material,WC-Co,are predicted under three independently varied tensile and shear stresses.In order to cover the entire load space with least amount of weight factors,a new method for generating optimally distributed weight factors in an n dimensional space is formulated.Employing weight factors determined by this algorithm,direct method calculations were performed on many statistically equivalent representative volume elements(SERVE)samples.Through analyzing statistical characteristics associated with results the study suggests a simplified approach to estimate the material strength under superposed stresses without solving the difficult high dimensional shakedown problem.

Integrated Structures and Materials Design of Mechanical Components

In recent years,high fidelity numerical models simultaneously reflecting the behaviors of mechanical systems and their underlying materials have gradually become an indispensable part of modern mechanical and production engineering.In different contexts,the attempt to bridge me chanical engineering with materials science and to replace phenomenological models by the physical ones are named either as integrated computational materials engineering(ICME)or integrated structures and materi als design(ISMD).

On the Intelligent Optimization of the Crevice Structure in a Rapid Compression Machine

In this study,the multi-objective intelligent optimization of the crevice structure in a rapid compression machine(RCM)is carried out based on the RCM simulation model modified with the KIVA-3V program.A multi-objective optimization simulation model of the crevice structure based on the large eddy simulation model coupled with the genetic algorithm NSGA-Ⅲis established.Six optimization parameters and seven optimization objectives are selected in the optimization process.The results show that the genetic algorithm can quickly find the values of the optimized parameters.The crevice volume ratio shows a trade-off relationship with the dimensionless temperature ratio T_(max)/T_(aver)and the tumble ratio.A larger crevice volume can reduce the flow of boundary layer cryogenic gas into the combustion chamber,thus improving the temperature uniformity.In addition,the crevice entrance width and the connecting channel length should be smaller,while the volume of the crevice main chamber should be larger,so as to sufficiently introduce the low-temperature gas of the boundary layer into the crevice and reduce their influence on the temperature field of the combustion chamber.When the crevice volume accounts for10%of the total volume,the temperature uniformity of the combustor is significantly enhanced,and when the crevice volume accounts for 30.4%,there is almost no low-temperature vortex in the combustion chamber.