Circularity in Practice: Review of Main Current Approaches and Strategic Propositions for an Efficient Circular Economy of Materials

This paper aims to summarize, propose, and discuss existing or emerging strategies to shift towards a circular economy of materials. To clarify the landscape of existing circular practices, a new spectrum is proposed, from product-based strategies, where entire products go through several life cycles without being reprocessed, to material-based approaches, extracting, recycling, and reprocessing materials from the waste flow. As refillable packaging does not lose any functionality or value, when re-used through many life cycles, product-based strategies are globally extremely efficient and must be promoted. It appears however that their implementation is only possible at the scale of individual products such as packaging containers, relying on the cooperation of involved companies and consumers. It appears more and more urgent to focus as well on a more systematic and flexible material-oriented scheme. The example of circular glass recycling is a success in many countries, and technologies become nowadays available to extend such practices to many other materials, such as rigid plastics. An ideal would be to aim at an economy of materials that would imitate the continuous material cycle of the biosphere. Technological and business strategies are presented and discussed, aiming at a relevant impact on circularity.

Autonomous Robotic Feature-Based Freeform Fabrication Approach

Robotic additive manufacturing (AM) has gained much attention for its continuous material deposition capability with continuously changeable building orientations, reducing support structure volume and post-processing complexity. However, the current robotic additive process heavily relies on manual geometric reasoning that identifies additive features, related building orientations, tool approach direction, trajectory generation, and sequencing all features in a non-collision manner. In addition, multi-directional material accumulation cannot ensure the nozzle always stays above the building geometry. Thus, the collision between these two becomes a significant issue that needs to be solved. Hence, the common use of a robotic additive is hindered by the lack of fully autonomous tools based on the abovementioned issues. We present a systematic approach to the robotic AM process that can automate the abovementioned planning procedures in the aspect of collision-free. Typically, input models to robotic AM have diverse information contents and data formats, hindering the feature recognition, extraction, and relations to the robotic motion. Our proposed method integrates the collision-avoidance condition to the model decomposition step. Therefore, the decomposed volumes can be associated with additional constraints, such as accessibility, connectivity, and trajectory planning. This generates an entire workspace for the robotic additive building platform, rotatability, and additive features to determine the entire sequence and avoid potential collisions. This approach classifies the uniqueness of autonomous manufacturing on the robotic AM system to build large and complex metal components that are non-achievable through traditional one-directional AM in a computationally effective manner. This approach also paves the path in constructing an in situ monitoring and closed-loop control on robotic AM to control and enhance the build quality of the robotic metal AM process.

A comparative analysis of quantification and validation methods for prospecting the anthropogenic mine as material reserve for circular construction

Globally, buildings account for at least 39% of CO2 emissions and more than 50% of resource extraction and solid waste production. Therefore, any transition to carbon neutral buildings must be paired with new resource sensibilities and a shift from linear models of material consumption to continuous material use within a circular economy. Prospecting the (urban) anthropogenic mine represents an essential step towards circular construction and requires a robust methodology for data collection and interpretation. This paper presents a comparative analysis of survey methods, evaluated by parameters of time, accuracy, equipment, and labor to determine the ability of each tool in providing the necessary data to activate the existing built environment as a material resource. Chosen methods span from on-site manual and analog surveys to off-site digital technologies on a variety of case study scales. In all cases, the output’s data format (sketch book, images, mesh or point cloud outputs) can be cumbersome to process with CAD and BIM software, increasing time to results and limiting the technology’s potential, introducing the call for a new generation of survey tools specifically addressing the needs of deconstruction and salvage in circular construction.

A method for evaluating and upgrading systems with parallel structures with forced redundancy

The objects of the study are parallel-structure machine systems with redundancy associated with safety assurance of continuous material flow. The problem concerns systems in which the supply of materials takes place continuously (24 hours a day), and the system of operated machines must ensure the receipt and movement of the material at a strictly defined time and in the desired quantity. It is a system where the presence of a failure poses a threat to human life and environmental degradation. This paper presents a method for system condition assessment and upgrading for maintaining proper operation under conditions of continuous operation. A database of information about the current parameters of the system components (measurements, monitoring) is necessary for condition assessment. The method also uses lean techniques (including TPM). System evaluation and selection criteria for a suitable structure in terms of further operation were proposed. Exemplification was performed for an underground mine drainage system. As a part of the identification, selected parameters of the system components were measured, and their characteristics (motors, pumps, pipelines) were developed. The results of the analysis and the values of the adopted criteria were compared to the indicators for new pump sets. A two-option system upgrade was proposed, in addition to machine operating schedules, maintenance periods, and overhaul cycles.

The Dahl’s Model for the Inelastic Bending Behavior of Textile Composite Preforms. Analysis of its Influence in Draping Simulation

Most of the numerical simulations of dry textile reinforcements forming are based on a macroscopic approach and continuous material models whose behavior is assumed to be elastic (linear or nonlinear). On the one hand, the experience shows that under loading/unloading stresses, residual inelastic deformations are observed. On the other hand, among the deformations that a woven reinforcement undergoes during forming, in most cases, only bending is subject to loading/unloading stresses. The first objective of this work is to highlight the inelastic bending behavior of textile reinforcements during a forming process and to find the possible origins of inelasticity. The second objective is to find the cases generating bending loading/unloading during forming as well as to study the influence of the bending inelasticity on forming simulation. For this purpose, the inelastic bending behavior was characterized by three-point bending tests. Then, the Dahl friction model was adapted to bending to describe the inelastic behavior. Finally, this model was implemented in a finite element code based on shell elements allowing the study of the influence of taking into account the inelastic behavior in bending on the numerical simulation of forming.

Segmentations in fins enable large morphing amplitudes combined with high flexural stiffness for fish-inspired robotic materials

Fish fins do not contain muscles, yet fish can change their shape with high precision and speed to produce large and complex hydrodynamic forces—a combination of high morphing efficiency and high flexural stiffness that is rare in modern morphing and robotic materials. These “flexo-morphing” capabilities are rare in modern morphing and robotic materials. The thin rays that stiffen the fins and transmit actuation include mineral segments, a prominent feature whose mechanics and function are not fully understood. Here, we use mechanical modeling and mechanical testing on 3D-printed ray models to show that the function of the segmentation is to provide combinations of high flexural stiffness and high morphing amplitude that are critical to the performance of the fins and would not be possible with rays made of a continuous material. Fish fin–inspired designs that combine very soft materials and very stiff segments can provide robotic materials with large morphing amplitudes and strong grasping forces.

NODAL COSINE SINE MATERIAL INTERPOLATION IN MULTI OBJECTIVE TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION WITH THE GLOBAL CRITERIA METHOD FOR LINEAR ELASTO STATIC, HEAT TRANSFER, POTENTIAL FLOW AND BINARY CROSS ENTROPY SHARPENING

Topology optimization is typically used for suitable design suggestions for objectives like mean compliance, mean temperature, or model analysis. Some modern modeling technics in topology optimization require a nodal based material interpolation. Therefore this article is referred to a continuous material interpolation in topology optimization. To cover a smooth and differentiable density field, we address trigonometric shape functions which are infinitely differentiable. Furthermore, we extend a so-known global criteria method with a sharpening function based on binary cross-entropy, so that sharper solutions results. The proposed material interpolation is applied to different applications such as heat transfer, elasto static, and potential flow. Furthermore, these different objectives are together optimized using a multi-objective criterion.

Logistics and Innovation: Conception, Management Strategy and Interaction

Innovation is a major factor in the future development of humanity in general and the economy in particular. Ukrainian economy is currently going through a difficult period, which requires the search for innovative ways out of this situation. One of the possible ways to solve this problem is to build an innovative logistics strategy. The article examines the conceptual foundations of innovative and logistical activities in Ukraine. The essence and significance of the logistical approach in the activities of enterprises are defined. It is noted that the essence of the logistical approach is the integration of individual links of the commodity chain into a single system that will ensure the most effective management of the continuous material flows. The relationship of logistics with innovative activity of enterprises is identified. The place of logistical approach to management of innovative activity of enterprise is determined. Management aspects of innovation and logistics development are researched. It is specified that in conditions of openness of implementation of innovative processes, those enterprises that can quickly implement an innovative idea do gain a competitive advantage. The basic components of the conception of innovation logistics are outlined. The main provisions of the logistic conception in the development and management of innovative activities of enterprises are distinguished. It is summarized that innovative activity on the basis of logistics forms an effective mechanism for innovative management of enterprises. The use of a logistical approach to the management of innovative activities contributes to the achievement of the goal and strategic targets of the enterprise, in particular, with its implementation, the efficiency of economic, financial, economic and sales activities increases; the target audience is expanding, resulting in an increased demand for products (goods) and services; profit increases; competitive positions in the market are strengthened.