Adaptive infill sampling strategy for metamodeling: Challenge and future research directions

The widespread use of computer experiments for design optimization has made the issue of reducing computational cost, improving accuracy, removing the “curse of dimensionality” and avoiding expensive function approximation becoming even more important. Metamodeling also known as surrogate modeling, can approximate the actual simulation model allowing for much faster execution time thus becoming a useful method to mitigate these problems. There are two (2) well-known metamodeling techniques which is kriging and radial basis function (RBF) discussed in this paper based on widely used algorithm tool from previous work in modern engineering design of optimization. An integral part of metamodeling is in the method to sample new data from the actual simulation model. Sampling new data for metamodeling requires finding the location (or value) of one or more new data such that the accuracy of the metamodel can be increased as much as possible after the sampling process. This paper discussed the challenges of adaptive sampling in metamodel and proposed an ensemble non-homogeneous method for best model voting to obtain new sample points.

Synthesis of nanoZrO2 via simple new green routes and its effective application as adsorbent in phosphate remediation of water with or without immobilization in Al-alginate beads

Nano particles of ZrO2 of average size 10.91 nm are successfully synthesized via green routes from a solvent blend of water and ethylene glycol (4:1 v/v). Bio-extract of seeds of Sapindus plant is employed as stabilizing and/or capping agent and homogeneous method of precipitation is adopted to generate the precipitating agent. The nZrO2 particles are immobilized in aluminum alginate beads (nZrO2-Al- alig). Nano-ZrO2 and beads are investigated as adsorbents for the extraction of phosphate from water. The controlling physicochemical parameters are studied for the maximum phosphate removal using simulate water. The optimum conditions are: pH: 7; sorbent dosage: 0.1 g/100 mL for nZrO2 and 0.08 g/100 mL for beads; equilibration time: 30 min.for nZrO2 and 35 min for beads; initial phosphate concentration: 50 mg/L; temperature: 30 ± 1 °C; 300 rpm. The adsorption capacities are: 126.2 mg/g for nZrO2 and 173.0 mg/g for ‘nZrO2-Al- alig’ and they are higher than many reported in literature. The beads, besides facilitating the easy filtration, are exhibiting enhanced cumulative phosphate-adsorption nature of nanoZrO2 and Al-alginate. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) investigations are employed in characterizing the adsorbents. Of the various isotherm models analyzed to assess the nature of adsorption, Freundlich model provides the best correlation (R2 = 0.99 for nZrO2 and R2 = 0.99 for ‘nZrO2-Al-alig’), indicating the heterogeneous and multi-layered adsorption process. Thermodynamic studies reveal the endothermic and spontaneous nature of sorption. Pseudo-second-order model of kinetics describes the adsorption well. Spent adsorbents can be regenerated with marginal loss of adsorption capacity until five cycles. The sorbents are successfully applied to remove phosphate from polluted lake water samples.

Saturated output feedback control for finite-time attitude stabilization of spacecraft

The finite-time attitude stabilization of spacecraft subject to actuator constraints and attitude measurements only is investigated. A saturated output feedback finite-time proportional-derivative control is proposed. Lyapunov stability theory and homogeneous method are employed to show the finite-time stabilization. Advantages of the proposed control include the finite-time stabilization featuring faster transient and higher precision and the absence of the modelling information and the velocity measurements in the control law formulation, and thus, it offers an easy-going solution for high-quality motion control of spacecraft. An additive feature is that the actuator saturation will not be reached by selecting the control gains a priori. Simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.

An equivalent model for sandwich panel with double-directional trapezoidal corrugated core

A novel sandwich panel with double-directional corrugated core is proposed in this paper. This complex-corrugated core makes the conventional detailed finite element analysis of large structures a tough work. Thus, an equivalent homogeneous method is proposed, the key of which is to obtain the equivalent property of this novel structure. The equivalent elastic modulus considering the effect of geometrical parameters is analytically derived and verified by finite element method. Besides, equivalent shear modulus and Poisson’s ratios are obtained by finite element method. Three-dimensional detailed and equivalent models are established for further validation of this equivalent homogeneous method. Results show that elastic modulus predicted by analytical formulas is in good agreement with that by finite element method no matter how geometrical parameters change. It has been proved that stretching deformation is dominating in thickness direction, and only corrugation along loading direction can bear the load. The proposed novel sandwich structure owns better mechanical property than the conventional one with single-corrugated core. The result by equivalent model agrees well with that by detailed model, which means that this equivalent homogeneous method can well predict the macroscopic property of this novel structure.

Sodium abundances of AGB and RGB stars in Galactic globular clusters

Aims. We investigate the Na abundance distribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in Galactic globular clusters (GCs) and its possible dependence on GC global properties, especially age and metallicity. Methods. We analyze high-resolution spectra of a large sample of AGB and red giant branch (RGB) stars in the Galactic GCs NGC 104, NGC 6121, and NGC 6809 obtained with FLAMES/GIRAFFE at ESO/VLT, and determine their Na abundances. This is the first time that the AGB stars in NGC 6809 are targeted. Moreover, to investigate the dependence of AGB Na abundance dispersion on GC parameters, we compare the AGB [Na/H] distributions of a total of nine GCs, with five determined by ourselves with homogeneous method and four from literature, covering a wide range of GC parameters. Results. NGC 104 and NGC 6809 have comparable AGB and RGB Na abundance distributions revealed by the K−S test, while NGC 6121 shows a lack of very Na-rich AGB stars. By analyzing all nine GCs, we find that the Na abundances and multiple populations of AGB stars form complex picture. In some GCs, AGB stars have similar Na abundances and/or second-population fractions as their RGB counterparts, while some GCs do not have Na-rich second-population AGB stars, and various cases exist between the two extremes. In addition, the fitted relations between fractions of the AGB second population and GC global parameters show that the AGB second-population fraction slightly anticorrelates with GC central concentration, while no robust dependency can be confirmed with other GC parameters. Conclusions. Current data roughly support the prediction of the fast-rotating massive star (FRMS) scenario. However, considering the weak observational and theoretical trends where scatter and exceptions exist, the fraction of second-population AGB stars can be affected by more than one or two factors, and may even be a result of stochasticity.