Elastic Forces and Coordinate Systems in the Finite Element Formulations

The equivalence of the elastic forces of finite element formulations used in flexible multibody dynamics is the focus of this investigation. Two conceptually different finite element formulations that lead to exact modeling of the rigid body dynamics will be used. These are the floating frame of reference formulation and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. It is demonstrated in this study that different element coordinate systems, which are used for the convenience of describing the element deformations in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, lead to similar results as the element size is reduced. The equivalence of the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate and the floating frame of reference formulations is shown. The result of this analysis clearly demonstrates that the instability observed in high speed rotor analytical models due to the neglect of the geometric centrifugal stiffening is not a problem inherent to a particular finite element formulation but only depends on the beam model that is used. Fourier analysis of the solutions obtained in this investigation also sheds new light on the fundamental problem of the choice of the deformable body coordinate system in the floating frame of reference formulation. A new method is presented and used to obtain a simple expression for the elastic forces in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. This method, which employs a nonlinear elastic strain-displacement relationship, does not result in an unstable solution when the angular velocity is increased.

Vibrational Characteristics of Composite Shafts

The present study aims in performing eigenvalue analysis and unbalance response for a rotor system having a composite shaft, modelled based on first order shear deformation theory using finite element method with shell elements. Different materials such as boron epoxy, carbon epoxy and graphite epoxy have been tried for various stacking sequences. From the study it is clear that the stacking sequence and material have great influence on the vibrational characteristics of composite shafts.

Stability Analysis of Finite Difference Model of Orthogonal Metal Cutting in Presence of Random Noises

The dynamics of a nonlinear cutting process in the presence of random noise is defined and investigated. This approach is adequate for a wide range of models describing the orthogonal metal cutting processes by a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator, where the nonlinearity comes from the cutting force in form of a variable resistance force. The method of Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional was adopted to analyze the necessary conditions for a stable operation. The conditions ensuring an asymptotic stability in the presence of random noises are established.

Influence Coefficients Obtained by Hammer Beat Permit Significant Time Savings When Balancing Simple Flexible Rotors

The following paper presents a method for balancing simple flexible rotors with the help of influence coefficients obtained by hammer beat. The method permits time savings of approx. 50% compared to the conventional influence coefficient method. Initial positive results obtained on a flexible roll are also presented.

Estimation of the Largest Lyapunov Exponent of Discontinuous Systems Using Chaos Synchronization

Properties of chaos synchronization have been used for estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent of a discontinuous mechanical system. A method for such estimation is proposed and an example is shown, based on coupling of two identical systems with dry friction which is modelled according to the Popp-Stelter formula.

Modeling the Vibratory Drilling Process

The dynamic behavior of deep-hole vibratory drilling is analyzed. The mathematical model presented allows the determination of axial tool and workpiece displacements and cutting forces for significant dynamic system behavior such as the entrance of the cutting tool into workpiece material and exit. Model parameters include the actual rigidity of the tool and workpiece, time-varying chip thickness, time lag for chip formation due to tool rotation and possible disengagement of drill cutting edges from the workpiece due to tool and/or workpiece axial vibrations. The main features of this model are its nonlinearity and inclusion of time lag differential equations which require numeric solutions. The specific cutting conditions (feed, tool rotational velocity, amplitude and frequency of forced vibrations) necessary to obtain discontinuous chips and reliable removal are determined. The stability conditions of excited vibrations are also investigated. Calculated bifurcation diagrams make it possible to derive the domain of system parameters along with the determination of optimal cutting conditions.

Efficient Human Motion Planning Using Recursive Dynamics and Optimal Control Techniques

We present an efficient optimal control based approach to simulate dynamically correct human movements. We model virtual humans as a kinematic chain consisting of serial, closed-loop, and tree-structures. To overcome the complexity limitations of the classical Lagrangian formulation and to include knowledge from biomechanical studies, we have developed a minimum-torque motion planning method. This new method is based on the use of optimal control theory within a recursive dynamics framework. Our dynamic motion planning methodology achieves high efficiency regardless of the figure topology. As opposed to a Lagrangian formulation, it obviates the need for the reformulation of the dynamic equations for different structured articulated figures. We use a quasi-Newton method based nonlinear programming technique to solve our minimum torque-based human motion planning problem. This method achieves superlinear convergence. We use the screw theoretical method to compute analytically the necessary gradient of the motion and force. This provides a better conditioned optimization computation and allows the robust and efficient implementation of our method. Cubic spline functions have been used to make the search space for an optimal solution finite. We demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed method based on a variety of human motion tasks involving open and closed loop kinematic chains. Our models are built using parameters chosen from an anthropomorphic database. The results demonstrate that our approach generates natural looking and physically correct human motions.

A Numerical Approach to Solving Flexible Multibody Systems Using the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation

By utilizing the fact that the absolute nodal coordinate formulation leads to a constant mass matrix, a Cholesky decomposition of the mass matrix can be used to obtain a constant velocity transformation matrix. This velocity transformation can be used to express the absolute nodal coordinates in terms of the generalized Cholesky coordinates. In this case, the inertia matrix associated with the Cholesky coordinates is the identity matrix, and therefore, an optimum sparse matrix structure can be obtained for the augmented multibody equations of motions. The implementation of a computer procedure based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation and Cholesky coordinates is discussed in this paper. A flexible four-bar linkage is presented in this paper in order to demonstrate the use of Cholesky coordinates in the simulation of the small and large deformations in flexible multibody applications. The results obtained from the absolute nodal coordinate formulation are compared to those obtained from the floating frame of reference formulation.

Combinations for the Free Vibration Behaviors of Anisotropic Rectangular Plates Under General Edge Conditions

The free vibration behavior of rectangular plates provides important technical information in structural design, and the natural frequencies are primarily affected by the boundary conditions as well as aspect and thickness ratios. One of the three classical edge conditions, i.e., free, simple supported and clamped edges, may be used to model the constraint along an edge of the rectangle. Along the entire boundary with four edges, there exist a wide variety of combinations in the edge conditions, each yielding different natural frequencies and mode shapes. For counting the total number of possible combinations, the present paper introduces the Polya counting theory in combinatorial mathematics, and formulas are derived for counting the exact numbers. A modified Ritz method is then developed to calculate natural frequencies of anisotropic rectangular plates under any combination of the three edge conditions and is used to numerically verify the numbers. In numerical experiments, the number of combinations in the free vibration behaviors is determined for some plate models by using the derived formulas, and are corroborated by counting the numbers of different sets of the natural frequencies that are obtained from the Ritz method.

Experimental Investigation of Noise Sources in a Needle Roller Bearing System

An experimental investigation was undertaken to determine the causes of noise emission scatter in hosiery machines. Following the experimental measurement of the sound power levels, the hosiery machine’s mechanical system was assembled and tested with components of various sizes. The results indicated that the source of the noise emissions was a bearing’s outer race. Analysis of the outer race’s roundness profile in relation to vibrations provided accurate predictions of machine behavior. On the basis of a correlation between noise and vibrations, a practical method of online monitoring was developed.