The effects of the printing direction and UV artificial degradation on the mechanical properties using AM PolyJet technology

This study addresses differences in the material properties due to the influence of the printing direction, UV degradation and the use of differently coloured materials. The specimens were manufactured employing PolyJet technology from the Vero material (VeroBlue, VeroYellow, VeroMagenta). Subsequently, the specimens were subjected to tension and compression testing. Ageing is simulated via the exposure of the specimens to solar UVA and UVB for 15 and 30 days (the calculated daylight UV exposure for half a year and a whole year, respectively). The differences in the material properties were also determined according to the types of material. The results were then subjected to a statistical analysis.

Finite-element modeling of vocal fold self-oscillations in interaction with vocal tract: Comparison of incompressible and compressible flow model

Finite-element modeling of self-sustained vocal fold oscillations during voice production has mostly considered the air as incompressible, due to numerical complexity. This study overcomes this limitation and studies the influence of air compressibility on phonatory pressures, flow and vocal fold vibratory characteristics. A two-dimensional finite-element model is used, which incorporates layered vocal fold structure, vocal fold collisions, large deformations of the vocal fold tissue, morphing the fluid mesh according to the vocal fold motion by the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian approach and vocal tract model of Czech vowel [i:] based on data from magnetic resonance images. Unsteady viscous compressible or incompressible airflow is described by the Navier-Stokes equations. An explicit coupling scheme with separated solvers for structure and fluid domain was used for modeling the fluid-structure-acoustic interaction. Results of the simulations show clear differences in the glottal flow and vocal fold vibration waveforms between the incompressible and compressible fluid flow. These results provide the evidence on the existence of the coupling between the vocal tract acoustics and the glottal flow (Level 1 interactions), as well as between the vocal tract acoustics and the vocal fold vibrations (Level 2 interactions).

Kinematic and dynamic analysis of dam break flow impact on vertical walls using weakly compressible SPH

This article presents the kinematic and dynamic analysis of a dam break flow based on data obtained from numerical solutions by the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The method and original algorithms necessary for correct pressure evaluation are thoroughly described. The pressure evaluation method consists of data reading using virtual sensors and filtration in the time domain using the weight function. A simple convergence study showing the independency of the evaluated parameters of spatial resolution is presented together with validation of the introduced methods and algorithms using a simple hydrostatic problem and experimental data available in the literature. We focus on two parameters that describe the problem: distance of the downstream vertical wall from the edge of the liquid column and the column’s height to width ratio. We found that the impact can be divided into three consecutive phases characterized by specific kinematic (flow patterns) and dynamic (exerted pressure and forces) behavior and different roles of the investigated parameters during these phases. During the early stages of an impact, the column’s distance from the vertical wall plays a major role. A dependency between the column distance and the force peak in this stage was identified in the form of a power function. In the second stage, when a rolling wave emerges, the vertical wall position influences the shape of the wave and the pressure distribution on the wall. The total force is greater in this phase for lower column height to width ratios due to the higher total momentum of the liquid. In the third stage, when the rolling wave impacts the liquid surface, the employed methodology with two-dimensional solution and free-surface approach seems to reach its limits of applicability. A more complex modelling would be necessary to capture this phase of the impact properly.

Interaction of a finite crack with shear waves in an infinite magnetoelastic medium

The aim of this paper is to investigate the interaction of a finite crack with shear waves in an infinite magnetoelastic medium. Fourier integral transformation is applied to convert the boundary value problem for a homogeneous, isotropic elastic material to the Fredholm integral equation of second kind. The integral equation is solved by the perturbation method and the effect of magnetic field interaction on the crack is discussed. The stress intensity factor at the crack tip is determined numerically and plotted for low frequencies. Moreover, shear stress outside the crack, crack opening displacement, and crack energy are evaluated and shown by means of graphs.

Boundary effects of a nonconcentric semipermeable sphere using Happel and Kuwabara cell models

The effect of a closed boundary on the hydrodynamic drag of a nonconcentric semipermeable sphere in an incompressible viscous fluid is investigated. Darcy’s law holds in the permeable region and Stokes flow used inside the spherical cavity. Suitable boundary conditions are used on the surface of a semipermeable sphere and spherical cavity. Two spherical coordinate systems are used to solve the problem. By superposition principle, a general solution is constructed from the solutions based on the semipermeable sphere and spherical cavity. Numerical results for the hydrodynamic drag force exerted on the particle is obtained with good convergence for various values of the relative distance between the centers of the inner sphere and spherical cavity, permeability parameter and the separation parameter. The numerical values of the hydrodynamic drag force generalize the results obtained for an eccentric solid sphere.

Random response of a simple system with stochastic uncertainty and noise in parameters

The paper is concerned with the analysis of the simultaneous effect of a random perturbation and white noise in the coefficient of the system on its response. The excitation of the system of the 1st order is described by the sum of a deterministic signal and additive white noise, which is partly correlated with a parametric noise. The random perturbation in the parameter is considered statistics in a set of realizations. It reveals that the probability density of these perturbations must be limited in the phase space, otherwise the system would lose the stochastic stability in probability, either immediately or after a certain time. The width of the permissible zone depends on the intensity of the parametric noise, the extent of correlation with the additive excitation noise, and the type of probability density. The general explanation is demonstrated on cases of normal, uniform, and truncated normal probability densities.

Numerical study on the impact of particles filling pattern and screw parameters on the mixing uniformity of wheat grains in a screw mixer

The presence of moisture content in a silo makes the preservation of a grain stock challenging especially when dealing with a large stock. This made it as a major concern for engineers to preserve large crops of grains and avoid huge losses. By installing a screw inside of a silo, the moisture problem could be avoided by stirring the loaded granular bed alongside aeration, also it could be effective to mix different types of loaded materials. The present work has sought to develop predictive models of discrete element method for mixing uniformity assessment when mixing wheat granules in a hopper-bottom screw mixer. The different factors being investigated are: initial configuration of particles, screw rotational direction, screw pitch length, screw diameter and screw rotational velocity. Findings regarding bed homogeneity were calculated using the nearest neighbor’s method. The best mixture was obtained when considering a side-wise filling type of particles ahead mixing and using a 20 mm screw diameter, 30 mm screw pitch and rotating the screw at 80 rpm speed.

Natural frequencies analysis of functionally graded circular cylindrical shells

In the present work, a study on natural frequencies of functionally graded materials (FGM) circular cylindrical shells is presented. TheFGM is considered to be a mixture of two materials. The volumetric fractions are considered to vary in the radial direction (i.e., through the thickness) in compliance with a conventional power-law distribution. The equivalent material properties are estimated based on the Voigt model. The analysis of the FGM cylindrical shells is performed using the third-order shear deformation shell theory and the principle of virtual displacements. Moreover, the third-order shear deformation shell theory coupled with Carrera’s unified formulation is applied for the derivation of the governing equations associated with the free vibration of circular cylindrical shells. The accuracy of this method is examined by comparing the obtained numerical results with other previously published results. Additionally, parametric studies are performed for FGM cylindrical shells with several boundary conditions in order to show the effect of several design variables on the natural frequencies such as the power-law exponent, the circumferential wave number, the length to radius ratio and the thickness to radius ratio.

Influence of input parameters in radial compressor design algorithm on the efficiency and its sensitivity analysis

Nowadays there are lots of methods using three-dimensional or quasi three-dimensional CFD analysis. Unfortunately, this approach is still very demanding, so that quick preliminary design algorithms have still its importance, even though simplified analytical model of radial compressor gives less accurate results. Obtained results can be used in later stages of the radial compressor (RC) design, such as definition of spatial impeller geometry and CFD computation. The article presents the influence of input parameters in the radial compressor design algorithm on the efficiency. The assembled mathematical model of RC is derived from the basic laws of continuum mechanics and can be used for a quick assessment of the preliminary design concept of the RC. A sensitivity analysis is performed on input parameters to select parameters that have the dominant effect on the monitored performance indicators. On the basis of the sensitivity analysis, a multicriteria optimization process was assembled to increase the performance parameters.