Energy flow and performance evaluation of inerter-based vibration isolators mounted on finite and infinite flexible foundation structures

This study investigates the vibration power flow behavior and performance of inerter-based vibration isolators mounted on finite and infinite flexible beam structures. Two configurations of vibration isolators with spring, damper, and inerter as well as different rigidities of finite and infinite foundation structures are considered. Both the time-averaged power flow transmission and the force transmissibility are studied and used as indices to evaluate the isolation performance. Comparisons are made between the two proposed configurations of inerter-based isolators and the conventional spring-damper isolators to show potential performance benefits of including inerter for effective vibration isolation. It is shown that by configuring the inerter, spring, and damper in parallel in the isolator, anti-peaks are introduced in the time-averaged transmitted power and force transmissibility at specific frequencies such that the vibration transmission to the foundation can be greatly suppressed. When the inerter is connected in series with a spring-damper unit and then in-parallel with a spring, considerable improvement in vibration isolation can be achieved near the original peak frequency while maintaining good high-frequency isolation performance. The study provides better understanding of the effects of adding inerters to vibration isolators mounted on a flexible foundation, and benefits enhanced designs of inerter-based vibration suppression systems.

Research on cooperative optimization of multiphase pump impeller and diffuser based on adaptive refined response surface method

Multiphase pumps play an important role in the exploitation of natural gas hydrate. Compared with ordinary pumps, they can handle fluids with higher gas volume fraction (GVF). Therefore, it is important to improve the performance of the pump under high GVF. A model pump is designed based on the design theory of axial flow pump and centrifugal pump inducer. The hydraulic performance of the model pump is verified by numerical simulation and experiment. The Sparse Grid method is applied to the design of experiment (DOE), and three different adaptive refined response surface methods (RSM) are applied to the build the approximate model. Refinement points and verification points are used to improve and verify the precision of the response surface, respectively. The model with high precision and high computational efficiency is obtained through comparison and analysis. The multi-objective optimization of the optimal response surface model is carried out by MOGA (Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm) method. The pressure increment of the optimized model is increased by 38 kPa. The efficiency is significantly improved under large mass flow conditions. The hydraulic performance of the optimized model is compared with that of the basic model. And the reasons that affect the performance of the multiphase pump are analyzed.

Research on seismic ground motion parameters applicable to the safety of rectangular shallow tunnel

The objective of this paper is to optimize the selection of seismic ground motion intensity indexes in the seismic fortification of urban shallow-buried rectangular tunnels. This paper takes a shallow-buried rectangular tunnel in a city as the research object, uses ABAQUS to establish a finite-infinite element coupling model, and selects 70 typical seismic ground motions for dynamic calculation. Using dynamic time history analysis method to study the seismic response of tunnel lining structure in terms of internal force, minimum safety factor and strain energy, and analyze their correlation with 15 seismic ground motion parameters. Selecting the seismic ground motion parameters with strong correlation, good effectiveness, and high credibility for safety evaluation. The research results show that: Peak acceleration (PGA) has a weak correlation with the seismic response of tunnel lining structures, and PGA as an independent seismic ground motion intensity index has greater uncertainty in the seismic fortification of tunnels; Peak displacement (PGD), Root-mean-square velocity (RMSV), Root-mean-square displacement (RMSD), and Specific energy density (SED) can be used as independent seismic ground motion intensity index, The linear regression model is used to evaluate the safety of the lining structure, and finally the evaluation result is verified by the incremental dynamic analysis method (IDA), which shows that the evaluation result is accurate. The research results can provide reference for the preliminary design of seismic fortification of rectangular shallow tunnels.

Analysis of preheating temperature field characteristics in selective laser sintering

Selective laser sintering technology has broad application prospects in the manufacture of small batch parts with complex structure. In the sintering process, the preheating efficiency and temperature of powder layer determine the processing quality. A method of preheating powder by lamp radiation and tropical heat conduction is proposed in this paper. The thermal radiation model is established, and the angle coefficient is introduced to describe the proportion of radiation energy on the surface of powder layer. Based on the geometric characteristics of the powder cylinder, the heat conduction process is simplified to one-dimensional heat conduction along the radial direction, and the heat conduction model is established. The coupled temperature field under two actions is obtained by combining the heat radiation model with the heat conduction model. The uniformity coefficient [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] of the temperature field is defined to represent the uniformity of the preheating temperature field of the powder layer. By comparing the uniformity coefficient [Formula: see text], a more uniform temperature field can be obtained when the height coefficient is 1.8 under combined action. The validity of the model is verified by a comparative experiment with processed water atomized iron powder. Constructing uniform temperature field can effectively reduce the deformation of parts and improve the forming quality.

Influence of Miller cycle on thermal load of high-boosted diesel engine

With the increase of the engine intensified degree, mechanical load and thermal load become to the two main factors limiting the engine to intensify. Application of Miller cycle, which can be realized by late intake valve closing (LIVC) and deeper late intake valve closing (DLIVC), has the potential to reduce the effective CR, mechanical load, and thermal load. In this paper, the effects of LIVC and DLIVC on the mechanical load and thermal load of a boosted DI diesel are experimentally compared. Compared to the original base case, the average cylinder temperature of LIVC and DLIVC is reduced by 90 and 52 K. The exhaust temperature of LIVC and DLIVC decreased by 26 and 14 K, and the maximum combustion pressure of LIVC and DLIVC decreased by 1.6 and 9.7 bar. The pumping losses of LIVC and DLIVC are reduced by more than 25%, while the actual cycle power does not decrease due to the late closing of the inlet valve. The fuel consumption rate decreased from 250.1 g/kWh of base case to 240 g/kWh of LIVC, reduced by 4.0%. The indicated thermal efficiency increased from 41.9% of base case to 43.7% and 42.5% of LIVC and DLIVC. Miller loss is only 2.55% with Miller inlet phase.

Generalized Newtonian flow analysis in the microchannel manufactured by SLA considering nano-scale stair effect

SLA (stereolithography), as a rapid and accurate additive manufacturing method, can be used to mold the microchannel. The stair effect is inevitable when the part is printed layer by layer, which has an important influence on the printing performance. In the current work, the power-law flow in the microchannel with nano-scale stairs manufactured by SLA is simulated and investigated. To improve the stability caused by the non-Newtonian behavior, a modified lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is proposed and validated. Then, a series of simulations are conducted and analyzed, the results show that both the stair effect and power-law index are important factors. The stairs on the surface force the streamlines to be curved and increase the outlet velocity. In addition, different power-law indexes result in completely different flows. The small power-law index leads to a much larger velocity than other cases, while the large power-law index makes the outlet velocity unstable at the middle position.

Sensor-based skeleton modeling and MVEEs approach of the redundant manipulator for reaction motion

With the wide application of redundant manipulators, sharing a working space with humans and dealing with uncertainty seems an inevitable problem, especially in the dynamic and unstructured domain. How to deal with obstacle avoidance is of particular importance that robots and humans/environments are safe interactions to fulfill the complex cooperating tasks. This paper aimed at solving the problem of multiple points avoidance for the reaction motion based on the skeleton algorithm in unstructured and dynamic environments. A method named “sensor-based skeleton modeling and MVEEs approach of the redundant manipulator for the reaction motion” is proposed. The extraction of skeleton information from image is obtained to calculate the distances of the multiple control points and establish the repulsion in this method. Afterward, the force Jacobian related to the priority weighting factors is calculated and then a reaction force with damping term is established, which is corresponding nominal torque commands. For the redundant manipulator, the joint angles are obtained through torque iteration instead of inverse kinematics to reduce calculation cost. Finally, the method was tested by a 7-DOF manipulator in the ROS framework. The obtained results indicate that the method in this method can realize dynamic obstacle avoidance and time cost reduction.

Layout analysis of compressed air and hydraulic energy storage systems for vehicles

The compressed air energy storage system has a better energy density, while the widely used hydraulic one is superior in power performance. Therefore, they are suitable for different hybrid vehicles, which require a comparative study on the performances and vehicle applicability of the broad pressure energy storage system layouts. In this paper, an integrated mathematical model of four basic pressure layouts is presented for characteristic analysis and applicability discussion. Results show that the open volume layout achieves the best power performance with the flow specific power of 13.92 MJ/m3, thus it is suitable for heavy hybrid trucks and mobile machinery. The open mass layout achieves the best energy performance with the energy density of 124.35 MJ/m3, which can be used in light new energy passenger vehicles. And the performance of the closed volume layout is close to the open volume layout with the flow specific power of 9.78 MJ/m3, so it could be applied to middle and light hybrid trucks. This research provides a basis for the hybrid method of pressure energy storage system layouts for vehicles, and could be applied in the design and research of non-electric hybrid vehicles in the near future.

Improvement of the coiling stress calculation model for a mandrel-sleeve-coil

The steel rolling process employs a coiling-uncoiling process in which a steel sheet is wound and unwound in a coil shape using a coiler to efficiently produce a long steel sheet with a constant thickness. As front and rear tension is required when the steel sheet enters and exits the rolling mill, the coiler introduces tension in the steel sheet through the control of the rotational speed. As the coil is produced, coiling tension accumulates, and pressure is applied to the inside of the coil. Finite element analysis and stress calculation analysis were derived from previous studies to prevent such pressure increases in the sleeves and coils. However, the radial and circumferential stresses at arbitrary positions inside the coil cannot be accurately determined by considering without the stresses’ difference in the thickness direction based on the assumption that the coil’s thickness is thin. In this study, an analytical model that can accurately calculate the sleeve and coil stress during elastic deformation was established by improving the internal circumferential stress generated when the steel sheet is bent into a coil and the radial stress equation associated with the beam bending theory. In addition, by comparing the finite element analysis model results reflecting the same coiling condition, this model’s validity was verified by confirming the consistency of the results.

Multiobjective optimization of internal and surface structure of high-speed and heavy-duty brake disc

The brake disc plays a crucial role to keep the stable braking of a high-speed and heavy-duty disc brake. There is always high temperature, brake vibration, and even serious deformation under braking pressure and frictional resistance. To improve brake performance, this paper aims to find new internal and surface structures of the brake disc. An equivalent moving load (EML) topology optimization method for internal structure is proposed. Topography optimization method oriented to displacement and stress control for surface structure is carried out. Multiobjective functions containing thermal-structural coupled rigidity and natural frequency of the brake disc are established in the internal and surface structure optimizations. Internal and surface structures of the brake disc are optimized, and the mechanic properties of the brake disc are improved. Thermal-structural coupling and modal analyses are verified with high-speed and heavy-duty brake working conditions. The results show that new brake disc structures meet the requirements, and the effectiveness of the proposed EML topology optimization and topography optimization methods has been proved.