Computation of Nonlinear Response of Hydraulically Actuated Structures

The maneuvering and motion control of large flexible structures are often performed hydraulically. The pressure dynamics of the hydraulic subsystem and the rigid body and vibrational dynamics of the structure are fully coupled. The hydraulic subsystem pressure dynamics are strongly nonlinear, with the servovalve opening x(t) providing a parametric excitation. The rigid body and/or flexible body motions may be nonlinear as well. In order to obtain accurate ODE models of the pressure dynamics, hydraulic fluid compressibility must generally be taken into account, and this results in system ODE models which can be very stiff (even if a low order Galerkin-vibration model is used). In addition, the dependence of the pressure derivatives on the square root of pressure results in a “faster than exponential” behavior as certain limiting pressure values are approached, and this may cause further problems in the numerics, including instability. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient strategy for numerical simulation of the response of this type of system. The main results are the following: 1) If the system has no rigid body modes and is thus “self-centered,” that is, there exists an inherent stiffening effect which tends to push the motion to a stable static equilibrium, then linearized models of the pressure dynamics work well, even for relatively large pressure excursions. This result, enabling linear system theory to be used, appears of value for design and optimization work; 2) If the system possesses a rigid body mode and is thus “non-centered,” i.e., there is no stiffness element restraining rigid body motion, then typically linearization does not work. We have, however discovered an artifice which can be introduced into the ODE model to alleviate the stiffness/instability problems; 3) in some situations an incompressible model can be used effectively to simulate quasi-steady pressure fluctuations (with care!). In addition to the aforementioned simulation aspects, we will present comparisons of the theoretical behavior with experimental histories of pressures, rigid body motion, and vibrational motion measured for the Battelle dynamics/controls test bed system: a hydraulically actuated system consisting of a long flexible beam with end mass, mounted on a hub which is rotated hydraulically. The low order ODE models predict most aspects of behavior accurately.

Effect of Dynamic Shear Force on Fastener Loosening in Assemblies

Placement and orientation of fasteners in assemblies is generally based on convenience or static load and strength considerations. Vibration and other dynamic loads can result in loosening of threaded product, particularly when cyclic shear stresses are present. This paper investigates the placement of a bolt and nut on a compound cantilever beam subjected to dynamic inertial loading. Calculations for an inertial loaded, cantilever, Euler-Bernoulli beam show that the dynamic shear stress is maximum near the dynamic nodal lines, and essentially vanishes near the anti-nodes. Experiments with a compound cantilever beam assembly with one fastener reveal that loosening occurs more readily when the bolt and nut are placed near a nodal line. Data presented include time to loosen, break-away torque, and acceleration level. The data shows that fastener integrity is maintained for longer periods of time and with lower tightening torques, when the bolt and nut are positioned away from nodal lines where shear stresses are lower, even though acceleration levels are higher.

Two Groups of Chaotic Vibrations in a Single-Degree-of-Freedom Maglev System

In this paper, a single-degree-of-freedom magnetic levitation dynamic system, whose spring is composed of a magnetic repulsive force, is numerically analyzed. The numerical results indicate that a body levitated by magnetic force shows many kinds of vibrations upon adjusting the system parameters (viz., damping, excitation amplitude and excitation frequency) when the system is excited by the harmonically moving base. For a suitable combination of parameters, an aperiodic vibration occurs after a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations. Typical aperiodic vibrations that occurred after period-doubling bifurcations from several initial states are identified as chaotic vibration and classified into two groups by examining their power spectra, Poincare maps, fractal dimension analyses, etc.

Experimental Identification Technique of Nonlinear Beams in Time Domain

In previous papers the authors proposed a new experimental identification technique applicable to elastic structures. The proposed technique is based on the principle of harmonic balance, and can be classified as the frequency domain technique. The technique requires the excitation force to be periodic. This is in some cases a restriction. So another technique free from this restriction is of use. In this paper, as a first step for developing such techniques, a technique applicable to beams is proposed. The proposed technique can be classified as the time domain one. Two variations of the technique are proposed, depending on what methods are used for estimating the parameters of the governing equations. The first method is based on the usual least square method. The second is based on solving a minimization problem with constraints. The latter usually yields better results. But in this method, an iteration procedure is used, which requires initial values for the parameters. To determine the initial values, the first method can be used. So both methods are useful. Finally the applicability of the proposed technique is confirmed by numerical simulation and experiments.

Mathematical Model of a Buckled Spring for Vehicle Active Suspension

The basic characteristic of a conventional spring is that of a constant rate, that is a linear force-displacement relationship. If, however, a flat, thin leaf spring is end-loaded past its buckling point it will deform into a curve and the resulting force-displacement relationship can be made virtually flat; that is a very low effective rate is seen, once the buckling force is exceeded. A novel form of automotive active suspension system proposed by Leighton & Pullen (1994) relies upon the “buckled spring” element acting through a variable geometry wishbone assembly to provide wheel to body forces that are controllable by a low power actuator but are virtually independent of wheel to body displacement. The dynamic behavior of the spring element is also significant, since resonance effects may affect the vibration isolating properties of the suspension system and may result in unstable modes of motion. This paper presents a rigorous derivation of the static and dynamic characteristic of the spring element and of the effect of design compromises that are essential for practical application. Comparison of the experimental and simulation results shows that the simulation can be used to predict the static and dynamic performance of the spring.

Toward a Minimal Dynamic Model of a 6-DOF Parallel Robot

In this paper, an architecture of a six degrees of freedom (dof) parallel robot and three limbs is described. The robot is called Space Manipulator (SM). In a first step, the inverse kinematic problem for the robot is solved in closed form solution. Further, we need to inverse only a 3 × 3 passive jacobian matrix to solve the direct kinematic problem. In a second step, the dynamic equations are derived by using the Lagrangian formalism where the coordinates are the passive and active joint coordinates. Based on geometrical properties of the robot, the equations of motion are derived in terms of only 9 coordinates related by 3 kinematic constraints. The computational cost of the obtained dynamic model is reduced by using a minimum set of base inertial parameters.

The Double Seesaw Oscillator in a Windfield: Theory and Experiments

In this paper the dynamics of an oscillator with two degrees-of-freedom of a double seesaw type in a windtunnel is studied. Model equations for this aeroelastic oscillator are derived and an analysis of these equations is given for the non-resonant case. A typical result is a (local codimension two) bifurcation which describes the transfer from the unstable equilibrium state to one of the two normal modes of the oscillator. Some experimental results are presented from which on may conclude that more accurate model equations should be developed.

Efficient Structural Acoustic Analysis Using Finite and Infinite Elements and Parallel Processing Architectures

The analysis of three-dimensional shell structures submerged in an infinite fluid and subjected to arbitrary loadings is a computationally demanding problem regardless of the analytical technique used. Over the past several years, we have developed a combined finite/infinite element method of solving this class of problems that is more efficient than other available techniques, and have implemented it in a comprehensive set of computer programs called SARA. This paper presents an overview of our work in parallizing this software. In the first part of the paper, we describe our method for solving the fluid-structure interaction equations including infinite element theory, and modeling practices that have evolved for solving cylindrical geometries. The second part of the paper addresses parallalization of SARA-3D on both shared and distributed memory architectures. The SARA implementation of the method is described along with sample problems, and a comparison to a SARA-3D solution is provided.

Nonlinear Vibrations in an Elastic Structure Subjected to Vertical Excitation and Coupled With Liquid Sloshing in a Rectangular Tank

The nonlinear coupled vibrations of an elastic structure and liquid sloshing in a rectangular tank, partially filled with liquid, are investigated. The structure containing the tank is vertically subjected to a sinusoidal excitation. In the theoretical analysis, the resonance curves for the responses of the structure and liquid surface are presented by the harmonic balance method, when the natural frequency of the structure is equal to twice the natural frequency of one of the sloshing modes. From the theoretical analysis, the following predictions have been obtained: (a) Due to the nonlinearity of the fluid force, harmonic oscillations appear in the structure, while subharmonic oscillations occur on the liquid surface, (b) the shapes of the resonance curves markedly change depending on the liquid depth, and (c) when the detuning condition is slightly deviated, almost periodic oscillations and chaotic oscillations appear at certain intervals of the excitation frequency. These were qualitatively in good agreement with the experimental results.

Canonical Perturbation of a Fast Time-Periodic Hamiltonian via Liapunov-Floquet Transformation

In this study a possible application of time-dependent canonical perturbation theory to a fast nonlinear time-periodic Hamiltonian with strong internal excitation is considered. It is shown that if the time-periodic unperturbed part is quadratic, the Hamiltonian may be canonically transformed to an equivalent form in which the new unperturbed part is time-invariant so that the time-dependent canonical perturbation theory may be successfully applied. For this purpose, the Liapunov-Floquet (L-F) transformation and its inverse associated with the unperturbed time-periodic quadratic Hamiltonian are computed using a recently developed technique. Action-angle variables and time-dependent canonical perturbation theory are then utilized to find the solution in the original coordinates. The results are compared for accuracy with solutions obtained by both numerical integration and by the classical method of directly applying the time-dependent perturbation theory in which the time-periodic quadratic part is treated as another perturbation term. A strongly excited Mathieu-Hill quadratic Hamiltonian with a cubic perturbation and a nonlinear time-periodic Hamiltonian without a constant quadratic part serve as illustrative examples. It is shown that, unlike the classical method in which the internal excitation must be weak, the proposed formulation provides accurate solutions for an arbitrarily large internal excitation.