Elasto-plastic contact stress analysis of joints subjected to cyclic loading

Rigorous elastic-plastic finite element analysis of joints subjected to cyclic loading is carried out. An incremental-iterative algorithm is developed in a modular form combining elasto-plastic material behaviour and contact stress analysis. For the case of the interference fit, the analysis sequentially carries out insertion of the pin and application of the load on the joint, covering possible initiation of separation (and/or yielding) and progressively the receding/advancing contact at the pin-plate interface. Deformations of both the plate and the pin are considered in the analysis. Numerical examples are presented for the case of an interference fit pin in a large plate under remote cyclic tension, and for an interference fit pin lug joint subjected to cyclic loading. A detailed study is carried out for the latter problem considering the effect of change in contact/separation at the pin-plate interface on local stresses, strains and redistribution of these stresses with the spread of a plastic zone. The results of the study are a useful input for the estimation of the fatigue life of joints. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd

Nonlinear static and dynamic damped response of a composite rectangular plate resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation

Nonlinear static and dynamic response analyses of a clamped. rectangular composite plate resting on a two-parameter elastic foundation have been studied using von Karman's relations. Incorporating the material damping, the governing coupled, nonlinear partial differential equations are obtained for the plate under step pressure pulse load excitation. These equations have been solved by a one-term solution and by applying Galerkin's technique to the deflection equation. This yields an ordinary nonlinear differential equation in time. The nonlinear static solution is obtained by neglecting the time-dependent variables. Thc nonlinear dynamic damped response is obtained by applying the ultraspherical polynomial approximation (UPA) technique. The influences of foundation modulus, shear modulus, orthotropy, etc. upon the nonlinear static and dynamic responses have been presented.

Role of elasto-plastic analysis under cyclic loading in fatigue crack growth studies

Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) has been widely used in the past for fatigue crack growth studies, but this is acceptable only in situations which are within small scale yielding (SSY). In many practical structural components, conditions of SSY could be violated and one has to look for fracture criteria based on elasto-plastic analysis. Crack closure phenomenon, one of the most striking discoveries based on inelastic deformations during crack growth, has significant effect on fatigue crack growth rate. Numerical simulation of this phenomenon is computationally intensive and involved but has been successfully implemented. Stress intensity factors and strain energy release rates lose their meaning, J-integral (or its incremental) values are applicable only in specific situations, whereas alternate path independent integrals have been proposed in the literature for use with elasto-plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) based criteria. This paper presents certain salient features of two independent finite element (numerical) studies of relevance to fatigue crack growth, where elasto-plastic analysis becomes significant. These problems can only be handled in the current day computational environment, and would have been only a dream just a few years ago.

Stability of stochastic Leipholz column with stochastic loading

The Leipholz column which is having the Young modulus and mass per unit length as stochastic processes and also the distributed tangential follower load behaving stochastically is considered. The non self-adjoint differential equation and boundary conditions are considered to have random field coefficients. The standard perturbation method is employed. The non self-adjoint operators are used within the regularity domain. Full covariance structure of the free vibration eigenvalues and critical loads is derived in terms of second order properties of input random fields characterizing the system parameter fluctuations. The mean value of critical load is calculated using the averaged problem and the corresponding eigenvalue statistics are sought. Through the frequency equation a transformation is done to yield load parameter statistics. A numerical study incorporating commonly observed correlation models is reported which illustrates the full potentials of the derived expressions.

The stretching of single poly-ubiquitin molecules: Static versus dynamic disorder in the non-exponential kinetics of chain unfolding

Static disorder has recently been implicated in the non-exponential kinetics of the unfolding of single molecules of poly-ubiquitin under a constant force Kuo, Garcia-Manyes, Li, Barel, Lu, Berne, Urbakh, Klafter, and Fernandez, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 107, 11336 (2010)]. In the present paper, it is suggested that dynamic disorder may provide a plausible, alternative description of the experimental observations. This suggestion is made on the basis of a model in which the barrier to chain unfolding is assumed to be modulated by a control parameter r that evolves in a parabolic potential under the action of fractional Gaussian noise according to a generalized Langevin equation. The treatment of dynamic disorder within this model is pursued using Zwanzig's indirect approach to noise averaging Acc. Chem. Res. 23, 148 (1990)]. In conjunction with a self-consistent closure scheme developed by Wilemski and Fixman J. Chem. Phys. 58, 4009 (1973); ibid. 60, 866 (1974)], this approach eventually leads to an expression for the chain unfolding probability that can be made to fit the corresponding experimental data very closely. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Dynamic Behavior of Poly(2-vinylpyridine) in Solution Studied by 13C Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation

Abstract: The dynamics of poly(2-vinylpyridine) in chloroform solution has been examined by C-13 spin-lattice relaxation time and NOE measurements as a function of temperature. The experiments were performed at 50.3 and 100.6 MHz. The backbone carbon relaxation data have been analyzed in terms of six motional models. Among these models, the models which consider conformational transitions and bond librations for the backbone were found to be more successful. Pyridyl ring motion has been modeled as a restricted rotation with the rotational amplitude varying with temperature. The activation energy parameters obtained from the relaxation data of the pyridyl ring carbon have been compared with the energy barrier for ring rotation estimated from conformational energy calculations using the AM1 semiempirical quantum chemical method. The results of the conformational energy calculations support the description of pyridyl ring motion as a restricted rotation.

Influence of carbide particles on the dynamic recrystallization of as-cast 304 stainless steel: a study using secondary ion mass spectrometric (SIMS) analysis

The domain of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) in as-cast 304 stainless steel material occurs at higher temperatures (1250 degrees C) and lower strain rates (0.001 s(-1)) than in wrought 304 stainless steel (1100 degrees C and 0.01 s(-1)). The above result has been explained earlier on the basis of a simple theoretical DRX model involving the rate of nucleation versus rate of grain boundary migration. The present investigation is aimed at examining experimentally the influence of carbide particles on the DRX of ascast 304 using secondary ion mass spectrometric (SIMS) analysis. Isothermal compression tests at a constant true strain rate have been performed on wrought 304 and as-cast 304 materials in the temperature and strain rate ranges of 1000 to 1250 degrees C and 0.001 to 1 s(-1) respectively. The SIMS analysis carried out on the deformed samples revealed that the large carbides present in the as-cast 304 material strongly influence the DRX process. In as-cast 304 material, the presence of large carbide particles in the microstructure shifts the DRX domain to higher temperature and lower strain rate in comparison with wrought 304 material.

A QFT-based robust SVC controller for improving the dynamic stability of power systems

A new design technique for an SVC-based power system damping controller has been proposed. The controller attempts to place all plant poles within a specified region on the s-plane to guarantee the desired closed loop performance. The use of Horowitz's quantitative feedback theory (QFT) permits the design of a 'fixed gain controller' that maintains its performance in spite of large variations in the plant parameters during its normal course of operation. The required controller parameters are arrived at by solving an optimization problem that incorporates the control specifications. The performance of this robust controller has been evaluated on a single machine infinite bus system equipped with a mid point SVC, and the results are shown to be consistent with the expected performance of the stabilizer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Maintaining dynamic sequences under equality tests in polylogarithmic time

We present a randomized and a deterministic data structure for maintaining a dynamic family of sequences under equality tests of pairs of sequences and creations of new sequences by joining or splitting existing sequences. Both data structures support equality tests in O(1) time. The randomized version supports new sequence creations in O(log(2) n) expected time where n is the length of the sequence created. The deterministic solution supports sequence creations in O(log n (log m log* m + log n)) time for the mth operation.

Non-exponentiality in electron transfer kinetics: Static versus dynamic disorder models

Non-exponential electron transfer kinetics in complex systems are often analyzed in terms of a quenched, static disorder model. In this work we present an alternative analysis in terms of a simple dynamic disorder model where the solvent is characterized by highly non-exponential dynamics. We consider both low and high barrier reactions. For the former, the main result is a simple analytical expression for the survival probability of the reactant. In this case, electron transfer, in the long time, is controlled by the solvent polarization relaxation-in agreement with the analyses of Rips and Jortner and of Nadler and Marcus. The short time dynamics is also non-exponential, but for different reasons. The high barrier reactions, on the other hand, show an interesting dynamic dependence on the electronic coupling element, V-el.

Autocalibration of dynamic bacterial growth model for water distribution system using GA

The presence of residual chlorine and organic matter govern the bacterial regrowth within a water distribution system. The bacterial growth model is essential to predict the spatial and temporal variation of all these substances throughout the system. The parameters governing the bacterial growth and biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) utilization are difficult to determine by experimentation. In the present study, the estimation of these parameters is addressed by using simulation-optimization procedure. The optimal solution by genetic algorithm (GA) has indicated that the proper combination of parameter values are significant rather than correct individual values. The applicability of the model is illustrated using synthetic data generated by introducing noise in to the error-free measurements. The GA was found to be a potential tool in estimating the parameters controlling the bacterial growth and BDOC utilization. Further, the GA was also used for evaluating the sensitivity issues relating parameter values and objective function. It was observed that mu and k(cl) are more significant and dominating compared to the other parameters. But the magnitude of the parameters is also an important issue in deciding the dominance of a particular parameter. GA is found to be a useful tool in autocalibration of bacterial growth model and a sensitivity study of parameters.

Studies on age-hardening characteristics of ceramic particle/matrix interfaces in Al-Cu-SiCp composites using ultra low-load-dynamic microhardness measurements

Ultra low-load-dynamic microhardness testing facilitates the hardness measurements in a very low volume of the material and thus is suited for characterization of the interfaces in MMC's. This paper details the studies on age-hardening behavior of the interfaces in Al-Cu-5SiC(p) composites characterized using this technique. Results of hardness studies have been further substantiated by TEM observations. In the solution-treated condition, hardness is maximum at the particle/matrix interface and decreases with increasing distance from the interface. This could be attributed to the presence of maximum dislocation density at the interface which decreases with increasing distance from the interface. In the case of composites subjected to high temperature aging, hardening at the interface is found to be faster than the bulk matrix and the aging kinetics becomes progressively slower with increasing distance from the interface. This is attributed to the dislocation density gradient at the interface, leading to enhanced nucleation and growth of precipitates at the interface compared to the bulk matrix. TEM observations reveal that the sizes of the precipitates decrease with increasing distance from the interface and thus confirms the retardation in aging kinetics with increasing distance from the interface.