Search results for "Mechanical Engineering & Transports"
showing 10 items of 408 documents
Exact and approximate analytical solutions for nonlocal nanoplates of arbitrary shapes in bending using the line element-less method
2021
AbstractIn this study, an innovative procedure is presented for the analysis of the static behavior of plates at the micro and nano scale, with arbitrary shape and various boundary conditions. In this regard, the well-known Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity theory is used to appropriately model small length scale effects. The proposed mesh-free procedure, namely the Line Element-Less Method (LEM), only requires the evaluation of simple line integrals along the plate boundary parametric equation. Further, variations of appropriately introduced functionals eventually lead to a linear system of algebraic equations in terms of the expansion coefficients of the deflection function. Notably, the prop…
Extension of the line element-less method to dynamic problems
2020
The line element-less method is an efficient approach for the approximate solution of the Laplace or biharmonic equation on a general bidimensional domain. Introducing generalized harmonic polynomials as approximation functions, we extend the line element-less method to the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation and to the eigenvalue problem for the Helmholtz equation. The obtained approximate solutions are critically discussed and advantages as well as limitations of the approach are pointed out.
Large eddy simulations on the effect of the irregular roughness shape on turbulent channel flows
2019
Abstract Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are carried out to investigate on the mean flow in turbulent channel flows over irregular rough surfaces. Here the attention is focused to selectively investigate on the effect induced by crests or cavities of the roughness. The irregular shape is generated through the super-imposition of sinusoidal functions having random amplitude and four different wave-lengths. The irregular roughness profile is reproduced along the spanwise direction in order to obtain a 2D rough shape. The analysis of the mean velocity profiles shows that roughness crests induce higher effect in the outer-region whereas roughness cavities cause the highest effects in the inner-reg…
Optimization of vehicle-trailer connection systems
2016
The three main requirements of a vehicle-trailer connection system are: en route stability, over- or under-steering restraint, minimum off-tracking along curved path. Linking the two units by four-bar trapeziums, wider stability margins may be attained in comparison with the conventional pintle-hitch for both instability types, divergent or oscillating. The stability maps are traced applying the Hurwitz method or the direct analysis of the characteristic equation at the instability threshold. Several types of four-bar linkages may be quickly tested, with the drawbars converging towards the trailer or the towing unit. The latter configuration appears preferable in terms of self-stability and…
On damping characteristics of frictional hysteresis in pre-sliding range
2016
Frictional hysteresis at relative motion in the pre-sliding range is considered. This effect is characterized by an elasto-plastic interaction, and that on the micro-scale, between two rubbing surfaces in contact that gives rise to nonlinear friction force. The pre-sliding friction force yields hysteresis in displacement. In this study, the damping characteristics of frictional hysteresis are analyzed. It is worth noting that we exclude the viscous damping mechanisms and focus on the pure hysteresis damping to be accounted in the friction modeling. The general properties of pre-sliding friction hysteresis are demonstrated and then compared with the limit case of discontinuous Coulomb fricti…
The origin of in-plane stresses in axially moving orthotropic continua
2016
In this paper, we address the problem of the origin of in-plane stresses in continuous, two-dimensional high-speed webs. In the case of thin, slender webs, a typical modeling approach is the application of a stationary in-plane model, without considering the effects of the in-plane velocity field. However, for high-speed webs this approach is insufficient, because it neglects the coupling between the total material velocity and the deformation experienced by the material. By using a mixed Lagrange–Euler approach in model derivation, the solid continuum problem can be transformed into a solid continuum flow problem. Mass conservation in the flow problem, and the behaviour of free edges in th…
Visual communication in lean organizations
2017
Many researchers have studied the role and importance of communication and communication types for organizations and their work force. The topic of organizational communication is a constantly changing one. The thing that remains stable throughout this very wide topic is its purpose: communication is vital for the effectiveness and success of organizations of all sizes, types and cultures. In terms of type, one could split up topic by type as followed: verbal, visual and written. This research paper focuses on the visual component at shop floor within automotive organizations. It aims at giving the reader a structured overview on the most appropriate but also lean visual communication pract…
Large eddy simulation of inertial particles dispersion in a turbulent gas-particle channel flow bounded by rough walls
2020
The purpose of this paper is to understand the capability and consistency of large eddy simulation (LES) in Eulerian–Lagrangian studies aimed at predicting inertial particle dispersion in turbulent wall-bounded flows, in the absence of ad hoc closure models in the Lagrangian equations of particle motion. The degree of improvement granted by LES models is object of debate, in terms of both accurate prediction of particle accumulation and local particle segregation; therefore, we assessed the accuracy in the prediction of the particle velocity statistics by comparison against direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a finer computational mesh, under both one-way and two-way coupling regimes. We p…
A novel boundary element formulation for anisotropic fracture mechanics
2019
Abstract A novel boundary element formulation for two-dimensional fracture mechanics is presented in this work. The formulation is based on the derivation of a supplementary boundary integral equation to be used in combination with the classic displacement boundary integral equation to solve anisotropic fracture mechanics problems via a single-region approach. The formulation is built starting from the observation that the displacement field for an anisotropic domain can be represented as the superposition of a vector field, whose components satisfy a suitably defined anisotropic Laplace equation, and the gradient of the Airy stress function. The supplementary boundary integral equation is …
Comparison of numerical modelling techniques for impact investigation on a wind turbine blade
2019
Wind turbine blades are exposed to numerous impact risks throughout their lifetimes. The impact risks range from bird collisions during operation to impacts with surrounding structures at the time of transportation and installation. Impact loads on the fibre composite blades can induce several complex, simultaneously interacting and visually undetectable damage modes and have a high potential to reduce the local and global blade stiffness. An assessment of such impact-induced damages is therefore necessary and usually involves high computational costs using numerical procedures, especially when analysing large composite components. To minimise this computational expense, different numerical…