A three-dimensional discrete element model for heterogeneous solids under mechanical loading

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is used to model solids under quasi-static and dynamic loading. In order to model elastic bodies, a microscopic model must be able to represent the macroscopic properties of the material. An energy-based approach to determine the model parameters is presented for an unit cell assemblage of 13 particles in the hexagonal close packing of spheres. The stored strain energy in the unit cell is added up and the specific strain energy expression is derived with respect to the macroscopic strains. The resulting stress-strain relations can be compared to the constitutive equations of the elastic continuum. To avoid cubic anisotropy for Poisson's ratios above zero, an advanced octahedrongap-filled hexagonal close packing of spheres is presented and validated. This approach for regular lattices can be transferred to heterogeneous materials with the goal of describing porous media such as cement stone. Therefore it is possible to use the presented regular lattices with statistically distributed properties or to investigate irregular distributions of particles. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

唯一补格中与分配性的等价条件和关于Peirces定理的证明

本文首先提出唯一补格与原子对偶原子相关的充要条件;然后对Peirces定理第4步证明提出了新的方法;进而提出并证明了唯一补格中与分配性的四个等价条件;本文最后提出了在唯一补格中可以推出分配性的四个等价条件,并逐一进行了证明。     

One method for solving systems of nonlinear partial differential equations

A method for reducing systems of partial differential equations to corresponding systems of ordinary differential equations is proposed. A system of equations describing two-dimensional, cylindrical, and spherical flows of a polytropic gas; a system of dimensionless Stokes equations for the dynamics of a viscous incompressible fluid; a system of Maxwell’s equations for vacuum; and a system of gas dynamics equations in cylindrical coordinates are studied. It is shown how this approach can be used for solving certain problems (shockless compression, turbulence, etc.).     

Discrete time modeling of mean-reverting stochastic processes for real option valuation

In this paper the recombining binomial lattice approach for modeling real options and valuing managerial flexibility is generalized to address a common issue in many practical applications, underlying stochastic processes that are mean-reverting. Binomial lattices were first introduced to approximate stochastic processes for valuation of financial options, and they provide a convenient framework for numerical analysis. Unfortunately, the standard approach to constructing binomial lattices can result in invalid probabilities of up and down moves in the lattice when a mean-reverting stochastic process is to be approximated. There have been several alternative methods introduced for modeling mean-reverting processes, including simulation-based approaches and trinomial trees, however they unfortunately complicate the numerical analysis of valuation problems. The approach developed in this paper utilizes a more general binomial approximation methodology from the existing literature to model simple homoskedastic mean-reverting stochastic processes as recombining lattices. This approach is then extended to model dual correlated one-factor mean-reverting processes. These models facilitate the evaluation of options with early-exercise characteristics, as well as multiple concurrent options.     

Topological duality and lattice expansions,I: A topological construction of canonical extensions

The two main objectives of this paper are (a) to prove purely topological duality theorems for semilattices and bounded lattices, and (b) to show that the topological duality from (a) provides a construction of canonical extensions of bounded lattices. In previously known dualities for semilattices and bounded lattices, the dual spaces are compact 0-dimensional spaces with additional algebraic structure. For example, semilattices are dual to 0-dimensional compact semilattices. Here we establish dual categories in which the spaces are characterized purely in topological terms, with no additional algebraic structure. Thus the results can be seen as generalizing Stone’s duality for distributive lattices rather than Priestley’s. The paper is the first of two parts. The main objective of the sequel is to establish a characterization of lattice expansions, i.e., lattices with additional operations, in the topological setting built in this paper.     

A new Chebyshev spectral approach for vibration of in-plane functionally graded Mindlin plates with variable thickness

This paper presents a new and simple approach for vibration analysis of in-plane functionally graded (IPFG) plates with variable thickness based on the Chebyshev spectral method. Both the material properties and the thickness which vary in the plane of the plate are approximated by high-order Chebyshev expansions. Gauss-Lobatto sampling is adopted for spatial discretization. A consistent governing equation in discrete form is derived by utilizing Lagrange’s equation for all kinds of IPFG plates whose material property functions and thickness function are square-integrable and infinitely differentiable in the domain. Its mass matrix is diagonal and stiffness matrix is symmetric. Classical and point-supported boundary conditions are incorporated through projection matrices. This approach is independent of the type of material gradation, meshfree, and flexible to adjust the computation cost and precision according to needs. A series of numerical examples involving different kinds of material gradations, thickness variations, and boundary conditions are carried out to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The results obtained from the present method show a good convergence and agree with those in literature very well.     

2D shape optimization under proximity constraints by CFD and response surface methodology

In this paper we consider two-dimensional CFD-based shape optimization in the presence of obstacles, which introduce nontrivial proximity constraints to the optimization problem. Built on Gregory’s piecewise rational cubic splines, the main contribution of this paper is the introduction of such parametric deformations to a nominal shape that are guaranteed to satisfy the proximity constraints. These deformed shape candidates are then used in the identification of a multivariate polynomial response surface; proximity-constrained shape optimization thus reduces to parametric optimization on this polynomial model, with simple interval bounds on the design variables. We illustrate the proposed approach by carrying out lift and/or drag optimization for the NACA 0012 airfoil containing a rectangular fuel tank: By identifying polynomial response surfaces using a large batch of 1800 design candidates, we conclude that the lift coefficient can be optimized by a linear model, whereas the drag coefficient can be optimized by using a quadratic model. Higher order polynomial models yield no improvement in the optimization.     

Evolution of elastic thin films with curvature regularization via minimizing movements

The evolution equation with curvature regularization that models the motion of a two-dimensional thin film by evaporation-condensation on a rigid substrate is considered. The film is strained due to the mismatch between the crystalline lattices of the two materials. Here, short time existence, uniqueness and regularity of the solution are established using De Giorgi’s minimizing movements to exploit the $L^{2}$ -gradient flow structure of the equation. This seems to be the first analytical result for the evaporation-condensation case in the presence of elasticity.     

Analysis and Numerical Approximation of a Contact Problem Involving Nonlinear Hencky-Type Materials with Nonlocal Coulomb’s Friction Law

A static frictional contact problem between an elasto-plastic body and a rigid foundation is considered. The material’s behavior is described by the nonlinear elastic constitutive Hencky’s law. The contact is modeled with the Signorini condition and a version of Coulomb’s law in which the coefficient of friction depends on the slip. The existence of a weak solution is proved by using Schauder’s fixed-point theorem combined with arguments of abstract variational inequalities. Afterward, a successive iteration technique, based on the Ka?anov method, to solve the problem numerically is proposed, and its convergence is established. Then, to improve the conditioning of the iterative problem, an appropriate Augmented Lagrangian formulation is used and that will lead us to Uzawa block relaxation method in every iteration. Finally, numerical experiments of two-dimensional test problems are carried out to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

On the Variational Approach to Systems of Quasilinear Conservation Laws

The paper contains results concerning the development of a new approach to the proof of existence theorems for generalized solutions to systems of quasilinear conservation laws. This approach is based on reducing the search for a generalized solution to analyzing extremal properties of a certain set of functionals and is referred to as a variational approach. The definition of a generalized solution can be naturally reformulated in terms of the existence of critical points for a set of functionals, which is convenient within the approach proposed. The variational representation of generalized solutions, which was earlier known for Hopf-type equations, is generalized to systems of quasilinear conservation laws. The extremal properties of the functionals corresponding to systems of conservation laws are described within the variational approach, and a strategy for proving the existence theorem is outlined. In conclusion, it is shown that the variational approach can be generalized to the two-dimensional case.     

Cayley’s and Holland’s Theorems for Idempotent Semirings and Their Applications to Residuated Lattices

We extend Cayley’s and Holland’s representation theorems to idempotent semirings and residuated lattices, and provide both functional and relational versions. Our analysis allows for extensions of the results to situations where conditions are imposed on the order relation of the representing structures. Moreover, we give a new proof of the finite embeddability property for the variety of integral residuated lattices and many of its subvarieties.     

An Efficient Cartesian Grid-Based Method for Scattering Problems with Inhomogeneous Media

Boundary integral equations provide a powerful tool for the solution of scattering problems. However, often a singular kernel arises, in which case the standard quadratures will give rise to unavoidable deteriorations in numerical precision, thus special treatment is needed to handle the singular behavior. Especially, for inhomogeneous media, it is difficult if not impossible to find out an analytical expression for Green’s function. In this paper, an efficient fourth-order accurate Cartesian grid-based method is proposed for the two-dimensional Helmholtz scattering and transmission problems with inhomogeneous media. This method provides an alternative approach to indirect integral evaluation by solving equivalent interface problems on Cartesian grid with a modified fourth-order accurate compact finite difference scheme and a fast Fourier transform preconditioned conjugate gradient (FFT-PCG) solver. A remarkable point of this method is that there is no need to know analytical expressions for Green’s function. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the advantage of the current approach, including its simplicity in implementation, its high accuracy and efficiency.     

Parcours dans les graphes: Un outil pour l'algorithmique des ensembles ordonnes

A finite poset can easily be represented by a directed acyclic graph. This work intends to make use of performant graph search methods as a tool for checking order properties. Semi-modular posets and semilattices are investigated here.An underlying idea consists in turning to account structural properties of the poset, and deriving effective algorithms. This purpose leads us to ‘good’ theoretic characterizations — that is, directly available from an algorithmic point of view — and especially a new one for modular lattices.     

Cones,semicontinuous functions,and continuous lattices

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a notion which is a generalization of convex sets and to use this notion to construct continuous lattices which are shown to be related to lattices of lower-semicontinuous functions. The end results of this development is a characterization of lattices of lower-semicontinuous functions in terms of a class of continuous lattices introduced in this paper (see Theorem 8). Then material is introduced which leads to a complementary result in Theorem 11 which characterizes the continuous lattices that can be lattices of lower-semicontinuous functions.     

Two-dimensional Green's function of orthotropic three-phase material under a normal line force with application in the design of composite

Green's function of orthotropic three-phase material is an important and basic problem in the study of mechanics of materials. It is also the foundation of further theoretical researches and engineering applications. Most of adhesive structures in engineering can be well simulated by the mechanical model of orthotropic three-phase material, such as composite laminate, integrated circuit (IC) packaging, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and biomedical materials, etc. In order to understand the mechanical properties of the adhesive structure, a two-dimensional Green's function of orthotropic three-phase material loaded with a normal line force is presented. Based on the Green's function proposed in this paper, the stress field of adhesive structure under arbitrary normal loadings can be obtained with superposition method. Besides, this Green's function is convenient to be used in further studies, because it is expressed explicitly in form of elementary functions. Numerical examples are proposed to study the mechanical properties of the adhesive structure in five difference aspects: (1) the distribution rule of stress fields of the adhesive structure; (2) the influence from fiber orientation of composite to the stress fields of the adhesive structure; (3) the influence from elastic modulus of adhesive layer to the stress transfer of the adhesive structure; (4) the influence from the thickness of adhesive layer to the stress transfer of the adhesive structure; (5) the reasonability of spring interface model.     

Cross-validation using the t statistic

One application area of regression analysis is simulation where the regression model may explain the relationship between the simulation model's inputs and outputs.However, whether or not the regression model is used in a simulation context, its validity can be tested by comparing the model's forecast to one or more new observations not used in the estimation of the model's parameters. The familiar Student or t statistic is proposed for this comparison, combined with a Bonferroni approach accounting for the presence of multiple, dependent validation observations.A ‘trick’ is used to obtain as many validation observations as possible. This trick is also known as cross-validation.Several Monte Carlo experiments are performed to study the α and β errors of the proposed validation procedure. The experimental results suggest that the procedure is worthwhile.     

Mathematical modelling of the stochastic mechanical properties of wood and its extensibility at small scales

This paper investigates the relation between the uncertain mechanical properties of wood and its extensibility at the ultrastructural scale. A statistical approximation to the output of a multi-scale constitutive model is adopted to predict the extensibility of wood in the presence of parametric uncertainty. By means of this procedure, a very large number of computationally intensive fully-coupled multi-scale simulations are avoided. Following this approach, four different micromechanical parameters are chosen to assess their influence on the extensibility of the material under tensile loading conditions. These are the degree of cellulose crystallinity, the ultimate strain and Young’s modulus of the hemicellulose–lignin matrix, and the thickness of the amorphous cellulose layer which covers the periodic crystalline portions of cellulose. We believe that a better understanding of the mechanisms of deformation and extensibility in wood and in natural materials can pave the way for the development of new strategies to design more advanced materials in engineering structures.     

Envelopes of geometric lattices

A categorical embedding theorem is proved for geometric lattices. This states roughly that, if one wants to consider only those embeddings into projective spaces having a suitable universal property, then the existence of such an embedding can be checked by seeing whether corresponding properties hold for many small intervals. Tutte's embedding theorem for binary geometric lattices is a consequence of this result.     

Analysis of extension propagation process of interface crack between belts of a radial tire using a finite element method

A radial tire is a very complex structure made from rubber elastomers and fiber–rubber composite materials. During its use, extension propagation of interface crack between belts can occur, which obviously affects its durability and life. In the present paper, a new mathematical model of extension propagation of interface crack in complex composite structures is presented. The model can reveal the extension propagation dependence of interface crack on the relative size of energy release rates at the left and right crack tips and on the interfacial material properties. The extension propagation model of interface crack, Irwin’s virtual crack close technique and the finite element analysis method are used together in simulating numerically the extension propagation process of a interface crack between belts of a radial tire. The present study numerical results show that the extension propagation model of interface crack proposed in this paper can more realistically characterize the complexity of the extension propagation process of interface crack in complex composite structures.     

Primes,irreducibles and extremal lattices

This paper studies certain types of join and meet-irreducibles called coprimes and primes. These elements can be used to characterize certain types of lattices. For example, a lattice is distributive if and only if every join-irreducible is coprime. Similarly, a lattice is meet-pseudocomplemented if and only if each atom is coprime. Furthermore, these elements naturally decompose lattices into sublattices so that often properties of the original lattice can be deduced from properties of the sublattice. Not every lattice has primes and coprimes. This paper shows that lattices which are long enough must have primes and coprimes and that these elements and the resulting decompositions can be used to study such lattices.The length of every finite lattice is bounded above by the minimum of the number of meet-irreducibles (meet-rank) and the number of join-irreducibles (join-rank) that it has. This paper studies lattices for which length=join-rank or length=meet-rank. These are called p-extremal lattices and they have interesting decompositions and properties. For example, ranked, p-extremal lattices are either lower locally distributive (join-rank=length), upper locally distributive (meet-rank=length) or distributive (join-rank=meet-rank=length). In the absence of the Jordan-Dedekind chain condition, p-extremal lattices still have many interesting properties. Of special interest are the lattices that satisfy both equalities. Such lattices are called extremal; this class includes distributive lattices and the associativity lattices of Tamari. Even though they have interesting decompositions, extremal lattices cannot be characterized algebraically since any finite lattice can be embedded as a subinterval into an extremal lattice. This paper shows how prime and coprime elements, and the poset of irreducibles can be used to analyze p-extremal and other types of lattices.The results presented in this paper are used to deduce many key properties of the Tamari lattices. These lattices behave much like distributive lattices even though they violate the Jordan-Dedekind chain condition very strongly having maximal chains that vary in length from N-1 to N(N-1)/2 where N is a parameter used in the construction of these lattices.