The behavior of capillary suspensions at diverse length scales: From single capillary bridges to bulk

Liquid-liquid-solid systems are becoming increasingly common in everyday life with many possible applications. Here, we focus on a special case of such liquid-liquid-solid systems, namely, capillary suspensions. These capillary suspensions originate from particles that form a network based on capillary forces and are typically composed of solids in a bulk liquid with an added secondary liquid. The structure of particle networks based on capillary bridges possesses unique properties compared with networks formed via other attractive interactions where these differences are inherently related to the properties of the capillary bridges, such as bridge breaking and coalescence between adjacent bridges. Thus, to tailor the mechanical properties of capillary suspensions to specific requirements, it is important to understand the influences on different length scales ranging from the dynamics of the bridges with varying external stimuli to the often heterogeneous network structure.     

考虑剪切效应的旋转FGM楔形梁刚柔耦合动力学建模与仿真

本文对一类中心刚体-柔性梁系统在大范围转动下的刚柔耦合动力学问题进行了研究. 柔性梁为功能梯度材料(functionally graded materials, FGM)楔形变截面梁,材料体积分数在梁轴向呈幂律分布变化. 以弧长坐标来描述柔性FGM梁的几何位移关系,分别使用倾角和拉伸应变变量描述柔性梁的横向弯曲和纵向拉伸变形,并计及剪切效应. 采用假设模态法离散变形场,运用第二类拉格朗日方程进行方程推导,得到系统考虑剪切效应的刚柔耦合动力学模型. 基于全新的刚柔耦合动力学建模理论,研究不同轴向材料梯度分布的FGM楔形梁,通过数值仿真计算,分析讨论不同的转速、梯度分布规律以及变截面参数对系统动力学特性的影响. 结果表明,剪切效应对大高跨比的FGM楔形梁的变形影响较为明显,不容忽略;材料梯度分布规律和截面参数的选取均会对旋转FGM楔形梁的动力学响应和频率产生较大影响. 本文提出的考虑剪切效应的倾角刚柔耦合动力学模型是对以往非剪切模型的进一步完善,可应用于工程中的 Timoshenko梁结构的动力学问题求解.      

Simulating the dynamic behavior of planetary gearbox based on improved Hanning function

Planetary gearboxes are widely used in industrial machines. They usually work in harsh environments giving rise to damages and high maintenance costs. Condition monitoring is a key action allowing one to detect the presence of such damage ensuring healthy running conditions. The knowledge of the dynamic behavior of such a gearbox can be achieved using modeling tools as a primary step before conditioning the monitoring subject. In addition, modeling a gear set can help in the stage of design in order to optimize physical and geometric parameters of the system. Therefore, in this work, a two-dimensional lumped parameter model is adopted to build all vibration sources. The time-varying mesh stiffness is approximated as a square wave form. A novel mathematical formulation is proposed to model the amplitude modulation phenomenon due to the rotational motion of the planets around the center of the gearbox. Finally, the overall vibration signal is concluded as a summation of all vibration components influenced by the modulation function.     

Insight into shear‐induced modification for improving processability of polymers: Effect of shear rate on the evolution of entanglement state

Many experimental results have revealed that the re‐entanglement kinetics of disentangled polymers is much slower than that predicted by tube theory. This retarded recovery of fully entangled state is of practical significance that shear‐induced modification may offer a way to improve processability for a polymer by reducing viscosity. This work tried to figure out the shear‐rate dependence variation of viscosity in the view of evolution of entanglement state through disentanglement and re‐entanglement, aiming to provide fundamental insights into application prospect of shear‐induced modification in preparing “in‐pellet” disentangled polymers prior to final processing. High‐density polyethylene was sheared on a parallel‐plate rotational rheometer with a linearly increased shear rate. Results showed that higher shear rate could induce further disentanglement, resulting in a lower viscosity with a reduction rate up to 93.7%, larger molecular weight between entanglements M_e , and longer re‐entanglement time. Additionally, less entanglement would give a larger lamellar thickness of sheared samples after nonisothermal crystallization. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 598–606     

Exploring the undrained cyclic behavior of methane-hydrate-bearing sediments using CFD–DEM

Based on the mechanical experimental results of methane hydrate (MH), a bond contact model considering the rate-dependency of MH is proposed. A CFD–DEM scheme considering fluid compressibility is used to simulate a series of undrained cyclic shear tests of numerical methane-hydrate-bearing sediment (MHBS) samples. The dynamic behavior, including stress–strain relationship, dynamic shear modulus, and damping ratio, is investigated. In addition, the force chains, contact fabric and averaged pure rotation rate (APR) are examined to investigate the relationships between micromechanical variables and macromechanical responses in the DEM MH samples. The effects of temperature, confining pressure and MH saturation are also analyzed. Due to the micro-structural strengthening by the MH bonds, no obvious change in microscopic quantities is observed, and the samples remain at the elastic stage under the applied low-shear stress level. When confining pressure and MH saturation increase, the dynamic elastic modulus increases, while the damping ratio decreases. An increasing temperature (leading to weakening of MH bonds) can lower the dynamic elastic modulus, but has almost no impact on the damping ratio. On the contrary, an increasing cyclic shear stress level lowers the damping ratio, but has almost no effect on the dynamic elastic modulus.     

Benchmarking of adjoint sensitivity-based optimization techniques using a vehicle ride case study

Several studies on multibody dynamics optimization have been conducted. One important limitation of these studies is their computational e?ciency, especially when optimizing a complex system’s performance. The co-authors developed a very e?cient optimization technique based on an adjoint sensitivity analysis methodology. The scope of this article is to validate this technique by conducting a benchmark analysis against some of the most popular optimization methods, including gradient-based optimization using finite differences, design of experiment using optimal Latin hypercube, and design of experiment using full factorial design matrix. A vehicle system is used as a case study for optimizing its ride comfort.     

An automated vane shear test tool for environmental monitoring with unmanned ground vehicles

The present work describes the development of a novel robotic vane shear test tool for characterization of soil parameters with high precision and accuracy. The tool automates industrial standards for testing procedures. The proposed system is capable of performing high resolution torque measurements, which are then used to estimate the shear strength of the soil. The design of the instrument and its advantages over traditional manual instruments are discussed, after which error sources, calibration, and test procedures are described. The developed tool was successfully validated against high-end commercial equipment. The built unit was employed for characterizing mine waste in a laboratory setting and also deployed in the field on board an Unmanned Ground Vehicle for remote soil characterization.     

Flume testing of passively adaptive composite tidal turbine blades under combined wave and current loading

The tidal energy industry is progressing rapidly, but there are still barriers to overcome to realise the commercial potential of this sector. Large magnitude and highly variable loads caused by waves acting on the turbine are of particular concern. Composite blades with in-built bend-twist elastic response may reduce these peak loads, by passively feathering with increasing thrust. This could decrease capital costs by lowering the design loads, and improve robustness through the mitigation of pitch mechanisms. In this study, the previous research is extended to examine the performance of bend-twist blades in combined wave–current flow, which will frequently be encountered in the field. A scaled 3 bladed turbine was tested in the flume at IFREMER with bend-twist composite blades and equivalent rigid blades, sequentially under current and co-directional wave–current cases. In agreement with previous research, when the turbine was operating in current alone at higher tip speed ratios the bend-twist blades reduced the mean thrust and power compared to the rigid blades. Under the specific wave–current condition tested the average loads were similar on both blade sets. Nevertheless, the bend-twist blades substantially reduced the magnitudes of the average thrust and torque fluctuations per wave cycle, by up to 10% and 14% respectively.