Exact solutions of functionally graded piezoelectric material sandwich cylinders by a modified Pagano method

The three-dimensional (3D) coupled analysis of simply-supported, functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) circular hollow sandwich cylinders under electro-mechanical loads is presented. The material properties of each FGPM layer are regarded as heterogeneous through the thickness coordinate, and obey an exponent-law dependent on this. The Pagano method is modified to be feasible for the study of FGPM sandwich cylinders. The modifications are as follows: a displacement-based formulation is replaced by a mixed formulation; a set of the complex-valued solutions of the system equations is transferred to the corresponding set of real-valued solutions; a successive approximation method is adopted to approximately transform each FGPM layer into a multilayered piezoelectric one with an equal and small thickness for each layer in comparison with the mid-surface radius, and with the homogeneous material properties determined in an average thickness sense; and a transfer matrix method is developed, so that the general solutions of the system equations can be obtained layer-by-layer, which is significantly less time-consuming than the usual approach. A parametric study is undertaken of the influence of the aspect ratio, open- and closed-circuit surface conditions, and material-property gradient index on the assorted field variables induced in the FGPM sandwich cylinders.     

Lower bounds on the pathwidth of some grid-like graphs

We present proofs of lower bounds on the node search number of some grid-like graphs including two-dimensional grids, cylinders, tori and a variation we call “orb-webs”. Node search number is equivalent to pathwidth and vertex separation, which are all important graph parameters. Since matching upper bounds are not difficult to obtain, this implies that the pathwidth of these graphs is easily computed, because the bounds are simple functions of the graph dimensions. We also show matching upper and lower bounds on the node search number of equidimensional tori which are one less than the obvious upper bound.     

Global aerodynamic instability of twin cylinders in cross flow

This paper comprises an in-depth physical discussion of the flow-induced vibration of two circular cylinders in view of the time-mean lift force on stationary cylinders and interaction mechanisms. The gap-spacing ratio T/D is varied from 0.1 to 5 and the attack angle α from 0° to 180° where T is the gap width between the cylinders and D is the diameter of a cylinder. Mechanisms of interaction between two cylinders are discussed based on time-mean lift, fluctuating lift, flow structures and flow-induced responses. The whole regime is classified into seven interaction regimes, i.e., no interaction regime; boundary layer and cylinder interaction regime; shear-layer/wake and cylinder interaction regime; shear-layer and shear-layer interaction regime; vortex and cylinder interaction regime; vortex and shear-layer interaction regime; and vortex and vortex interaction regime. Though a single non-interfering circular cylinder does not correspond to a galloping following quasi-steady galloping theory, two circular cylinders experience violent galloping vibration due to shear-layer/wake and cylinder interaction as well as boundary layer and cylinder interaction. A larger magnitude of fluctuating lift communicates to a larger amplitude vortex excitation.     

The computation of dispersion relations for axisymmetric waveguides using the Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method

This paper addresses the computation of dispersion curves and mode shapes of elastic guided waves in axisymmetric waveguides. The approach is based on a Scaled Boundary Finite Element formulation, that has previously been presented for plate structures and general three-dimensional waveguides with complex cross-section. The formulation leads to a Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem for the computation of wavenumbers and displacement amplitudes, that can be solved very efficiently. In the axisymmetric representation, only the radial direction in a cylindrical coordinate system has to be discretized, while the circumferential direction as well as the direction of propagation are described analytically. It is demonstrated, how the computational costs can drastically be reduced by employing spectral elements of extremely high order. Additionally, an alternative formulation is presented, that leads to real coefficient matrices. It is discussed, how these two approaches affect the computational efficiency, depending on the elasticity matrix. In the case of solid cylinders, the singularity of the governing equations that occurs in the center of the cross-section is avoided by changing the quadrature scheme. Numerical examples show the applicability of the approach to homogeneous as well as layered structures with isotropic or anisotropic material behavior.     

Dual cylinder inviscid vortex sound of low Mach number

The unsteady motions of an inviscid vortex under the influence of a cylinder pair in the presence of a low Mach number mean flow and the corresponding sound generation are examined in the present study. The two cylinders are in close proximity. A semi-analytical approach using the conformal mapping together with the potential theory is adopted. The results show that the vortex will interact intensively with the cylinders under the right combinations of mean flow direction and initial vortex position. Such interactions result in a high rate of change of vortex propagation velocity, strong fluctuating forces on cylinder and strong sound radiations. However, it is found that much stronger acoustic energy radiation will result when the vortex approaches the cylinder pair from the bottom than from the top, unless the mean flow is nearly perpendicular to the horizontal cylinder pair axis. Stronger sound radiation is also observed for the identical cylinder cases in general, except the flow direction is close to some critical values.     

Finite-element analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer for staggered bundles of cylinders in cross flow

The two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and the energy equation governing steady laminar incompressible flow are solved by a penalty finite-element model for flow across finite depth, five-row deep, staggered bundles of cylinders. Pitch to diameter ratios of 1·5 and 2·0 are considered for cylinders in equilateral triangular and square arrangements. Reynolds numbers studied range from 100 to 400, and a Prandtl number of 0·7 is used. Velocity vector fields, streamline patterns, vorticity, pressure and temperature contours, local and average Nusselt numbers, pressure and shear stress distributions around the cylinder walls and drag coefficients are presented. The results obtained agree well with available experimental and numerical data.     

A unified formulation of PVD-based finite cylindrical layer methods for functionally graded material sandwich cylinders

A unified formulation of finite cylindrical layer methods (FCLMs) based on the principle of virtual displacements (PVDs) is developed for the quasi-three-dimensional (3D) bending and free vibration analyses of simply-supported, functionally graded material (FGM) sandwich circular hollow cylinders, in which the material properties of the FGM layer are assumed to obey the power-law distributions of the volume fractions of the constituents through the thickness coordinate. In this formulation, the cylinder is divided into a number of cylindrical finite layers, where the trigonometric functions and Lagrange polynomials are used to interpolate the in- and out-of-surface variations of the displacement components of each individual layer, respectively. Because an h-refinement is adopted in this article to yield the convergent solutions, the relative orders used for expansion of the displacement components remain variable, and can be freely chosen as linear, quadratic and cubic ones. The accuracy and convergence rate of a variety of PVD-based FCLMs developed in this article are assessed by comparing their solutions with the available 3D ones.     

Korn inequalities for shells with zero Gaussian curvature

We consider shells with zero Gaussian curvature, namely shells with one principal curvature zero and the other one having a constant sign. Our particular interests are shells that are diffeomorphic to a circular cylindrical shell with zero principal longitudinal curvature and positive circumferential curvature, including, for example, cylindrical and conical shells with arbitrary convex cross sections. We prove that the best constant in the first Korn inequality scales like thickness to the power 3/2 for a wide range of boundary conditions at the thin edges of the shell. Our methodology is to prove, for each of the three mutually orthogonal two-dimensional cross-sections of the shell, a “first-and-a-half Korn inequality”—a hybrid between the classical first and second Korn inequalities. These three two-dimensional inequalities assemble into a three-dimensional one, which, in turn, implies the asymptotically sharp first Korn inequality for the shell. This work is a part of mathematically rigorous analysis of extreme sensitivity of the buckling load of axially compressed cylindrical shells to shape imperfections.     

Numerical predictions for unsteady viscous flow past an array of cylinders

The unsteady two-dimensional flow around an array of circular cylinders submerged in a uniform onset flow is analysed. The fluid is taken to be viscous and incompressible. The array of cylinders consists of two horizontal rows extending to infinity in the upstream and downstream directions. The centre-to-centre distance between adjacent cylinders is fixed at three diameters, and the rows are staggered. Advantage is taken of spatially periodic boundary conditions in the flow direction. This reduces the computational domain to a rectangular region surrounding a single circular cylinder. Two cases, for Reynolds numbers of 1000 and 10,000, are presented.