Quasi-Green’s function method for free vibration of clamped thin plates on Winkler foundation

The quasi-Green’s function method is used to solve the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation. Quasi-Green’s function is established by the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. The function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The mode-shape differential equation of the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Green’s formula. The irregularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The numerical results show the high accuracy of the proposed method.     

Three-dimensional vibration analysis of circular and annular plates via the Chebyshev–Ritz method

A three-dimensional free vibration analysis of circular and annular plates is presented via the Chebyshev–Ritz method. The solution procedure is based on the linear, small strain, three-dimensional elasticity theory. Selecting Chebyshev polynomials which can be expressed in terms of cosine functions as the admissible functions, a convenient governing eigenvalue equation can be derived through the Ritz method. According to the geometric properties of circular and annular plates, the vibration is divided into three distinct categories: axisymmetric vibration, torsional vibration and circumferential vibration. Each vibration category can be further subdivided into the antisymmetric and symmetric ones in the thickness direction. Convergence and comparison study demonstrated the high accuracy and efficiency of the present method. The present approach shows a distinct advantage over some other Ritz solutions in that stable numerical operation can be guaranteed even when a large number of admissible functions is employed. Therefore, not only lower-order but also higher-order eigenfrequencies can be obtained by using sufficient terms of the Chebyshev polynomials. Finally, some valuable results for annular plates with one or both edges clamped are given and discussed in detail.     

Quasi-Green’s function method for free vibration of simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell

The idea of quasi-Green’s function method is clarified by considering a free vibration problem of the simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell. A quasi-Green’s function is established by using the fundamental solution and boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the prob-lem. The mode shape differential equations of the free vibration problem of a simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell are reduced to two simultaneous Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by the Green formula. There are multiple choices for the normalized boundary equation. Based on a chosen normalized boundary equa-tion, a new normalized boundary equation can be established such that the irregularity of the kernel of integral equations is overcome. Finally, natural frequency is obtained by the condition that there exists a nontrivial solution to the numerically discrete algebraic equations derived from the integral equations. Numerical results show high accuracy of the quasi-Green’s function method.     

Quasi-Green＇s function method for free vibration of simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell

The idea of quasi-Green＇s function method is clarified by considering a free vibration problem of the simply-supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell. A quasi- Green＇s function is established by using the fundamental solution and boundary equation of the problem. This function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the prob- lem. The mode shape differential equations of the free vibration problem of a simply- supported trapezoidal shallow spherical shell are reduced to two simultaneous Fredholm integral equations of the second kind by the Green formula. There are multiple choices for the normalized boundary equation. Based on a chosen normalized boundary equa- tion, a new normalized boundary equation can be established such that the irregularity of the kernel of integral equations is overcome. Finally, natural frequency is obtained by the condition that there exists a nontrivial solution to the numerically discrete algebraic equations derived from the integral equations. Numerical results show high accuracy of the quasi-Green＇s function method.     

Study of the effect of thermal gradient on free vibration of clamped visco-elastic rectangular plates with linearly thickness variation in both directions

The effect of thermal gradient on the free vibration of clamped visco-elastic rectangular plate with linearly thickness variations in both the directions has been studied here. The governing differential equation has been solved using Rayleigh-Ritz technique. The frequency equation is derived for the clamped boundary condition on all the four edges. The effect of linear temperature variation has been considered. Deflection and time period corresponding to the first two modes of vibrations of a clamped plate have been computed for various values of aspect ratio, thermal constants, and taper constants.     

A relook at Reissner’s theory of plates in bending

Shear deformation and higher order theories of plates in bending are (generally) based on plate element equilibrium equations derived either through variational principles or other methods. They involve coupling of flexure with torsion (torsion-type) problem and if applied vertical load is along one face of the plate, coupling even with extension problem. These coupled problems with reference to vertical deflection of plate in flexure result in artificial deflection due to torsion and increased deflection of faces of the plate due to extension. Coupling in the former case is eliminated earlier using an iterative method for analysis of thick plates in bending. The method is extended here for the analysis of associated stretching problem in flexure.     

Development of a simplified method for evaluating agricultural tractor’s operator whole body vibration

Whole body vibrations (WBV) are one of the risk factors causing the onset of professional diseases in agricultural tractors operators: a method for assessing vehicle’s properties in terms of vibrations turns out to be fundamental for comfort and safety improvement. Studying agricultural tractor operator exposure to vibrations has always been difficult for the several topics to the tractor is used. Studies have pointed out that the combination of vehicle speed and surface roughness induces a transformation of part of vehicle forwarding speed in vertical accelerations acting as a series of impulses exciting the elastic parts of the tractor to have similar shapes in the frequency domain. Following this consideration the CREA-ING has developed three simplified test track, one for each axis of solicitation, for investigating the possibility of defining tractor’s comfort level with a simplified test.     

New insights on free energies and Saint-Venant’s principle in viscoelasticity

Explicit expressions for the minimum free energy of a linear viscoelastic material and Noll’s definition of state are used here to explore spatial energy decay estimates for viscoelastic bodies, in the full dynamical case and in the quasi-static approximation.In the inertial case, Chirita et al. obtained a certain spatial decay inequality for a space–time integral over a portion of the body and over a finite time interval of the total mechanical energy. This involves the work done on histories, which is not a function of state in general. Here it is shown that for free energies which are functions of state and obey a certain reasonable property, the spatial decay of the corresponding space–time integral is stronger than the one involving the work done on the past history. It turns out that the bound obtained is optimal for the minimal free energy.Two cases are discussed for the quasi-static approximation. The first case deals with general states, so that general histories belonging to the equivalence class of any given state can be considered. The continuity of the stress functional with respect to the norm based on the minimal free energy is proved, and the energy measure based on the minimal free energy turns out to obey the decay inequality derived Chirita et al. for the quasi-static case.The second case explores a crucial point for viscoelastic materials, namely that the response is influenced by the rate of application of loads. Quite surprisingly, the analysis of this phenomenon in the context of Saint-Venant principles has never been carried out explicitly before, even in the linear case. This effect is explored by considering states, the related histories of which are sinusoidal. The spatial decay parameter is shown to be frequency-dependent, i.e. it depends on the rate of load application, and it is proved that of those considered, the most conservative estimate of the frequency-dependent decay is associated with the minimal free energy. A comparison is made of the results for sinusoidal histories at low frequencies and general histories.     

Investigation of Painlevé’s paradox and dynamic jamming during mechanism sliding motion

The paradox of Painlevé occurs when the dynamics of a sliding rigid body has solution inconsistency. When approaching a configuration of inconsistency, the contact forces and accelerations may grow unbounded in finite time, a scenario which is called dynamic jamming. Painlevé’s paradox was originally formulated for a sliding rod with uniform mass distribution, for which inconsistency occurs only under unrealistically high contact friction conditions. This paper shows that when the sliding rod is replaced by a sliding mechanism, the dynamic jamming predicted by Painlevé’s paradox can occur under relatively low friction. The paper proposes a particular mechanism, called IPOS, which consists of an inverted pendulum hinged to a plate that slides on an inclined plane (IPOS = Inverted Pendulum On a Slider). The IPOS mechanism can reach solution inconsistency under practical friction conditions, and can thus be used to experimentally validate the theoretical predictions. The conditions under which dynamic jamming occurs in the IPOS mechanism dynamics are explicitly derived, and numerical simulations illustrate the feasibility of dynamic jamming experiments.     

Radial basis functions collocation and a unified formulation for bending,vibration and buckling analysis of laminated plates,according to a variation of Murakami’s zig-zag theory

In this paper, we propose a variation of the use of Murakami’s zig-zag theory for the analysis of laminated plates. The new theory accounts for through-the-thickness deformation, by considering a quadratic evolution of the transverse displacement with the thickness coordinate. The equations of motion and the boundary conditions are obtained by the Carrera’s Unified Formulation, and further interpolated by collocation with radial basis functions. This paper considers the analysis of static deformations, free vibrations and buckling loads on laminated composite plates.     

An extension of Neumann’s method for shape control of force-induced elastic vibrations by eigenstrains

This paper is concerned with the force-induced vibrations of linear elastic solids and structures. We seek a transient distribution of actuating stresses produced by additional eigenstrain, such that the vibrations produced by a given set of imposed forces are exactly compensated. This problem, known as dynamic shape control problem in structural engineering, or as dynamic displacement compensation problem in automatic control, is inverse to the usual direct problem of determining displacements due to imposed forces and actuation stresses. In the present paper, we extend a method, which was introduced by F.E. Neumann for demonstrating the uniqueness of direct elastodynamic problems. We use this extended Neumann method in order to show that the distribution of the actuating stresses for shape control must be equal to any statically admissible stress distribution that is in temporal equilibrium with the imposed forces. We furthermore discuss the role of stresses corresponding to this class of solutions in some detail, emphasizing the non-unique nature of a statically admissible stress. As an analytical justification of our formulations, we show that our method reveals some static results by J.M.C. Duhamel and by W. Voigt and D.E. Carlson. Particularly, our method can be interpreted as a dynamic extension of the Duhamel body-force analogy. We moreover present numerical results for a dynamically loaded, irregularly shaped domain in a state of plane strain. These finite element computations give excellent evidence for the validity of the presented method of shape control for both, the case of a step-input and the case of a harmonic excitation.     

Nonlinear analysis of chatter vibration in a cylindrical transverse grinding process with two time delays using?a?nonlinear time transformation method

A nonlinear dynamic system of cylindrical transverse grinding process is studied in this paper. The system consists of a grinding wheel and a workpiece, which are connected to the base by spring-damper elements, interacting with nonlinear normal forces. This two DOF model includes two time delays originated from the regenerative effects of the workpiece and the grinding wheel. Bifurcation points are located using a numerical algorithm by which we can find all the eigenvalues in a given rectangular region on the complex plane for the delayed differential equations. Supercritical bifurcation has been found for some sets of system parameter values. The amplitudes of the limit cycles are predicted using a nonlinear time transformation method, which is similar to the harmonic balance approach in that a periodic solution is approximated by a Fourier series. However, the main difference is that a nonlinear time ? is introduced in the Fourier series rather than the physical time t. The analytical solutions of stable limit cycles up to the third harmonics are compared with numerical simulations for the retarded system. It is shown that the proposed method gives accurate approximate solutions.     

A Ritz’s method based solution for the contact problem of a deformable rectangular plate on an elastic quarter-space

In this article, Ritz’s method is used to calculate with unprecedented accuracy the displacements related to a deformable rectangular plate resting on the surface of an elastic quarter-space. To achieve this required three basic steps. The first step involved the study of Green’s function describing the vertical displacements of the surface of an elastic quarter-space due to vertical force applied on its surface. For this case, an explicit formula was obtained by analytically resolving a complicated integral that did not previously have an analytical solution. The second step involved the study of the coupled system of a plate and an elastic quarter-space. This portion focused on determining reactive forces in the contact zone based on Hetenyi’s solution. After determination of the reactive forces, certain features were attributed to the plate’s edges. The final step involved the application of Ritz’s method to determine the deflections of the plate resting on the surface of the quarter-space. Finally, an example calculation and validation of results are given. This is the first semi-analytical solution proposed for this type of contact problem.