The effect of friction reduction in the presence of in-plane vibrations

A reduction of friction by vibrations has been observed in various experiments. This effect can be applied to actively control frictional forces by modulating vibrations. Moreover, common methods of controlling friction rely on lubricants and suitable material combinations. The superimposition of vibrations can further reduce the friction force. This study presents a theoretical approach based on the Dahl friction model that describes the friction reduction observed in the presence of the tangential vibrations at an arbitrary angle. Analysis results indicated that the tangential compliance should be considered in modeling the effect of vibrations in reducing friction. At any vibration angle, the tangential compliance of the contacts reduces the friction reduction effect. The vibrations parallel to the macroscopic velocity are most effective for friction reduction.     

Influence of spring dynamics and friction on a spring-actuated cam system

Summary  The paper investigates two important aspects, friction and spring motion, of the dynamics of a spring-actuated cam system. The characteristics of the friction on the camshaft are analyzed using the nonlinear pendulum experiment, while the parameters of the friction model are estimated using the optimization technique. The analysis reveals that the friction of the camshaft depends on stick–slip, Stribeck effect and viscous damping. Spring elements are found to have much influence on the dynamic characteristics. Hence, they are modeled as four-degrees-of-freedom lumped masses with equivalent springs. The lumped masses and equivalent springs are obtained to match the static stiffness and natural frequency of the actual spring. The appropriateness of the derived friction and spring model are verified by its application to a vacuum circuit-breaker mechanism of the cam-follower type. Received 23 March 2000; accepted for publication 21 November 2000     

On the modeling and design of piezocomposites with prescribed properties

Summary  Piezoelectric transversely isotropic matrix containing spheroidal piezoelectric inclusions with different properties and of, generally, diverse aspect ratios is considered. A full set of ten effective electrostatic constants is derived, using the method of effective field. The case, when the inclusions are circular cylinders (fibers) is analyzed in detail. The results are compared with those of several earlier works. They constitute the theoretical framework for the design of piezocomposites with prescribed overall properties. Received 3 May 2001; accepted for publication 26 June 2001     

Discontinuous fold bifurcations in mechanical systems

Summary  This paper treats discontinuous fold bifurcations of periodic solutions of discontinuous systems. It is shown how jumps in the fundamental solution matrix lead to jumps of the Floquet multipliers of periodic solutions. A Floquet multiplier of a discontinuous system can jump through the unit circle, causing a discontinuous bifurcation. Numerical examples are treated, which show discontinuous fold bifurcations. A discontinuous fold bifurcation can connect stable branches to branches with infinitely unstable solutions. Received 20 September 2000; accepted for publication 26 June 2001     

Statistics of ultrasonic speckles reflected from a rough surface

Summary  First- and second-order statistical properties of ultrasonic speckles reflected from a rough interface are studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. A theoretical model for predicting statistical properties of ultrasonic speckles is constructed, based on the Fresnel-Huygens principle and three basic assumptions. Distributions of the amplitude and phase of ultrasonic speckles in a scattering space are studied; the study shows that they are in the form of Rayleigh and uniform distribution, respectively. Using the proposed model, the average transverse size of the speckles within a scattering domain, which are received by a focus probe, is investigated. The average transverse size is found to be dependent on the characteristics of the measuring system only, and does not vary with the position in the domain. To verify the applicability of the theoretical model, a special experimental set-up was designed. The corresponding experiments were conducted for measuring the sound pressure of the ultrasonic speckles reflected from a rough interface between water and aluminium alloy. The numerical results are compared with the experimental ones. The comparison demonstrates that the theoretical model and the three related assumptions are suitable for analysing statistical properties of ultrasonic speckles reflected from a rough interface. Received 26 January 2001; accepted for publication 27 November 2001 RID=" ID=" This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under project 10074017.     

On the application of the constant deflection-contour method in nonlinear vibrations of elastic plates

Summary  This paper concerns the application of the constant deflection-contour method to problems involving nonlinear vibrations. Two specific problems are considered: a clamped circular plate and an annular plate with free inner boundary. For the linear case, the results obtained offer excellent agreement with previous studies, indicating significant potential for the utilization of this method in different nonlinear cases. The analysis may be applied to other types of geometrical structures. Notwithstanding the fact that only a first-term approximation has been made for the deflection function, in conjunction with the Galerkin procedure, excellent agreement has been found. Additional analytical calculations could be made to improve accuracy, indicating that the method could prove particularly useful when employed with a symbolic manipulation package. Received 13 June 2001; accepted for publication 6 November 2001     

Griffith crack moving in a piezoelectric strip

Summary  The dynamic problem of an impermeable crack of constant length 2a propagating along a piezoelectric ceramic strip is considered under the action of uniform anti-plane shear stress and uniform electric field. The integral transform technique is employed to reduce the mixed-boundary-value problem to a singular integral equation. For the case of a crack moving in the mid-plane, explicit analytic expressions for the electroelastic field and the field intensity factors are obtained, while for an eccentric crack moving along a piezoelectric strip, numerical results are determined via the Lobatto–Chebyshev collocation method for solving a resulting singular integral equation. The results reveal that the electric-displacement intensity factor is independent of the crack velocity, while other field intensity factors depend on the crack velocity when referred to the moving coordinate system. If the crack velocity vanishes, the present results reduce to those for a stationary crack in a piezoelectric strip. In contrast to the results for a stationary crack, applied stress gives rise to a singular electric field and applied electric field results in a singular stress for a moving crack in a piezoelectric strip. Received 14 August 2001; accepted for publication 24 September 2002 The author is indebted to the AAM Reviewers for their helpful suggestions for improving this paper. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 70272043.     

Vibration of beams with general boundary conditions due to a moving random load

Summary  The transverse vibrations of elastic homogeneous isotropic beams with general boundary conditions due to a moving random force with constant mean value are analyzed. The boundary conditions considered are: pinned–pinned, fixed–fixed, pinned–fixed, and fixed–free. Based on the Bernoulli beam theory, the problem is described by means of a partial differential equation. Closed-form solutions for the variance and the coefficient of variation of the beam deflection are obtained and compared for three types of force motion: accelerated, decelerated and uniform. The effects of beam damping and speed of the moving force on the dynamic response of beams are studied in detail. Received 3 December 2001; accepted for publication 30 April 2002     

Thermal instability of a porous medium with relaxation and inertia in the presence of Hall effects

Summary  The thermal instability of a Rivlin–Ericksen fluid in a porous medium is considered in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field to include the effect of Hall currents. For the case of stationary convection, the magnetic field has a stabilizing effect on the system, whereas the Hall current has a destabilizing effect on the system. The medium permeability has both stabilizing and destabilizing effects, depending on the Hall parameter M. The kinematic viscoelasticity has no effect on stationary convection. Graphs have been plotted by giving numerical values to the parameters, to depict the stability characteristics. The magnetic field (and corresponding Hall currents) introduces oscillatory modes in the system, which would be nonexistent in their absence. The sufficient conditions for the nonexistence of overstability are also obtained. Received 20 May 1999; accepted for publication 8 March 2000     

Mode-III interface edge crack between two bonded quarter-planes of dissimilar piezoelectric materials

Summary  The problem of an interface edge crack between two bonded quarter-planes of dissimilar piezoelectric materials is considered under the conditions of anti-plane shear and in-plane electric loading. The crack surfaces are assumed to be impermeable to the electric field. An integral transform technique is employed to reduce the problem under consideration to dual integral equations. By solving the resulting dual integral equations, the intensity factors of the stress and the electric displacement and the energy release rate as well as the crack sliding displacement and the electric voltage across the crack surfaces are obtained in explicit form for the case of concentrated forces and free charges at the crack surfaces and at the boundary. The derived results can be taken as fundamental solutions which can be superposed to model more realistic problems. Received 10 November 2000; accepted for publication 28 March 2001     

Impact response of an interface crack in a hybrid piezoelectric laminate

Summary  In a hybrid laminate containing an interfacial crack between piezoelectric and orthotropic layers, the dynamic field intensity factors and energy release rates are obtained for electro-mechanical impact loading. The analysis is performed within the framework of linear piezoelectricity. By using integral transform techniques, the problem is reduced to the solution of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind, which is obtained from one pair of dual integral equations. Numerical results for the dynamic stress intensity factor show the influence of the geometry and electric field. Received 29 June 2001; accepted for publication 3 December 2001     

Moving eccentric crack in a piezoelectric strip bonded to elastic materials

Summary  The steady-state of a propagation eccentric crack in a piezoelectric ceramic strip bonded between two elastic materials under combined anti-plane mechanical shear and in-plane electrical loadings is considered in this paper. The analysis based on the integral transform approach is conducted on the permeable crack condition. Field intensity factors and energy release rate are obtained in terms of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. It is shown for this geometry that the crack propagation speed has influence on the dynamic energy release rate. The initial crack branching angle for a PZT-5H piezoceramic structure is predicted by the maximum energy release rate criterion. Received 23 January 2001; accepted for publication 18 October 2001     

Instability of vibrations of a moving two-mass oscillator on a flexibly supported Timoshenko beam

Summary  Transversal vibrations of a uniformly moving two-mass oscillator on a Timoshenko beam of infinite length supported by a viscoelastic foundation are studied. By using integral transforms, the characteristic equation for the oscillator's vibrations is obtained. It is shown that the equation may have a root with a positive real part. The existence of such a root leads to the exponential increase of the amplitude of the oscillator vibrations, i.e. to instability. The reasons for the instability to occur are discussed. By employing the method of D-decomposition, the instability domains are found in the space of the system parameters. Received 30 October 2000; accepted for publication 28 March 2001     

Electro-mechanical analysis of an interfacial crack between a piezoelectric and two orthotropic layers

Summary  The problem of an interfacially cracked three-layered structure constructed of a piezoelectric and two orthotropic materials is analyzed using the theory of linear piezoelectricity and fracture mechanics. Anti-plane shear loading is considered, and the integral transform technique is used to determine the stress intensity factor. Numerical examples show the electro-mechanical effects of various material combinations and layer thicknesses on the stress intensity factor. Interesting results are obtained in comparison with earlier solutions for interfacially cracked piezoelectric structures. Received 29 December 2000; accepted for publication 3 May 2001     

Fast evaluation of friction forces in traction-drive contacts including thermal effects

Summary  In automotive traction drives, power is transmitted by friction forces. The friction forces result from the shear stresses developed in lubricated and highly loaded contacts between rolling bodies. Due to the kinematics of a traction drive, shear velocities occur in both the rolling direction and perpendicular to it. Due to these shear velocities and by normal pressure, the lubricant is forced to build up shear stresses. The increase of the shear stresses may be modelled by a nonlinear viscous element. The describing differential equations are coupled by the equivalent shear stress, which defines the nonlinear behaviour of the element. A fast method is described to evaluate the coupled differential equations. By using a known analytical approximation for the equivalent shear stress, the differential equations are decoupled and can be solved analytically. In an iterative procedure the equivalent shear stress is updated, and the complete solution is found. The iterative method is extended to account for thermal effects in the contact. Received 17 June 1999; accepted for publication 26 October 1999     

A crack in a piezoelectric layer bonded to a dissimilar elastic layer under transient load

Summary  A piezoelectric layer bonded to the surface of an elastic structure is considered. The piezoelectric and the elastic layers are infinite along the x-axis and have finite thickness in the y-direction. The polarization direction of the piezoelectric material is along the y-axis. By means of the method of singular integral equations, the solution in a Laplace transform plane is demonstrated. Laplace inversion yields the results in the time domain. Numerical values of the crack tip fields under in-plane transient electromechanical loading are obtained. The influence of layers thickness on stress and electric displacement intensity factors is investigated. Received 16 March 2000; accepted for publication 16 August 2000     

Transient response of an insulating crack between dissimilar piezoelectric layers under mechanical and electrical impacts

Summary  The dynamic response of an interface crack between two dissimilar piezoelectric layers subjected to mechanical and electrical impacts is investigated under the boundary condition of electrical insulation on the crack surface by using the integral transform and the Cauchy singular integral equation methods. The dynamic stress intensity factors, the dynamic electrical displacement intensity factor, and the dynamic energy release rate (DERR) are determined. The numerical calculation of the mode-I plane problem indicates that the DERR is more liable to be the token of the crack growth when an electrical load is applied. The dynamic response shows a significant dependence on the loading mode, the material combination parameters as well as the crack configuration. Under a given loading mode and a specified crack configuration, the DERR of an interface crack between piezoelectric media may be decreased or increased by adjusting the material combination parameters. It is also found that the intrinsic mechanical-electrical coupling plays a more significant role in the dynamic fracture response of in-plane problems than that in anti-plane problems. Received 4 September 2001; accepted for publication 23 July 2002 The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation under Grant Number 19891180, the Fundamental Research Foundation of Tsinghua University, and the Education Ministry of China.     

Accurate modelling of piezoelectric plates: single-layered plate

Summary  The paper presents an efficient two-dimensional approach to piezoelectric plates in the framework of linear theory of piezoelectricity. The approximation of the through-the-thickness variations accounts for the shear effects and a refinement of the electric potential. Using a variational formalism, electromechanically coupled plate equations are obtained for the generalized stress resultants as well as for the generalized electric inductions. The latter are deduced from the conservative electric charge equation, which plays a crucial role in the present model. Emphasis is placed on the boundary conditions at the plate faces. The model is used to examine some problems for cylindrical bending of a single simply supported plate. Number of situations are examined for a piezoelectric plate subject to (i) an applied electric potential, (ii) a surface density of force, and (iii) a surface density of electric charge. The through-thickness distributions of electromechanical quantities (displacements, stresses, electric potential and displacement) are obtained, and compared with results provided by finite element simulations and by a simplified plate model without shear effects. A good agreement is observed between the results coming from the present plate model and finite element computations, which ascertains the effectiveness of the proposed approach to piezoelectric plates. Received 17 July 2000; accepted for publication 26 September 2000     

Noncontact measurement of internal temperature distribution in a solid material using ultrasonic computed tomography

Numerical simulations and experiments have been carried out for a noncontact measurement of the internal temperature distribution in a solid material using ultrasonic computed tomography (CT). The method is based on the fact that the sound propagation velocity in a material depends on its temperature as well as its density and structure. From the numerical simulations, the convolution method is found to be an effective algorithm for the reconstruction of the sound velocity distribution. To obtain an accurate temperature distribution, it is found to be necessary to measure the sound propagation time with a resolution of 1 ns. In the experiments, the temperature distributions are measured in an agar-gel cylinder of 40 mm in diameter, along the center axis of which a platinum wire with 0.1 mm in diameter is located. By comparing the experimental results with the theoretical ones, the temperature distribution inside the agar-gel can be reconstructed with an error of 0.1 K, except for the region close to the platinum heater wire where temperature gradient is high. Further, the effects of an obstacle to the sound propagation, such as an acrylic resin cylinder inside the agar-gel, are investigated. Although the obstacles causes a part of projection to be missed, by using a linear-interpolation method to compensate for the incomplete projection, the temperature distribution can be reconstructed well but with a little larger error of 0.2 K, except for the regions close to the platinum heater wire and obstacle.     

Sliding of two smooth indenters on a viscoelastic foundation in the presence of friction

The axisymmetric contact problem of sliding of two solid parabolic indenters on a viscoelastic half-space with constant velocity is considered. Shear stresses modeling the adhesive component of the friction force act in the contact area. The model of the foundation material is described by an integral operator with an exponential kernel characterized by one relaxation time. The problem is solved by the boundary element method. The dependences of the contact characteristics on the sliding velocity, the normal load, and the distance between the centers of the indenters is analyzed. The results can be used to study the effect of the roughness elements modeled by two indenters on the contact characteristics and the deformation component of the friction force.