Smart computing approach for design and scale-up of conical spouted beds with open-sided draft tubes

Open-sided draft tubes provide an optimal gas distribution through a cross flow pattern between the spout and the annulus in conical spouted beds.The design,optimization,control,and scale-up of the spouted beds require precise information on operating and peak pressure drops.In this study,a multi-layer perceptron(MLP)neural network was employed for accurate prediction of these hydrodynamic characteristics.A relatively huge number of experiments were accomplished and the most influential dimensionless groups were extracted using the Buckingham-pi theorem.Then,the dimensionless groups were used for developing the MLP model for simultaneous estimation of operating and peak pressure drops.The iterative constructive technique confirmed that 4-14-2 is the best structure for the MLP model in terms of absolute average relative deviation(AARD%),mean square error(MSE),and regression coefficient(R²).The developed MLP approach has an excellent capacity to predict the transformed operating(MSE=0.00039,AARD%=1.30,and R²=0.76099)and peak(MSE=0.22933,AARD%=11.88,and R2=0.89867)pressure drops.     

Effective enhanced model for a large deformable soft pneumatic actuator

Soft pneumatic actuators have been widely used for implementing sophisticated and dexterous movements,due to numerous fascinating features compared with their rigid counterparts.Relatively speaking,modeling and analysis of an entire soft pneumatic actuator considering contact interaction between two adjacent air chambers is extremely rare,which is exactly what we are particularly interested in.Therefore,in order to establish an accurate mechanical model and analyze the overall configuration and stress distribution for the soft pneumatic actuator with large deflection,we consider the contact interaction of soft materials rather than hard materials,to produce an effective enhanced model for soft contact of a large deformable pneumatic actuator.In this article,a multiple-point contact approach is developed to circumvent the mutual penetration problem between adjacent air chambers of the soft actuator that occurs with the single-point contact approach employed in linear elastic rigid materials.In contrast to the previous simplified rod-based model that did not focus on contact interaction which was adopted to clarify the entire deformation of the actuator,the present model not only elaborates nonlinear large deformation and overall configuration variations,but also accurately delineates stress distribution law inside the chamber structure and the stress concentration phenomenon.By means of a corresponding static experiment,a comparison of the simulation results with experimental data validates the effectiveness and accuracy of this model employing a multiple-point contact approach.Excellent simulation of the actual bending deformation of the soft actuator is obtained,while mutual penetration is successfully circumvented,whereas the model with single-point contact cannot achieve those goals.Finally,as compared with the rod-based model,the results obtained using the proposed model are more consistent with experimental data,and simulation precision is improved.     

Axially variable-length solid element of absolute nodal coordinate formulation

An axially variable-length solid element with eight nodes is proposed by integrating the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF). In addition to the nodal positions and slopes of eight nodes, two material coordinates in the axial direction are used as the generalized coordinates. As a consequence, the nodes in the ALE-ANCF are not associated with any specific material points and the axial length of the solid element can be varied over time. These two material coordinates give rise to a variable mass matrix and an additional inertial force vector. Computationally efficient formulae of the additional inertial forces and elastic forces, as well as their Jacobians, are also derived. The dynamic equation of a flexible multibody system (FMBS) with variable-length bodies is presented. The maximum and minimum lengths of the boundary elements of an FMBS have to be appropriately defined to ensure accuracy and non-singularity when solving the dynamic equation. Three numerical examples of static and dynamic problems are given to validate the variable-length solid elements of ALE-ANCF and show their capability.     

Application of micro-morphology in the physical characterization of urban road dust

Urban road dust was collected from Vellore City,Tamil Nadu,India,and analyzed.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)was used to examine road dust from nine sampling locations in the study region.SEM image analysis was used to identify various shape factors of collected dust particles.The equivalent spherical diameter of most particles was between 10μm and 30μm.Fine particles had greater concentrations at locations with higher traffic flow.Particles were categorized into four classes based on their shape factors,viz.,spherical,mineral,elongated,or irregular.Spherical particles had the smallest mean equivalent diameter(1.95μm)and mineral particles had the largest diameter(33.3μm).Spherical particles made up the smallest portion of road dust(0-12%)in the study region and mineral particles made up the largest(45-65%).Elongated and irregular particles,each made up 23-30%of road dust.Electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis was used to identify the elemental composition of dust particles.Spherical particles were mostly from combustion sources and mineral particles were largely of crustal origin.No individual source was found for irregular and elongated particles.Biological debris was the major source of irregular particles.     

Efficient algorithm for 3D bimodulus structures

The bimodulus material is a classical model to describe the elastic behavior of materials with tension-compression asymmetry.Due to the inherently nonlinear properties of bimodular materials,traditional iteration methods suffer from low convergence efficiency and poor adaptability for large-scale structures in engineering.In this paper,a novel 3D algorithm is established by complementing the three shear moduli of the constitutive equation in principal stress coordinates.In contrast to the existing 3D shear modulus constructed based on experience,in this paper the shear modulus is derived theoretically through a limit process.Then,a theoretically self-consistent complemented algorithm is established and implemented in ABAQUS via UMAT;its good stability and convergence efficiency are verified by using benchmark examples.Numerical analysis shows that the calculation error for bimodulus structures using the traditional linear elastic theory is large,which is not in line with reality.     

Instability inspection of parametric vibrating rectangular Mindlin plates lying on Winkler foundations under periodic loading of moving masses

Parametric resonance is one of the most important issues in the study of dynamical behavior of structures. In this paper, dynamic instability of a moderately thick rectangular plate on an elastic foundation is investigated in the case of parametric and external resonances due to periodic passage of moving masses. The governing coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) of the system, with consideration of the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) or Mindlin plate theory, are presented and they are reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with time-dependent coefficients using the Galerkin procedure. All inertial components of the moving masses are adopted in the dynamical formulation. Instability survey is carried out for three different loading trajectories considerably interested in many practical applications of the issue, i.e. rectilinear, diagonal and orbiting trajectories. In order to analyze the resonance conditions, the incremental harmonic balance (IHB) method is introduced to calculate instability boundaries, as well as external resonance curves in parameters plane. A comprehensive study is done to assess effects of thickness ratio and foundation stiffness on the resonance conditions. It is found that an increase in the plate's thickness ratio leads to a reduction in values of critical parameters. Moreover, it is observed that in creasing the foundation stiffness moves the in stability regions and resona nee curves to higher frequencies of the moving masses and also leads to further stability of the parametrically excited system at lower frequencies. Time response simulations done via Runge-Kutta method confirmed the results predicted by IHB method.     

Towards multi-fidelity simulation of flows around an underwater vehicle with appendages and propeller

Flow around a real-life underwater vehicle often happens at a high Reynolds number with flow structures at different scales from the boundary layer around a blade to that around the hull. This poses a great challenge for large-eddy simulation of an underwater vehicle aiming at resolving all relevant flow scales. In this work, we propose to model the hull with appendages using the immersed boundary method, and model the propeller using the actuator disk model without resolving the geometry of the blade. The proposed method is then applied to simulate the flow around Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) suboff. An overall acceptable agreement is obtained for the pressure and friction coefficients. Complex flow features are observed in the near wake of suboff. In the far wake, the core region is featured by a jet because of the actuator disk, surrounded by an annular region with velocity deficit due to the body of suboff.     

Theoretical analysis on elastic buckling of nanobeams based on stress-driven nonlocal integral model

Several studies indicate that Eringen’s nonlocal model may lead to some inconsistencies for both Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beams, such as cantilever beams subjected to an end point force and fixed-fixed beams subjected a uniform distributed load. In this paper, the elastic buckling behavior of nanobeams, including both EulerBernoulli and Timoshenko beams, is investigated on the basis of a stress-driven nonlocal integral model. The constitutive equations are the Fredholm-type integral equati...     

Shear behaviours of cohesionless mixed soils using the DEM:The influence of coarse particle shape

The coarse particles in mixed soils can be cobbles or gravels,with the main difference being their roundness(an indicator describing particle shape characteristics at an intermediate scale).The influence of coarse particle shape(i.e.,roundness)on the macroscopic and microscopic shear behaviours of cohesionless mixed soils with various fines contents(FCs)was investigated via the discrete element method in this study.The shapes of coarse particles were formed using the rotation-invariant spherical harmonic method proposed by previous investigators.An equation was proposed to predict the initial void ratios of samples in this study.A decrease in the roundness of coarse particles can increase the peak friction angle(FC≤40%)and critical friction angle(FC≤30%).As the roundness of coarse particles decreases,the peak dilatancy angle initially increases and then decreases(FC≤20%).Furthermore,it was found that the roundness of coarse particles hardly affects the classification of cohesionless mixed soils,as determined by probing the percentage contributions of coarse-coarse,coarse-fine,and fine-fine contacts.When cohesionless mixed soils change from an underfilled structure to an interactive-underfilled structure at the critical state,the main forms of coarse-coarse contacts were discovered.Additionally,the force-fabric anisotropy mechanisms of the influences of the roundness and rolling resistance coefficient of coarse particles on the shear strengths of cohesionless mixed soils were found to be different.     

Reaction performance of fluidized bed catalytic reactor of Group C+particles

Group C particles are often regarded as non-fluidizable but have proven to effectively fluidize with nanoparticle addition,which results in small bubbles and a high gas holdup in the dense phase during the experiments.Group C⁺particles provide an increased surface area for gas-solid contact and improve the reaction performance,especially for gas-phase catalytic reactions.On the basis of a previous study of the ozone decomposition reaction using Group C⁺particles,a two-phase model was used to evaluate the reactor contact efficiency,and was used to compare the partial oxidation performance of the n-butane to maleic anhydride reaction in fluidized-bed catalytic reactors of Group C⁺and Group A particles.The reactor with Group C⁺particles achieved a higher n-butane conversion and MAN yield compared with that using Group A particles,based on the identical catalyst quantity or on the same gas residence time.Therefore,the reactor with Group C⁺particles can achieve the same reaction conversion and yield with fewer catalysts or a smaller reactor size,or both.Therefore,the fluidized bed catalytic reactor of Group C⁺particles is expected to be of major significance in industrial processes,especially for gas-phase catalytic reactions.     

Homogenization of the nonlinear Kelvin–Voigt model of viscoelasticity and of the Prager model of plasticity

Denoting by the stress tensor, by the linearized strain tensor, by A the elasticity tensor, and assuming that is a convex potential, the inclusion accounts for nonlinear viscoelasticity, and encompasses both the linear Kelvin–Voigt model of solid-type viscoelasticity and the Prager model of rigid plasticity with linear kinematic strain-hardening. This relation is assumed to represent the constitutive behavior of a space-distributed system, and is here coupled with the dynamical equation. An initial- and boundary-value problem is formulated, and the existence and uniqueness of the solution are proved via classical techniques based on compactness and monotonicity. A composite material is then considered, in which the function and the tensor A rapidly oscillate in space. A two-scale model is derived via Nguetseng’s notion of two-scale convergence. This provides a detailed account of the mesoscopic state of the system. Any dependence on the fine-scale variable is then eliminated, and the existence of a solution of a new single-scale macroscopic model is proved. The final outcome is at variance with the nonlinear extension of the generalized Kelvin–Voigt model, which is based on an apparently unjustified mean-field-type hypothesis.     

Realization of Period Maps of Planar Hamiltonian Systems

We consider the set of 2π-periodic solutions of the ordinary differential equation u′′ + g(u) = 0 for a nonlinearity , satisfying a dissipative condition of the form for , and under the generic assumption that the potential G, given by , is a Morse function. Under these assumptions, we characterize the period maps realizable by planar Hamiltonian systems of the form . Considering the Morse type of G, the set of periodic orbits in the phase space is decomposed into disks and annular regions. Then, the realizable period maps are described in terms of sets of sequences of positive integers corresponding to the lap numbers of the 2π-periodic solutions. This leads to a characterization of the classes of Morse–Smale attractors that are realizable by dissipative semilinear parabolic equations of the form defined on the circle, .      

Heat Flow of Harmonic Maps Whose Gradients Belong to L^{n}_{x}L^{\infty}_{t}

For any compact n-dimensional Riemannian manifold (M, g) without boundary, a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary, and 0 < T ≦ +∞, we prove that for n ≧ 4, if u : M × (0, T] → N is a weak solution to the heat flow of harmonic maps such that , then u ∈C ^∞(M × (0, T], N). As a consequence, we show that for n ≧3, if 0 < T < +∞ is the maximal time interval for the unique smooth solution u ∈C ^∞(M × [0, T), N) of (1.1), then blows up as t ↑ T.     

Flow Visualization of Superbursts and of the Log-Layer in a DNS at $$ \operatorname{Re} _{\tau } = 950 $$

This paper uses direct numerical simulations (DNS) of turbulent flow in a channel at (Del álamo, Jiménez, Zandonade, Moser J Fluid Mech 500:135–144, 2004) to provide a picture of the turbulent structures making large contributions to the Reynolds shear stress. Considerable work of this type has been done for the viscous wall region at smaller , for which a log-layer does not exist. Recent PIV measurements of turbulent velocity fluctuations in a plane parallel to the direction of flow have emphasized the dominant contribution of large scale structures in the outer flow. This prompted Hanratty and Papavassiliou (The role of wall vortices in producing turbulence. In: Panton, R.L. (ed) Self-sustaining Mechanism of Wall Turbulence. Computational Mechanics Publications, Southampton, pp. 83–108, 1997) to use DNS at to examine these structures in a plane perpendicular to the direction of flow. They identified plumes which extend from the wall to the center of a channel. The data at are used to explore these results further, to examine the structure of the log-layer, and to test present notions about the viscous wall layer.     

Rotating Navier-Stokes Equations in $${\mathbb R}^{3}_{+}$$ with Initial Data Nondecreasing at Infinity: The Ekman Boundary Layer Problem

We prove time local existence and uniqueness of solutions to a boundary layer problem in a rotating frame around the stationary solution called the Ekman spiral. We choose initial data in the vector-valued homogeneous Besov space for 2 <  p <  ∞. Here the L ^p -integrability is imposed in the normal direction, while we may have no decay in tangential components, since the Besov space contains nondecaying functions such as almost periodic functions. A crucial ingredient is theory for vector-valued homogeneous Besov spaces. For instance we provide and apply an operator-valued bounded H ^∞-calculus for the Laplacian in for a general Banach space .     

Two-Phase Inertial Flow in Homogeneous Porous Media: A Theoretical Derivation of a Macroscopic Model

The purpose of this article is to derive a macroscopic model for a certain class of inertial two-phase, incompressible, Newtonian fluid flow through homogenous porous media. Starting from the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations in each phase β and γ, the method of volume averaging is employed subjected to constraints that are explicitly provided to obtain the macroscopic mass and momentum balance equations. These constraints are on the length- and time-scales, as well as, on some quantities involving capillary, Weber and Reynolds numbers that define the class of two-phase flow under consideration. The resulting macroscopic momentum equation relates the phase-averaged pressure gradient to the filtration or Darcy velocity in a coupled nonlinear form explicitly given by

Closedness and normal solvability of an operator generated by a degenerate linear differential equation with variable coefficients

For a linear operator generated by the differential equation

Uniqueness and Nonuniqueness of Viscosity Solutions to Aronsson’s Equation

For a bounded domain and , assume that is convex and coercive, and that has no interior points. Then we establish the uniqueness of viscosity solutions to the Dirichlet problem of Aronsson’s equation:

Convergence to Steady States of Solutions of Non-autonomous Heat Equations in $$\mathbb{R}^{N}$$

Under certain assumptions on f and g we prove that positive, global and bounded solutions u of the non-autonomous heat equation

Uniform Convergence for Approximate Traveling Waves in Linear Reaction–Diffusion–Hyperbolic Systems

In this paper we study linear reaction–hyperbolic systems of the form , (i = 1, 2, ..., n) for x > 0, t > 0 coupled to a diffusion equation for p ₀ = p ₀(x, y, θ, t) with “near-equilibrium” initial and boundary data. This problem arises in a model of transport of neurofilaments in axons. The matrix (k _ij ) is assumed to have a unique null vector with positive components summed to 1 and the v _j are arbitrary velocities such that . We prove that as the solution converges to a traveling wave with velocity v and a spreading front, and that the convergence rate in the uniform norm is , for any small positive α.