Estimating contact forces and pressure in a dense crowd: Microscopic and macroscopic models

This paper deals with the estimation of pressure at collisions times during the movement of a dense crowd. Through the non-smooth contact dynamics approach for rigid and deformable solids, proposed by Frémond and his collaborators, the value of pressure and contact forces at collisions points, generated through congestion or panic situation are estimated. Firstly, we propose a second-order microscopic model, in which the crowd is treated as a system of rigid solids. Contact forces are rigorously defined by taking into account multiple simultaneous contacts and the non-overlapping condition between pedestrians. We show that for a dense crowd, percussions can be seen as contact forces. Secondly, in order to overcome the restrictive hypothesis related to the geometric form adapted to model the pedestrian, a continuous equivalent approach is proposed where the crowd is modeled as a deformable solid, the pressure is then defined by the divergence of the stress tensor and calculated according to volume and surface constraints. This approach makes it possible to retain an admissible right-velocity, including both the non-local interactions between non-neighbor pedestrians and the choice of displacement strategy of each pedestrian. Finally, the comparison between the two proposed approaches and some other existing approaches are presented on several illustrative examples to estimate the contact forces between pedestrians.     

Dynamic rolling process of tires as layered structures

Due to inner pressure the tire is a prestressed system of cord layers. The cord layers are covered by rubber layers. The whole structure is coated by a wear-resistive thread and a soft side wall coating. Serving as a boundary condition at the cord ends is a steel ring at both sides of the wheel rim. To stiffen the thread the structure has a steel cord belt with a ply angle of ±20° to the circumferential direction. The rolling system works like a spring with changing contact forces, and to compute the car dynamics it is necessary to take into account a high frequency and nonlinear varying contact. The forces between tire and road are limited by friction which gives rise to high frequency friction oscillations. Also the structural dynamics of the tire is nonconservative and self-excited, and an appropriate damping of cords and rubber is needed to stabilize the system dynamically. The computing static equilibrium and equations of motion of a continuum mechanics membrane model are treated, and the discretization to a multi-masspoint model is shown. The resulting nonlinear system of Newtonian equations is solved by using the predictor-corrector integration method in time. The time step of integration is due to the highest frequency of the system, and it is ten times shorter than the minimum of oscillation time in the system. All the nonlinearities, the hysteretic damping, and small bending moments of the rubber layers are taken into account to compute the nonstationary rolling with slip and spin on uneven roads or soft ground.Presented at the Ninth International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials, Riga, October, 1995.Berlin Technical University, Berlin, Germany. Published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 824–834, November–December, 1996.     

A random forest application to contact‐state classification for robot programming by human demonstration

This paper addresses the non‐parametric estimation of the stochastic process related to the classification problem that arises in robot programming by demonstration of compliant motion tasks. Robot programming by demonstration is a robot programming paradigm in which a human operator demonstrates the task to be performed by the robot. In such demonstration, several observable variables, such as velocities and forces can be modeled, non‐parametrically, in order to classify the current state of a contact between an object manipulated by the robot and the environment in which it operates. Essential actions in compliant motion tasks are the contacts that take place, and therefore, it is important to understand the sequence of contact states made during a demonstration, called contact classification. We propose a contact classification algorithm based on the random forest algorithm. The main advantage of this approach is that it does not depend on the geometric model of the objects involved in the demonstration. Moreover, it does not rely on the kinestatic model of the contact interactions. The comparison with state‐of‐the‐art contact classifiers shows that random forest classifier is more accurate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mortar-Based Contact Formulation for Large Deformations

The discontinuities due to the discretization lead to some challenges. First, the normal direction of the contact surface is not steady because the discrete surface is only C₀ continuous. One might smooth the normal vector field. Second, the question of contact enforcement has to be cleared. Contact forces can be modeled with either a Lagrange multiplier method or a penalty formulation to prevent penetration. Third, there must be developed a integration scheme which is able to handle the non-steady boundary. Last, there is a strong discontinuity in measuring the penetration, where different criteria for enabling or disabling contact can be found (active set strategy). In this work, different approaches to solve this tasks are presented and brought into context. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Mixed finite element formulation for frictionless contact problems

Simple mixed finite element models and a computational procedure are presented for the solution of frictionless contact problems. The analytical formulation is based on a form of Reissner's large-rotation theory with the effects of transverse shear deformation included. The contact conditions are incorporated into the formulation by using a perturbed Lagrangian approach with the fundamental unknowns consisting of the internal forces (stress-resultants), the generalized displacements, and the Lagrange multipliers associated with the contact conditions. The elemental arrays are obtained by using a modified form of the two-field, Hellinger-Reissner mixed variational principle. The internal forces and the Lagrange multipliers are allowed to be discontinuous at interelement boundaries. The Newton-Raphson iterative scheme is used for the solution of the nonlinear algebraic equations, and for the determination of the contact region and the contact pressures.

Two numerical examples, axisymmetric deformations of a hemispherical shell and planar deformations of a circular ring, are presented. Both structures are pressed against a rigid plate. Detailed information about the response of both structures is presented. These examples demonstrate the high accuracy of the mixed models and the effectiveness of the computational procedure developed.     

On computer implementation of the Hertz elastic contact model and its simplifications

The paper is concerned with an elastic contact model of rigid bodies which is developed in the framework of the Hertz model. For this new model, we suggest more effective algorithms with reduced computational time. We also present an algorithm for representation of the geometry of the contacting surfaces in the local contact coordinate system. This coordinate system tracks permanently the surfaces of the bodies, which are able to contact. An approach to computation of the normal elastic force is presented. It is based on the reduction to a single transcendental scalar equation that includes the complete elliptic integrals of the first and second kinds. The computational time in the Hertz-model simulation was considerably reduced due to the use of the differential technique for computation of the complete elliptic integrals and due to the replacement of the implicit transcendental equation by a differential one. Using the classic solution of the Hertz contact problem, we then present an invariant form for the force function, which depends on the geometric properties of the intersection of the undeformed volumes occupied with the rigid bodies (so-called volumetric model). The reduced expression for the force function obtained is shown to be different from that accepted in the classic contact theory hypotheses. Our expression has been tested in several examples dealing with bodies that contact elastically including Hertz’s classical model. In the context of the Hertz contact problem, an approximate model for computation the resulting wrench of the dry friction tangent forces is set up. The wrench consists of the total friction force and the drilling friction torque. The approach under consideration naturally extends the contact model constructed earlier. The dry friction forces and torque are integrated over the contact elliptic spot. Generally an analytic computation of the integrals mentioned is bulk and cumbersome leading to decades of terms that include rational functions depending on complete elliptic integrals. To be able to implement a fast computer model of elastically contacting bodies, one should first set up an approximate model in the way initially proposed by Contensou. To verify the model developed, we have used results obtained by several authors. First we test our method on the Tippe-Top dynamic model. Simulations show that the top’s evolution can be verified with a high quality compared with the use of the theory of set-valued functions. In addition, the ball bearing dynamic model has been also used for a detailed verification of different approaches to the computation of tangent forces. Then the friction model of the regularized Coulomb type and the approximate Contensou one, each embedded into the whole bearing dynamic model, were thoroughly tested and compared. It turned out that the simplified Contensou approach provides a computer model that runs even faster compared with the case of the point contact. In addition, the volumetric model demonstrated a reliable behavior and an acceptable accuracy.     

Accurate modeling of contact using cubic splines

In this paper, we develop and implement a new method for the accurate representation of contact surfaces. This approach overcomes the difficulties arising from the use of traditional node-to-linear surface contact algorithms. In our proposed method, contact surfaces were modeled accurately using C¹-continuous cubic splines, which interpolate the finite element nodes. In this case, the unit normal vectors are defined uniquely at any point on the contact surfaces. These splines preserve the local deformation of the nodes on each flexible contact surface. Consequently, a consistent linearization of the kinematic contact constraints, based on the spline interpolation, was derived. Moreover, the gap between two contact surfaces was modeled accurately using an efficient surface-to-surface contact search algorithm. Since the continuity of the splines is not affected by the number of nodes, accurate stress distribution can be obtained with less finite elements at the contact surface than that using the traditional linear discretization of the contact surface. Two numerical examples are used to illustrate the advantages of the proposed representation. They show a significant improvement in accuracy compared to traditional piecewise element-based surface interpolation. This approach overcomes the problem of mismatch in a finite element mesh. This is very useful, since most realistic engineering problems involve contact areas that are not known a priori.     

An analysis of contact deformation of auxetic composites

The adaptive mode of frictional interaction has been studied as a self-locking effect upon contact deformation of isotropic and anisotropic auxetic materials with a negative Poisson ratio. This effect manifests itself in the fact that the bearing capacity of the joint rises with increasing shear load. In particular, the parameters of stress state (contact load, tangential stresses, slippage, etc.) were determined for a double-lap joint under conditions of compression with or with out shear. The contact interaction was analyzed by the finite-element method for three profiles of symmetrically located contact elements (plane, cylindrical, and wedge-shaped). The Poisson ratio was varied within the range theoretically admissible for isotropic elastic media. Analogous calculations were also performed for a joint with a deformed element made of an anisotropic auxetic composite, whose reinforcement angle was varied. The maximum loads, tangential stresses, and slippage are obtained as nonlinear functions of Poisson ratio (in the isotropic case) and reinforcement angle of the composite material. The stress concentration and the increased ultimate shear forces are also estimated. __________ Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 681–692, September–October, 2006.     

The effect of bearing cage run-out on the nonlinear dynamics of a rotating shaft

This paper presents an analytical model to investigate the nonlinear dynamic behavior of an unbalanced rotor-bearing system due to cage run-out. Due to run-out of the cage, the rolling elements no longer stay equally spaced. The mathematical model takes into account the sources of nonlinearity such as Hertzian contact forces and cage run-out, and the resulting transition from a state of no contact to contact between the rolling elements and the races. The contact between the rolling elements and races is treated as nonlinear springs and the system is analyzed for varying numbers of balls. The results are presented in the form of fast Fourier transformations and Poincaré maps. The results show that the ball passage frequency is modulated with the rotational frequency. The response falls into three regimes: periodic motion, quasi-periodic oscillations, and chaotic response.     

Ground Contact Detection with Shortstroke Buttons for Biped Robots

Robust walking motion of humanoid robots requires a sensor system that can accurately sense the robot's state and its environment. Especially in case the ground is not modeled and uneven, information about the contact state is crucial to initiate an appropriate response. Many humanoid robots use strain gauge-based force/torque sensors to obtain information about the contact state. In this paper, we propose the integration of shortstroke buttons in the foot design to detect ground contact faster and more reliably. Simulation results with our robot Lola suggest that impact forces in case of an unexpected ground contact can be reduced significantly by integrating these sensors. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Impression of a semiinfinite stamp in an elastic strip with regard for friction and adhesion

We consider the problem of contact interaction between a semiinfinite stamp with rectilinear base and an elastic strip with one rigid side. Friction forces in the contact region are taken into account. These forces lead to the division of the contact region into slipping and adhesion zones. With the use of the Wiener–Hopf method, a system of integral equations is reduced to an infinite system of algebraic equations. The computational results of stresses and strains at the boundary and at inner points of the elastic strip are presented. Translated from Matematychni Metody ta Fizyko-Mekhanichni Polya, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 138–149, January–March, 2008.     

转动与摆动复合运动下脂润滑关节轴承的数值分析

建立了球面轴承的三维润滑模型,该模型将内圈的转动运动、轴颈倾斜引起的内圈倾斜和内圈的摆动运动等因素纳入考虑,推导出球坐标下适用于非Newton(牛顿)流体润滑的Reynolds(雷诺)方程.应用该模型,并考虑使用润滑脂的Ostwald流变模型,对向心关节轴承的润滑问题进行了数值计算,研究了在不同的幂律指数、内圈倾斜角度和摆动角速度下,脂润滑膜的压力分布、最大压力、承载力和流量.结果表明:在合适的操作条件下,脂润滑能产生明显的流体动压效应;在其它参数不变时,幂律指数对脂润滑膜的最大压力和承载能力影响显著,相对于Newton流体,剪切稠化流体可提高润滑膜的最大压力和承载能力,并增加周向流量,而剪切稀化流体的影响效果则相反;内圈倾斜角度对脂润滑膜最大压力和承载能力的影响较小,内圈摆动角速度的影响则较为明显.     

联系概率的由来及其在风险决策中的应用

观察一简单随机摸球实验:当盒子中只有白球时,事件A="任抽一球是白球"是必然事件;当盒子中有白球黑球时,事件A是随机事件,这一实验表明事件A的随机性是2个事物(白、黑球)相互联系的一种属性,借此实验说明概率用联系数表述的原理以及联系概率的来由,同时还介绍了引出联系概率时用到的一些新概念,举例说明联系概率在风险决策中的应用.     

Rigid Ball-Polyhedra in Euclidean 3-Space

A ball-polyhedron is the intersection with non-empty interior of finitely many (closed) unit balls in Euclidean $3$ -space. One can represent the boundary of a ball-polyhedron as the union of vertices, edges, and faces defined in a rather natural way. A ball-polyhedron is called a simple ball-polyhedron if at every vertex exactly three edges meet. Moreover, a ball-polyhedron is called a standard ball-polyhedron if its vertex–edge–face structure is a lattice (with respect to containment). To each edge of a ball-polyhedron, one can assign an inner dihedral angle and say that the given ball-polyhedron is locally rigid with respect to its inner dihedral angles if the vertex–edge–face structure of the ball-polyhedron and its inner dihedral angles determine the ball-polyhedron up to congruence locally. The main result of this paper is a Cauchy-type rigidity theorem for ball-polyhedra stating that any simple and standard ball-polyhedron is locally rigid with respect to its inner dihedral angles.     

Singular integral equation method for contact problem for rigidly connected punches on elastic half-plane

In the contact problem of a rigid flat-ended punch on an elastic half-plane, the contact stress under punch is studied. The angle distribution for the stress components in the elastic medium under punch is achieved in an explicit form. From obtained singular stress distribution, the punch singular stress factor (abbreviated as PSSF) is defined. A fundamental solution for the multiple flat punch problems on the elastic half-plane is investigated where the punches are disconnected and the forces applied on the punches are arbitrary. The singular integral equation method is suggested to obtain the fundamental solution. Further, the contact problem for rigidly connected punches on an elastic half-plane is considered. The solution for this problem can be considered as a superposition of many particular fundamental solutions. The resultant forces on punches are the undetermined unknowns in the problem, which can be evaluated by the condition of relative descent between punches. Finally, the resultant forces on punches can be determined, and the PSSFs at the corner points can be evaluated. Numerical examples are given.     

Coupled wetting meniscus model for the mechanism of spontaneous capillary action

Capillarity plays a significant role in many natural and artificial processes, but the mechanism responsible for its dynamics is not completely understood. In this study, we consider capillary flow characteristics and propose a coupled wetting meniscus model for the mechanism of spontaneous capillary action. In this model, capillary action is considered as the dynamic coupling of two interfacial forces, i.e., the wall wetting force at the contact line and the meniscus restoring force on the free interface. The wetting force promotes the motion of the contact line directed toward an equilibrium contact angle, whereas the meniscus restoring force promotes a reduction in the interface curvature, which is more consistent with a 90° contact angle. The competing interaction between these two forces is coupled together via the evolution of the interface shape. The model is then incorporated into a finite volume method for a two-fluid flow with an interface. Capillary flow experiments were performed, including vertical and horizontal flows. Phenomena analysis and data comparisons were conducted to verify the proposed model. According to the results of our study, the model can explain the capillary flow process well and it can be also used to accurately guide capillary flow calculations.     

A solution approach for contact problems based on the dual interpolation boundary face method

The recently proposed dual interpolation boundary face method (DiBFM) has been shown to have a much higher accuracy and improved convergence rates compared with the traditional boundary element method. In addition, the DiBFM has the ability to approximate both continuous and discontinuous fields, and this provides a way to approximate the discontinuous pressure at a contact boundary. This paper presents a solution approach for two dimensional frictionless and frictional contact problems based on the DiBFM. The solution approach is divided into outer and inner iterations. In the outer iteration, the size of the contact zone is determined. Then the elements near the contact boundary are updated to approximate the discontinuous pressure. The inner iteration is used to determine the contact state (sticking or sliding), and is only performed for frictional contact problems. To make the system of equations solvable, the contact constraints and some supplementary equations are also given. Several numerical examples demonstrate the validity and high accuracy of the proposed approach. Furthermore, due to the continuity of elements in DiBFM and the detection of the contact boundary, the pressure oscillations near the contact boundary can be treated.     

Handling characteristics and stability of the steady-state powerslide motion of an automobile

Powerslide of an automobile may be defined as a steady-state cornering motion at a large side slip angle of the vehicle, considerably large traction forces and a large negative steering angle of the handwheel. In this case the front wheels direct towards the outside of the turn. As this extrem driving condition, which can be seen e.g. in Rallye sports, is hardly addressed in literature so far, this paper investigates the respective handling characteristics. Therefore, a nonlinear four-wheel vehicle model is applied including nonlinear tyre characteristics, the load transfer between inner and outer wheels and the influence of the traction forces on the lateral tyre forces. A basic stability analysis reveals the unstable nature of the steady-state powerslide motion of a certain test vehicle. To approve the numerical findings, measurements have been performed with a sports utility vehicle with rear-wheel drive at various speeds on a wet circular test track.     

On modelling and analysis of gear drives with nonlinear couplings

The paper deals with modelling of vibration of shaft systems with gears and rolling-element bearings using the modal synthesis method with DOF number reduction. The influence of the nonlinear bearing and gearing contact forces with the possibility of the contact interruption is respected. The gear drive nonlinear vibrations caused by internal excitation generated in gear meshing, accompanied by impact and chaotic motions are studied. The theory is applied to a simple test-gearbox. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)