Practical techniques for a three‐dimensional FEM analysis of incompressible fluid flow contained with slip walls and a downstream tube bundle

Two practical techniques are proposed in this paper to simulate a flow contained in a plenum with a downstream tube bundle under a PC environment. First, a technique to impose slip wall conditions on smooth‐faced planes and sharp edges is proposed to compensate for the mesh coarseness relative to boundary layer thickness. In particular, a new type of Poisson equation is formulated to simultaneously satisfy both such velocity boundary conditions on walls and the incompressibility constraint. Second, a numerical model for a downstream tube bundle is proposed, where hydraulic resistance in a tube is imposed as a traction boundary condition on a fluid surface contacting the tube bundle end. The effectiveness of the techniques is numerically demonstrated in the application to a flow in a condenser water box. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ductile–brittle transitions in the fracture of plastically deforming,adhesively bonded structures. Part II: Numerical studies

To enable the effective and reliable use of structural adhesive bonding in automotive applications, the cohesive properties of a joint need to be determined over a wide range of loading rates. In this paper, a strategy for determining these properties has been described and used to analyze a set of experimental results presented in a companion paper. In the particular system studied, a crack growing in a toughened quasi-static mode could make a catastrophic transition to a brittle mode of fracture. The cohesive parameters for both the toughened and brittle modes of crack growth were determined by comparing numerical predictions from cohesive-zone simulations to the results of experimental tests performed using double-cantilever beam specimens and tensile tests. The cohesive parameters were found to be essentially rate-independent for the toughened mode, but the toughness dropped by a factor of four upon a transition to the brittle mode. The results of wedge tests were used as an independent verification of the cohesive parameters, and to verify that the quasi-static properties remained rate-independent to very high crack velocities corresponding to conditions of low-velocity impact. The effects of friction, and the use of the wedge test to determine cohesive parameters, were also explored.     

Construction of the Exact Solution to a Torsion Problem for an Elastic Shaft of Variable Cross Section

The exact solution is constructed to a torsion problem for a circular elastic shaft in a medium referred to a spherical coordinate system. One end of the shaft is rigidly fixed and the other is subjected to either tangential forces or a torque. New integral transforms are obtained to solve the problem.     

A Computational Algorithm for Second-Moment Closure Turbulence Modelling

A computational formulation is proposed for second-moment closure turbulence models, especially suited to models intended to ensure physical realizability. It enables to cast the quite complicated model equations in a compact form. It is specifically applied here to a two-dimensional parabolized flow, though it lends itself to extension to more complex flows. An effective computational algorithm is proposed, based on a staggered grid and a block tridiagonal solver. The algorithm is applied to a turbulent mixing layer, and the comparison between the predictions obtained by standard modelling tools and a realizable second-moment closure clearly points out the superiority of the latter.     

Cone penetration resistance equation as a function of the clay ratio, soil moisture content and specific weight

The cone penetrometer is a simple versatile device which is widely used to monitor the strength of a soil in terms of its resistance to the penetration of a standard cone. The soil penetration resistance is a function of soil moisture content, soil specific weight and soil type. The soil type is characterised by means of a clay ratio which is the ratio of the clay content of the soil to the content of silt and sand.Based on the classical bearing capacity theories for strip foundations, a general cone penetration resistance equation is developed to represent the variability of cohesion and friction angle by means of soil type and moisture content. The empirical relationship is shown to give an accurate prediction of the cone penetration resistance for a wide range of soils from a loamy sand to a heavy clay (clay ratios 0.10–1.60) and over a wide spectrum of soil moisture contents from 10 to 65% w/w.     

Stress-Sensitive Permeability: Application to Fault Integrity During Gas Production

The objective is to propose a simple theoretical approach and the associated numerical algorithm to capture the permeability evolution within a fractured region in response to a stress perturbation. The stress range of interest is typical of a reversible deformation such that the fractures have varying apertures but constant lengths and densities. It is the permeability evolution from a negligible value characteristic of flows on geological times to values more relevant for gas production which is important for the structural integrity of the fractured region. A simple 1D application related to the sealing capacity of a fault bounding a producing gas reservoir is proposed to illustrate the theory. The stress change on the two sides of the faults is obtained with a 2D finite-element simulation based on the theory of poro-elasticity and considering the fault as a material discontinuity. The 1D flow simulation is done in a second step, and the flux is assumed to occur through the fault thickness from the non-depleted (minus side) to the depleted (plus side) regions. It is shown how the depletion results in the fractures opening in the fault damaged zone close to the minus side and the fracture closure next to the plus side. This evolution could be non-monotonic in time because of the development and the thinning of a boundary layer in the fluid pressure at the plus side. The simulations end once a Coulomb criterion is reached, typically at the minus side of the fault. The presence of a low-permeability core in the fault center does not change these conclusions although a positive effective normal stress is detected in the damaged zone on the minus side of the core prior to the Coulomb criterion activation.     

The Characteristic Response of Hollow Cones

The response of a solid cone to a pure bending moment applied at its tip was found recently in terms of spherical polar coordinates by a using a suitable change of parameter leading to series solutions. By a very simple further parameter change, the additional solutions have been found which are needed to extend the analysis to give the response of a hollow cone to any resultant load applied to its tip. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Integral formulation for a circular cylindrical cavity in infinite solid and a finite length coaxial cylindrical crack compressed axially

A method for solving problems of fracture of an infinite solid with a circular cylindrical cavity and a coaxial cylindrical crack near the surface under an uniform axial compression is proposed using a non-classical criterial approach associated with a mechanism of a local stability loss near the defect. The theory of integral Fourier transforms and series expansions are used to reduce these problems to a system of paired integral equations and then to a system of linear algebraic equations with respect to the contraction parameter.     

A Nonlinear Temporal Headway Model of Traffic Dynamics

In order to describe the dynamics of a group of road vehicles travelling in a single lane, car-following models attempt to mimic the interactions between individual vehicles where the behaviour of each vehicle is dependent upon the motion of the vehicle immediately ahead. In this paper we investigate a modified car-following model which features a new nonlinear term which attempts to adjust the inter-vehicle spacing to a certain desired value. In contrast to our earlier work, a desired time separation between vehicles is used rather than simply being a constant desired distance. In addition, we extend our previous work to include a non-zero driver vehicle reaction time, thus producing a more realistic mathematical model of congested road traffic. Numerical solution of the resulting coupled system of nonlinear delay differential equations is used to analyse the stability of the equilibrium solution to a periodic perturbation. For certain parameter values the post-transient response is a chaotic (non-periodic) oscillations consisting of a broad spectrum of frequency components. Such chaotic motion leads to highly complex dynamical behaviour which is inherently unpredictable. The model is analysed over a range of parameter values and, in each case, the nature of the response is indicated. In the case of a chaotic solution, the degree of chaos is estimated.     

Dynamic shakedown of elastic-plastic solids for a set of alternative loading histories

The paper deals with dynamic shakedown of an elastic-perfectly plastic solid body subjected to a loading history which is unknown but is allowed to belong to a given set of loading histories. In the hypothesis of a piecewise linear convex set, a sufficient shakedown theorem is given and a bounding principle for the plastic work produced is formulated in terms of the dynamic elastic responses to a discrete set of loading histories. The solution of a minimization problem gives the most stringent bound which also proves to possess a local character, i.e., it regards the plastic work density at any point.     

General Anisotropic Effective Medium Theory for the Effective Permeability of Heterogeneous Reservoirs

One of the techniques to calculate the effective property of a heterogeneous medium is the effective medium theory. The present paper presents a general mathematical formulation for the effective medium approximation using a self-consistent choice of the effective permeability, to apply it to the case of a general anisotropic 2D medium and to the case of a 3D isotropic medium with randomly oriented ellipsoidal inclusions. The 2D results are compared with analytical results and with a homogenization technique with good result. The 3D correlations are used to derive percolation thresholds in two-phase systems with a large permeability contrast, which are compared to numerical results from the literature, also with good results.     

Non-Contact Eddy Current Excitation Method for Vibration Testing

When a conductive material is subjected to a time changing magnetic field, eddy currents are induced in that structure. The eddy currents circulate inside the conductor resulting in a magnetic field that interacts with the applied field. The eddy current field is such that it opposes the change in flux resulting in a force between the source and conductor. The time changing magnetic field necessary to induce an electrometric force in the materials can be generated through a variety of different ways. In the present study, a permanent magnet will be mounted to the tip of an electromagnetic shaker such that the motion of the magnet relative to the structure will cause a time changing field and the formation of eddy currents. The actuator will be demonstrated to be beneficial due to its ability to apply actuation forces without contacting the structure. This study will show that the non-contact nature of the system eliminates mass loading and added stiffness which are downfalls of traditional excitation techniques. Additionally, it will be shown that the use of a non-contact device preserves the mode shapes of the structure, whereas a stinger results in distortions due to the added constraint. Using this concept, a model of the actuation system will be developed, allowing the beams response to be simulated. The actuation system will then be used to excite a cantilever beam to obtain the modal parameters without contacting the structure. The novel non-contact actuation system developed in this paper provides a new method performing vibration testing of on lightweight or flexible structures while preserving their dynamics.     

Control of Tollmien�CSchlichting instabilities by finite distributed wall actuation

Tollmien?CSchlichting waves are one of the key mechanisms triggering the laminar-turbulent transition in a flat-plate boundary-layer flow. By damping these waves and thus delaying transition, skin friction drag can be significantly decreased. In this simulation study, a wall segment is actuated according to a control scheme based on a POD-Galerkin model driven extended Kalman filter for state estimation and a model predictive controller to dampen TS waves by negative superposition based on this information. The setup of the simulation is chosen to resemble actuation with a driven compliant wall, such as a membrane actuator. Most importantly, a method is proposed to integrate such a localized wall actuation into a Galerkin model.     

Classical molecular dynamics model for coupled two component plasmas

This work is an improved continuation of a previous attempt to use classical molecular dynamics (MD) as a tool for the investigation of hot and dense “real” plasmas. “Real” in this context refers to ions and electrons interacting through Coulomb forces and undergoing ionization/recombination. The objective of designing such a non standard approach to plasma equilibrium is to explore a new way to discuss warm and dense matter with a method able to deal with the whole complexity of a N-body system of ions and electrons. Plasma relaxation times can be investigated up to a picosecond. The resulting equilibrium ion populations, built self consistently, are comparable to those found in literature and, potentially validate access to all the statistical data usually derived from MD simulations.     

Nodeless variable finite element method for heat transfer analysis by means of flux-based formulation and mesh adaptation

Based on flux-based formulation, a nodeless variable element method is developed to analyze two-dimensional steady-state and transient heat transfer problems. The nodeless variable element employs quadratic interpolation functions to provide higher solution accuracy without necessity to actually generate additional nodes. The flux-based formulation is applied to reduce the complexity in deriving the finite element equations as compared to the conventional finite element method. The solution accuracy is further improved by implementing an adaptive meshing technique to generate finite element mesh that can adapt and move along corresponding to the solution behavior. The technique generates small elements in the regions of steep solution gradients to provide accurate solution, and meanwhile it generates larger elements in the other regions where the solution gradients are slight to reduce the computational time and the computer memory. The effectiveness of the combined procedure is demonstrated by heat transfer problems that have exact solutions. These problems are: (a) a steady-state heat conduction analysis in a square plate subjected to a highly localized surface heating, and (b) a transient heat conduction analysis in a long plate subjected to a moving heat source. The English text was polished by Yunming Chen.     

Stress analysis near the tips of a transverse crack in an elastic semi-strip

The plane elastic problem for a semi-strip with a transverse crack is investigated. The initial problem is reduced to a one-dimensional continuous problem by use of an integral transformation method with a generalized scheme. The one-dimensional problem is first formulated as a vector boundary problem, and then reduced to a system of three singular integral equations(SIEs). The system is solved by use of an orthogonal polynomial method and a special generalized method. The contribution of this work is the consideration of kernel fixed singularities in solving the system. The crack length and its location relative to the semi-strip's lateral sides are investigated to simplify the problem's statement. This simplification reduces the initial problem to a system of two SIEs.     

Micropositioning of a measuring volume in laser Doppler anemometry

Conclusion The method described in this paper permits to locate with high accuracy a LDA measuring volume relatively to a wall by means of a microthermocouple. In addition, this method allows to balance the intensities of the two laser beams and to control the exact size of the ellipsoid. When the LDA system is employed for two components measurements, this procedure permits to verify the coincidence of the two measuring volumes. This technique can also be used in laser tomography to locate, with high accuracy, a light sheet parallel to a wall (visualization of boundary layers).     

On a Pseudo-Differential Equation¶for Stokes Waves

It is shown that the existence of a smooth solution to a nonlinear pseudo-differential equation on the unit circle is equivalent to the existence of a globally injective conformal mapping in the complex plane which gives a smooth solution to the nonlinear elliptic free-boundary problem for Stokes waves in hydrodynamics. A dual formulation is used to show that the equation has no non-trivial smooth solutions, stable or otherwise, that would correspond to a Stokes wave with gravity acting in a direction opposite to that which is physically realistic.     

Flow of a biomagnetic viscoelastic fluid: application to estimation of blood flow in arteries during electromagnetic hyperthermia,a therapeutic procedure for cancer treatment

The paper deals with the theoretical investigation of a fundamental problem of biomaguetic fluid flow through a porous medium subject to a magnetic field by using the principles of biomagnetic fluid dynamics （BFD）. The study pertains to a situation where magnetization of the fluid varies with temperature. The fluid is considered to be non-Newtonian, whose flow is governed by the equation of a second-grade viscoelastic fluid. The walls of the channel are assumed to be stretchable, where the surface velocity is proportional to the longitudinal distance from the origin of coordinates. The problem is first reduced to solving a system of coupled nonlinear differential equations involving seven parameters. Considering blood as a biomagnetic fluid and using the present analysis, an attempt is made to compute some parameters of the blood flow by developing a suitable numerical method and by devising an appropriate finite difference scheme. The computational results are presented in graphical form, and thereby some theoretical predictions are made with respect to the hemodynamical flow of the blood in a hyperthermal state under the action of a magnetic field. The results clearly indicate that the presence of a magnetic dipole bears the potential so as to affect the characteristics of the blood flow in arteries to a significant extent during the therapeutic procedure of electromagnetic hyperthermia. The study will attract the attention of clinicians, to whom the results would be useful in the treatment of cancer patients by the method of electromagnetic hyperthermia.     

An investigation of the stability in the large for an autonomous second-order two-degree-of-freedom system

An extension to an algorithm due to Simpson has been developed for the analysis of a second-order two-degree-of-freedom autonomous system. The form of equations considered arises from the study of mechanical systems with a single concentrated non-linearity and the method assumes a solution made up of harmonic terms whose amplitudes vary slowly in time. For a system possessing a stable equilibrium point and an unstable limit cycle arising from a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, the method has been applied to the problem of predicting the basin of attraction of the equilibrium point. The method reduces the problem from a search in four-dimensional phase space to a search for a boundary in a plane defined by amplitudes a₁ and a₂ in the assumed form of the solution. The method was applied to four weakly non-linear systems in which the non-linearity was due to either a linear spring with a small amount of cubic hardening or a linear spring with freeplay. Agreement was shown to be good in the cases considered. However, it would be expected that the method would not give such accurate results if the non-linear effect was more significant. This was illustrated for the case of the cubic hardening non-linearity.