Form-finding of a new kind of tensegrity tori using overlapping modules

In the past decades, the form-finding of tensegrity structures of regular geometric shapes, such as cylindrical tensegrities, polyhedral tensegrities, spherical tensegrities and so on, has been systematically studied. However, seldom studies on the form-finding of tensegrity tori have been reported. Considering the potential applications of the tensegrity tori in a number of fields, including architecture, sculpture, and other relevant fields, this paper carries out an exploration on a new kind of tensegrity tori. The topology of the new kind of tensegrity tori is based on the well-known cylindrical tensegrities and overlapping between every two adjacent tensegrity modules is allowed. Incorporating the singular value decomposition of equilibrium matrix with a force-finding algorithm, a general procedure for determining the feasible configurations for the new kind of tensegrity tori is proposed. Parametric analyses on several typical forms of the tensegrity tori are conducted and the feasible ranges of the design parameters and applicability of the feasible configurations are discussed.     

Chaotic attitude and reorientation maneuver for completely liquid-filled spacecraft with flexible appendage

The present paper investigates the chaotic attitude dynamics and reorientation maneuver for completely viscous liquid-filled spacecraft with flexible appendage. All of the equations of motion are derived by using Lagrangian mechanics and then transformed into a form consisting of an unperturbed part plus perturbed terms so that the system＇s nonlinear characteristics can be exploited in phase space. Emphases are laid on the chaotic attitude dynamics produced from certain sets of physical parameter values of the spacecraft when energy dissipation acts to derive the body from minor to major axis spin. Numerical solutions of these equations show that the attitude dynamics of liquid-filled flexible spacecraft possesses characteristics common to random, non- periodic solutions and chaos, and it is demonstrated that the desired reorientation maneuver is guaranteed by using a pair of thruster impulses. The control strategy for reorientation maneuver is designed and the numerical simulation results are presented for both the uncontrolled and controlled spins transition.     

Geometric and material nonlinear analysis of tensegrity structures

A numerical method is presented for the large deflection in elastic analysis of tensegrity structures including both geometric and material nonlinearities.The geometric nonlinearity is considered based on both total Lagrangian and updated Lagrangian formulations,while the material nonlinearity is treated through elastoplastic stress-strain relationship.The nonlinear equilibrium equations are solved using an incremental-iterative scheme in conjunction with the modified Newton-Raphson method.A computer program is developed to predict the mechanical responses of tensegrity systems under tensile,compressive and flexural loadings.Numerical results obtained are compared with those reported in the literature to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed program.The flexural behavior of the double layer quadruplex tensegrity grid is sufficiently good for lightweight large-span structural applications.On the other hand,its bending strength capacity is not sensitive to the self-stress level.     

A multi level approach to synthesis of planar mechanisms

A multi level approach to synthesis of planar mechanisms is presented. The approach covers both structural and dimensional synthesis of planar rigid body mechanisms containing revolute and translational joints. The synthesis is based on four different criteria. Firstly the type of mechanism is chosen with a view to get the simplest mechanism that satisfactorily fulfills the remaining three criteria. Two of these criteria are formulated as constraints on the kinematic behavior and the total area occupied by the mechanism, respectively. The fourth criteria is simply the desired minimization of the reactive forces/moments that appear in the mechanism. The desired kinematic behavior is based on a finite number, typically 1, ..., 6, of points in time (positions of the mechanism) where the position and orientation of up to two output bodies may be prescribed. The constraints on occupied areas are labelled territory constraints and formulated as a number of restricted areas (boxes). A synthesis is automatically performed at five levels. At the first level the structure of the mechanism is decided. At the second level initial dimensions for the given type of mechanism are found by random checking. At the third level the constraints on the kinematic behavior is fulfilled. At the fourth level the territory constraints are taken into account and, finally, at the fifth level the minimization of reactions is carried out. The entire approach has been implemented in a software package SYNMEC that runs on PCs and constitutes a way of performing the synthesis of a mechanism that is general and flexible with respect to both the type of mechanism that may be synthesized as well as the desired behavior upon which the synthesis is based.     

可展桁架展开过程模拟的违约校正

在 Yoon等学者的基础上 ,利用泰勒级数和 Moore-Penrose广义逆对主动校正法进行了深入、清晰的阐述 ,并针对可展桁架结构展开模拟所遇到的完整定常约束 ,发展了一种简单实用且精度较高的能量和速度违约校正方法。文中给出的算例说明了本文的违约校正算法的有效性     

Non-linear dynamic analysis of tensegrity structures using a co-rotational method

A new formulation is presented for the non-linear dynamic analysis of space truss structures. The formulation is based on the dynamics of 3D co-rotational rods. In the co-rotation method, the rigid body modes are assumed to be separated from the total deformations at the local element level. In this paper a new co-rotational formulation is proposed based on the direct derivation of the inertia force vector and the tangent dynamic matrix. A closed-form equation is derived for the calculation of the inertia force, the tangent dynamic matrix, the mass matrix and the gyroscopic matrix. The new formulation is used to perform dynamic analysis of example tensegrity structures. The developed formulation is applicable to tensegrity structures with non-linear effects due to internal mechanisms or geometric non-linearities, and is applied to two numerical examples. The efficiency of the proposed approach is compared to the conventional Lagrangian method, and savings in computation of about 55%, 54% and 37% were achieved.     

Periodic excitation of a buckled beam using a higher order semianalytic approach

This paper considers the steady-state behavior of a transversally excited, buckled pinned–pinned beam, which is free to move axially on one side. This research focuses on higher order single-mode as well as multimode Galerkin discretizations of the beam’s partial differential equation. The convergence of the static load-paths and eigenfrequencies (of the linearized system) of the various higher-order Taylor approximations is investigated. In the steady-state analyses of the semianalytic models, amplitude–frequency plots are presented based on 7th order approximations for the strains. These plots are obtained by solving two-point boundary value problems and by applying a path-following technique. Local stability and bifurcation analysis is carried out using Floquet theory. Dynamically interesting areas (bifurcation points, routes to chaos, snapthrough regions) are analyzed using phase space plots and Poincaré plots. In addition, parameter variation studies are carried out. The accuracy of some semianalytic results is verified by Finite Element analyses. It is shown that the described semianalytic higher order approach is very useful for fast and accurate evaluation of the nonlinear dynamics of the buckled beam system.     

Analysis of nonlinear oscillators under stochastic excitation by the Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equation

The paper deals with the analysis of stochastic mechanical systems with one degree of freedom and proposes a simple procedure to obtain a representation of the dynamical response. In particular, approximate solution of the FPK equation is obtained for a system subjected to a stochastic force term. The resolving procedure is implemented with reference to a polynomial expansion of the restoring force function. Numerical tests are performed with reference to Duffing and van der Pol oscillators, showing good agreement with simulated response.     

A Method for Obtaining Approximate Analytic Periods for a Class of Nonlinear Oscillators

This paper deals with nonlinear oscillations of conservative single-degree-of-freedom systems with odd nonlinearity. By combining the linearization of the governing equation with the method of harmonic balance, we establish two approximate analytic formulas for the period. These two formulas are valid for small as well as large amplitudes of oscillation. Three examples are used to illustrate that the proposed formulas can give very satisfactory approximate results. Sommario. Questo lavoro tratta il problema delle oscillazioni nonlineari di sistemi conservativi ad un grado di libertà con nonlinearità simmetriche. Combinando opportunamente la tecnica di linearizzazione dellequazione del moto con il metodo del bilancio armonico si perviene a due formule analitiche approssimate per il periodo. Le formule ottenute sono valide sia per piccole che per grandi ampiezze di oscillazione. Si utilizzano tre esempi classici di oscillatori nonlineari per illustrate lefficacia del metodo nel produrre risultati approssimati soddisfacenti.     

Numerical calculation of nonlinear normal modes in structural systems

This paper presents two methods for numerical calculation of nonlinear normal modes (NNMs) in multi-degree-of-freedom, conservative, nonlinear structural dynamics models. The approaches used are briefly described as follows. Method 1: Starting with small amplitude initial conditions determined by a selected mode of the associated linear system, a small amount of negative damping is added in order to “artificially destabilize” the system; numerical integration of the system equations of motion then produces a simulated response in which orbits spiral outward essentially in the nonlinear modal manifold of interest, approximately generating this manifold for moderate to strong nonlinearity. Method 2: Starting with moderate to large amplitude initial conditions proportional to a selected linear mode shape, perform numerical integration with the coefficient ε of the nonlinearity contrived to vary slowly from an initial value of zero; this simulation methodology gradually transforms the initially flat eigenspace for ε = 0 into the manifold existing quasi-statically for instantaneous values of ε. The two methods are efficient and reasonably accurate and are intended for use in finding NNMs, as well as interesting behavior associated with them, for moderately and strongly nonlinear systems with relatively many degrees of freedom (DOFs).     

On the use of discontinuous nonlinear bistable dynamics to increase the responsiveness of energy harvesting devices

There is promise in the use of bistable devices to transduce ambient vibrations into electrical power. However, it is critical to sustain the relatively large amplitude snap-through motion, or interwell motion, to significantly improve the responsiveness of bistable devices as compared to linear resonance-based approaches. This work posits that relatively stiff structural elements can be placed in the vicinity of the equilibria of bistable devices such that the discontinuous change in dynamics will tend to eject an otherwise small amplitude motion into the large amplitude interwell orbit that is to be preferred for energy harvesting applications. The discontinuous nonlinear dynamic equations of motion are derived and a proxy system parametrically studied. These numerical studies demonstrate that discontinuous nonlinear bistable devices have a significantly broadened frequency range that elicits the large amplitude snap through behavior. It is also seen that interwell motion is achievable at significantly reduced excitation amplitudes through these discontinuous structural elements.     

Gyroscopic Stabilization of Passive Magnetic Levitation

A nonlinear mathematical model able to describe the motion of a passive magnetic levitation device, known as Levitron, is presented in this paper. Using the standard approach usually applied in rotordynamics and without introducing any preliminary assumptions, the equations of motion for all six degrees of freedom of the magnetic spinning top are obtained. By computing the four natural frequencies characterizing the horizontal translational vibrations of the rotor and the whirling motion of its axis, the conditions for stable levitation in terms of the spin speed are obtained. Some results coming from the numerical integration of the equations of motion are also presented and compared with those obtained using the simplified model based upon the fast top assumption.     

Nonlinear network modeling of multi-module floating structures with arbitrary flexible connections

Multiple floating modules connected by flexible connectors can be viewed as a network structure. A standard modeling process for multi-module floating structures in arbitrary topology is presented by using network theory. A three-dimensional model is developed using the linear wave theory, dynamic model of single floating module, constitutive model of flexible connectors and model of a mooring system. As a typical application, a floating airport model is established and further its nonlinear dynamic responses and connector loads are analyzed. Numerical results show that the traditional linear analysis may underestimate the actual results. The methodology applied in this paper is extensible to many engineering problems with network structures alike.     

Bifurcation and stability analysis of an anaerobic digestion model

This paper presents the dynamic behaviour of the anaerobic digestion process, based on a simplified model. The hydraulic, biological and physicochemical processes such as those which underpin anaerobic digestion have more than one stable stationary solution and they compete with each other. Further, the attractive domains of the stable solutions vary with the key parameters. Thus, some initial transient process moving toward one stable solution could suddenly move towards another solution, at which a so-call catastrophe takes places (e.g. washout). The paper systematically analyses the stationary solutions with their associated stability, which provides insight and guidance for anaerobic digestion reactor design, operation and control.     

Nonlinear static and dynamic responses of an electrically actuated viscoelastic microbeam

On the basis of the Euler-Bernoulli hypothesis, nonlinear static and dynamic responses of a viscoelastic microbeam under two kinds of electric forces [a purely direct current （DC） and a combined current composed of a DC and an alternating current] are studied. By using Taylor series expansion, a governing equation of nonlinear integro-differential type is derived, and numerical analyses are performed. When a purely DC is applied, there exist an instantaneous pull-in voltage and a durable pull-in voltage of which the physical meanings are also given, whereas under an applied combined current, the effect of the element relaxation coefficient on the dynamic pull-in phenomenon is observed where the largest Lyapunov exponent is taken as a criterion for the dynamic pull-in instability of viscoelastic microbeams.     

Shear to longitudinal mode conversion via second harmonic generation in a two-dimensional microscale granular crystal

Shear to longitudinal mode conversion via second harmonic generation is studied theoretically and computationally for plane waves in a two-dimensional, adhesive, hexagonally close-packed microscale granular medium. The model includes translational and rotational degrees of freedom, as well as normal and shear contact interactions. We consider fundamental frequency plane waves in all three linear modes, which have infinite spatial extent and travel in one of the high-symmetry crystal directions. The generated second harmonic waves are longitudinal for all cases. For the lower transverse–rotational mode, an analytical expression for the second harmonic amplitude, which is derived using a successive approximations approach, reveals the presence of particular resonant and antiresonant wave numbers, the latter of which is prohibited if rotations are not included in the model. By simulating a lattice with adhesive contact force laws, we study the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis for non-resonant, resonant, and antiresonant cases. This work is suitable for the analysis of microscale and statically compressed macroscale granular media, and should inspire future studies on nonlinear two- and three-dimensional granular systems in which interparticle shear coupling and particle rotations play a significant role.     

Piecewise Isometries: Applications in Engineering

This paper defines and describes a class of two-dimensional discontinuous mappings known as piecewise isometries (PWIs), briefly reviews two known instances in which such mappings arise in an electronic engineering context, and gives preliminary results in a third case. In relation to the last example, the concept of a ‘PWI with contraction’ – a piecewise similarity – is introduced.     

Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Using a Model Reference Approach

In this paper we consider using a model reference adaptive control approach to control nonlinear systems. We consider the controller design and stability analysis associated with these type of adaptive systems. Then we discuss the use of model reference adaptive control algorithms to control systems which exhibit nonlinear dynamical behaviour using the example of a Duffing oscillator being controlled to follow a linear reference model. For this system we show that if the nonlinearity is small then standard linear model reference control can be applied. A second example, which is often found in synchronization applications, is when the nonlinearities in the plant and reference model are identical. Again we show that linear model reference adaptive control is sufficient to control the system. Finally we consider controlling more general nonlinear systems using adaptive feedback linearization to control scalar nonlinear systems. As an example we use the Lorenz and Chua systems with parameter values such that they both have chaotic dynamics. The Lorenz system is used as a reference model and a single coordinate from the Chua system is controlled to follow one of the Lorenz system coordinates.