A grid-based algorithm for the generation of hexahedral element meshes

An algorithm for the generation of hexahedralelement meshes is presented. The algorithm works in two steps: first the interior of the volume is filled with a regular grid; then the boundary region is meshed by using basically twodimensional operations.The algorithm was designed for use in the fem-simulation of metal forming processes where a remeshing must be done very often. In principle, it can be used for meshing any geometry with hexahedral elements and examples of meshes for geometries arising from various applications are given. The algorithm is checked against the criteria proposed by Sabin [1] (Advances in Engineering Software, 13, 220–225).     

Feature-preserving adaptive mesh generation for molecular shape modeling and simulation

We describe a chain of algorithms for molecular surface and volumetric mesh generation. We take as inputs the centers and radii of all atoms of a molecule and the toolchain outputs both triangular and tetrahedral meshes that can be used for molecular shape modeling and simulation. Experiments on a number of molecules are demonstrated, showing that our methods possess several desirable properties: feature-preservation, local adaptivity, high quality, and smoothness (for surface meshes). We also demonstrate an example of molecular simulation using the finite element method and the meshes generated by our method. The approaches presented and their implementations are also applicable to other types of inputs such as 3D scalar volumes and triangular surface meshes with low quality, and hence can be used for generation/improvement of meshes in a broad range of applications.     

A comprehensive modeling environment for the simulation of groundwater flow and transport

A comprehensive graphical modeling environment has been developed to address the needs of the computer simulation of groundwater flow and transport. The Department of Defense Groundwater Modeling Systems (GMS), developed at the Engineering Computer Graphics Laboratory at Brigham Young University, is part of a multi-year project funded through the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency. GMS is a graphically based software tool providing facility through all aspects of the groundwater flow and transport modeling process. Facilities include geometric modeling of hydrostratigraphy, two- and three-dimensional mesh generation, graphically based model input for specific flow and transport codes, interpolation and geostatistics as well as complete three-dimensional scientific visualization.     

MEMS弹簧特性的有限元分析

利用有限元分析软件ANSYS对镍质平面S型MEMS弹簧进行实体建模、静力学有限元计算分析,得到了各结构参数对刚度的影响规律,明确了其刚度特性。ANSYS仿真结果与镍质平面S型微弹簧的实际拉伸实验结果一致性很好,证明ANSYS软件对微弹簧力学性能的模拟较为准确。本文的分析方法对于其它类似的MEMS器件的分析有一定的借鉴意义,研究成果为平面微弹簧的优化设计与加工提供了依据,具有实际应用价值。     

Simulation and fabrication of piezoresistive membrane type MEMS strain sensors

Two piezoresistive (n-polysilicon) strain sensors on a thin Si₃N₄/SiO₂ membrane with improved sensitivity were successfully fabricated by using MEMS technology. The primary difference between the two designs was the number of strips of the polysilicon patterns. For each design, a doped n-polysilicon sensing element was patterned over a thin 3 μm Si₃N₄/SiO₂ membrane. A 1000×1000 μm² window in the silicon wafer was etched to free the thin membrane from the silicon wafer. The intent of this design was to fabricate a flexible MEMS strain sensor similar in function to a commercial metal foil strain gage. A finite element model of this geometry indicates that strains in the membrane will be higher than strains in the surrounding silicon. The values of nominal resistance of the single strip sensor and the multi-strip sensor were 4.6 and 8.6 kΩ, respectively. To evaluate thermal stability and sensing characteristics, the temperature coefficient of resistance [TCR=(ΔR/R₀)/ΔT] and the gage factor [GF=(ΔR/R₀)/] for each design were evaluated. The sensors were heated on a hot plate to measure the TCR. The sensors were embedded in a vinyl ester epoxy plate to determine the sensor sensitivity. The TCR was 7.5×10⁻⁴ and 9.5×10⁻⁴/°C for the single strip and the multi-strip pattern sensors. The gage factor was as high as 15 (bending) and 13 (tension) for the single strip sensor, and 4 (bending) and 21 (tension) for the multi-strip sensor. The sensitivity of these MEMS sensors is much higher than the sensitivity of commercial metal foil strain gages and strain gage alloys.     

虚拟手术中的针操作仿真研究

详细论述并实现了虚拟手术中针操作仿真技术.首先将材料的各向异件引入基于有限元理论的动态Tensor-Mass生物力学模型,并结合动力学方程以仿真软组织形变;接着根据物理运动规律描述手术针与人体组织间相互作用关系,然后结合结点投影法来论述针力与摩擦力的处理策略,并给出算法具体描述;最后提出一种局部网格细分法与针力等效处理方法相结合策略以提高仿真精度与速度.实验结果证明该方法不仅合理处理针与组织间作用力关系,而且能够避免网格单元数目激增,同时可消除滞后性与网格单元退化等,从而降低时空复杂性,并满足仿真精度与实时性,也提高仿真系统健壮性.实验结果显示针操作能够实时仿真活组织检查、介入治疗与跟骨钻孔等,在医疗中具有实际意义.     

Redesign process of a 765 kVRMS AC substation connector by means of 3D-FEM simulations

This paper shows the capabilities of applying the three-dimensional finite element method (3D-FEM) for designing complex-shaped substation connectors to operate at 765 kV_RMS AC. To check this methodology, it was analyzed the feasibility of upgrading a 400 kV_RMS substation connector to operate at 765 kV_RMS. However, both experimental and simulation results conducted according to the ANSI/NEMA CC 1-2009 standard concluded that although it passed the visual corona test, to ensure a wide safety margin it was desirable an improvement of the electrical behavior of such connector. It was shown that FEM results allowed detecting the peak stress points of the connector regarding the electrical stress thus allowing applying a corrective action. Then, two possible solutions were analyzed, i.e. the use of corona shields and the redesign of the connector assisted by 3D-FEM simulations. Results presented in this work show that both approaches have an excellent behavior in reducing the electric field strength on the connector surface. However, to make the final decision, the production cost of both alternatives was analyzed, thus favoring the redesign option. Next, the redesigned version of the substation connector was manufactured and tested. Experimental results conducted in a high voltage laboratory verified the effectiveness of the methodology and the potential of the proposed system to act as an advanced design tool for optimizing the behavior of complex-shaped substation connectors. Thus, this system allows assisting efficiently the design process while permitting constraining the economic costs.     

飞机刹车盘温度场的有限元分析

飞机的刹车装置是利用摩擦产生制动将高速运动的动能转换成热能,产生的高温使摩擦材料的物理、化学性质变化,刹车装置系统的安全性能因此得不到保证,所以对刹车盘瞬态温度场进行计算就非常有必要.针对飞机刹车盘瞬态温度场仿真建立了有限元计算模型,运用迦辽金法推导了各单元方程,在单元内部采用一次函数来近似刹车盘的温度值.有限元网格划分采用四面体结构.重点研究刹车过程的理论分析与计算,并用ANSYS对其进行了仿真计算.仿真计算结果与刹车盘实际温度场基本吻合,所建立的有限元计算模型是合理可行的,可以应用于飞机刹车盘设计过程中的温度场计算.     

An algorithm for automatic 2D quadrilateral mesh generation with line constraints

Finite element method (FEM) is a fundamental numerical analysis technique widely used in engineering applications. Although state-of-the-art hardware has reduced the solving time, which accounts for a small portion of the overall FEM analysis time, the relative time needed to build mesh models has been increasing. In particular, mesh models that must model stiffeners, those features that are attached to the plate in a ship structure, are imposed with line constraints and other constraints such as holes. To automatically generate a 2D quadrilateral mesh with the line constraints, an extended algorithm to handle line constraints is proposed based on the constrained Delaunay triangulation and Q-Morph algorithm. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated, and numerical results of our proposed algorithm are presented.     

Mesoscale modeling of concrete: Geometry and numerics

Mesoscale analysis is a promising discipline for concrete mix design and damage prediction. Besides many other aspects, its success crucially depends on accurate modeling of the mesoscale geometry and efficient numerical analysis of high resolution, to both of which this article contributes. Mesoscale models of concrete include aggregates, cement stone and, optionally, interfacial transition zones. The present paper establishes transparent formulas for consistent numerical generation of aggregate sizes. Fast separation checks are applied to place ellipsoidal and in particular arbitrary shaped particles. The multigrid method enables efficient computation of very large heterogeneous mesoscale models. This is exemplified by linear finite element analysis of two-dimensional models. Corresponding results are confirmed by experiments and analytical models from literature. The influence of concrete mix parameters on effective elastic properties is studied.     

轮胎机械特性虚拟试验场

轮胎对汽车性能具有十分重要的影响,因此对其进行机械特性试验是十分必要的.而传统的在室外进行的轮胎试验总有不少干扰,在室内进行试验又会受到实验室条件的限制.为了克服传统试验的不足,将虚拟试验场技术与有限元和动力学方法相结合,以P215/70R15轮胎有限元模型为对象,设计了轮胎径向刚度、外倾刚度和侧偏刚度虚拟试验场,分析了轮胎径向刚度、外倾刚度、侧偏刚度与胎压、径向载荷、车速等因素的关系,与实际比较符合,证明了轮胎机械特性虚拟试验场建立的可行性,为轮胎机械特性试验提供了一种新的有效的方法.     

A node-nested Galerkin multigrid method for metal forging simulation

A node-nested Galerkin multigrid method is developed to solve systems provided by mixed formulations of 3D metal forming problems. An algebraic approach is used with operators built on node-nested meshes made of unstructured tetrahedra. The coarse meshes are built by an automatic coarsening algorithm based on node removal and local topological remeshing techniques. This blackbox multigrid preconditioner is developed within the PETSc library. It is plugged to the FORGE3^® finite element software with frequent remeshings. The effectiveness of the resulting multigrid solver is evaluated for several large scale problems with non-linear behaviour, showing very high efficiency. In particular, the linear rate of convergence of the method is verified on various scales simulations.     

An efficient generation method of embedded reinforcement in hexahedral elements for reinforced concrete simulations

In this paper, an automatic procedure for the generation of embedded steel reinforcement inside hexahedral finite elements is presented. The automatic mapping of the entire reinforcement network inside the concrete hexahedral finite elements is performed using the end-point coordinates of the rebar reinforcement macro-elements. By introducing a geometrical constraint, this procedure decreases significantly the computational effort for generating the input data of the embedded rebar elements in three-dimensional finite-element analysis, particularly when dealing with relatively large-scale reinforced concrete models. The computational robustness and efficiency of the proposed mesh generation method are demonstrated through numerical experiments.     

New method for graded mesh generation of all hexahedral finite elements

Mapping method is widely applied by most of commercial mesh generators because of its efficiency, mesh quality. One of the obstacles to apply the mapping method and generate a graded all hexahedral mesh of high quality in an arbitrarily three-dimensional domain is the generation of hexahedral parent elements on a super-element that allows for gradations in three co-ordinate directions. This paper presents a pattern module’s method to generate the graded mesh of all hexahedral elements in a cube and thus improves the mapping method. The method requires few calculations.     

新型MEMS三维振动传感器的有限元分析

针对目前多维振动传感器的需求,研制了一种基于MEMS技术的仿昆虫纤毛三维振动传感器。首先,介绍了振动传感器的仿生机理和工作原理;然后,推导了振动传感器的力学模型并建立了有限元模型;最后,对该传感器进行了静、动态特性分析,并通过实验验证最终得出该传感器的灵敏度为274.18μV/gn、维间耦合小于等于0.612 5%、测量范围为±25 gn、共振频率为2 342.6 Hz、抗冲击能力为100 gn。     

机载光电平台内框架刚度及模态有限元分析

机载光电平台采用四框架二轴结构,它克服了二框架结构不能垂直对地跟踪的缺点,并提高了跟踪精度,随着精度的提高对框架的要求越来越高.应用有限元模态分析理论,对平台内框架的动态特性进行研究.在UG平台建立内框架三维实体模型,并对框架结构进行合理的简化.通过Patran有限元分析软件前后处理功能对框架采用合理单元进行网格划分,并建立有限元模型.计算出其前10阶固有频率和振型,根据计算的结果找出其结构的薄弱环节,提出改进方案并重新分析.另外,采用新型铝基复合材料以达到提高框架刚度和谐振频率从而达到提高整个平台精度的目的.最后对比三种分析的结果选出最优方案.     

Numerical modeling of electrochemical–mechanical interactions in lithium polymer batteries

This paper presents a multi-scale finite element approach for lithium batteries to study electrochemical–mechanical interaction phenomena at macro- and micro-scales. The battery model consists of a lithium foil anode, a separator, and a porous cathode that includes solid active materials and a liquid electrolyte. We develop a multi-scale approach to analyze the surface kinetics and electrochemical–mechanical phenomena within a single spherical particle of the active material. Homogenization techniques relate parameters in the micro-scale particle model to those in the macro-scale model describing the lithium ion transport, electric potentials and mechanical response based on porous electrode theory.     

A three-dimensional model for the study of the cooling system of submersible electric pumps

We study the cooling system for submersible electric pumps. This study aims to provide some guidelines to improve the existing cooling system of these electric pumps when they work partially or totally not immersed in the service fluid. Note that inefficient cooling systems cannot prevent the rise in temperature of the alternating current (AC) motor of the pump, and the consequent reduction of the service factor.     

应用于地下水模拟的多尺度有限体积元方法

应用多尺度有限体积元方法模拟地下水流动问题,其中地下渗透场系数采用二维对数正态随机场.与传统的有限体积元法相比,多尺度有限体积元法的基函数具有能够反映单元内参数变化的优点,所以这种方法能在大尺度上捕捉解的小尺度特征获得较精确的解.文中算例分别对均匀、各向同性和各向异性对数正态随机场的二维地下水流动问题用传统数值模拟方法和多尺度有限体积元方法进行了计算.计算结果表明多尺度有限体积元方法收敛,且与传统数值模拟方法相比,多尺度有限体积元方法既节省计算量,又有较高的精度.     

A simulation approach for estimating flank wear and material removal rate in turning of Inconel 718

The present work attempts to study the effect of important machining variables on performance characteristics such as material removal rate and tool wear in turning of Inconel 718 using chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coated tungsten carbide (WC) tool. A three dimensional machining model using Lagrangian approach has been developed using DEFORM 3D. The machining simulation is carried out to predict the flank wear and material removal rate (MRR). Flank wear is calculated using Usui’s wear model in the simulation model. The results from simulation model are compared with experimental data generated by the use of Taguchi’s L₁₆ orthogonal array for reducing the experimental runs. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed to identify the most influencing variables for both the performance characteristics. It is found that simulation results are in good agreement with experimental results. A valid simulation models helps the tool engineers to gather relevant process related information without resorting to costly and time consuming experimentation.