Mixed finite elements based on superconvergent patch recovery for strain gradient theory

In the present manuscript, the second strain gradient (SSG) is utilized to investigate the primary resonance of a nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli nanobeam is analyzed in this paper for the first time. To that end, the second strain gradient theory, a higher-order continuum theory capable of taking the size effects into account, is utilized and the governing equation of the motion for an Euler-Bernoulli nanobeam is derived with sixteen higher-order material constants. Then by implementing the Galerkin’s method,the Duffing equation for the vibration of a hinged-hinged nanobeam is obtained and its primary resonance is studied utilizing the method of multiple scales. The size effects and impact of various system parameters on the amplitude of the response are then investigated for three different materials and the results are compared to thatof the first strain gradient and classical theories. The results of this manuscript clearly shows that the nonlinear vibration of a second strain gradient nanobeam is size-dependent and although the difference between the results obtained by the second strain gradient theory and the first strain gradient theory is negligible for thicker beams, as the thickness decreases, the difference becomes more prominent. Also, the effects of nonlinearity on the forced vibration nonlinear response of an SSG beam are investigated and some observations are reported.

A novel sine transform based preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) method for signal restoration is presented. If the bandwidth 2? +1 in the model matrix is a constant, then the asymptotic complexity for the new algorithm is O(N) per iterative step, where Nis the order of the model. This complexity is reduced by an order of magnitude in comparison with the known fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique proposed recently in the literature. Moreover, if ? has a size similar to N, then the new PCG method is accomplished by the fast sine transform (FST) and the fast Hartley transform (FHT). The computational and storage cost per preconditioning step for the new PCG method is reduced by 50% as compared to the FFT approach. To stabilize the computation, a special Tikhonov regularization is introduced. Numerical experimentations show that the new PCG method is of a speedy convergence rate. The new PCG methods maintain less computational complexity per iterative step and have a better convergence rate than the other known PCG methods.

We consider the problem of potential interaction between a finite-dimensional linear Lagrangian system and an infinite-dimensional one (a system of linear oscillators and a thermostat). We study the final dynamics of the system. Under natural assumptions, this dynamics turns out to be very simple and admits an explicit description because the thermostat produces an effective dissipation despite the energy conservation and the Lagrangian nature of the system. We use the methods of [1], where the final dynamics of the finite-dimensional subsystem is studied in the case when it has one degree of freedom and a linear potential or (under additional assumptions) polynomial potential. We consider the case of finite-dimensional subsystems with arbitrarily many degrees of freedom and a linear potential and study the final dynamics of the system of oscillators and the thermostat. The necessary assertions from [1] are given with proofs adapted to the present situation.

Mixed finite element formulations of strain-gradient elasticity problems

Conforming and nonconforming laminated finite element Kirchhoff nanoplates in bending using strain gradient theory

An efficient three-field mixed finite element model for the linear analysis of composite beams with deformable shear connection

Modeling of the heart ventricles is one of the most challenging tasks in soft tissue mechanics because cardiac tissue is a strongly anisotropic incompressible material with an active component of stress. In most current approaches with active force, the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) is limited by the direct method of solution of linear systems of equations. We develop a new approach for high-resolution heart models with large numbers of DOF by: (1) developing a hex-dominant finite element mixed formulation and (2) developing a Krylov subspace iterative method that is able to solve the system of linearized equations for saddle-point problems with active stress. In our approach, passive cardiac tissue is modeled as a hyperelastic, incompressible material with orthotropic properties, and mixed pressure-displacement finite elements are used to enforce incompressibility. Active stress is generated by a model with force dependence on length and velocity of muscle shortening. The ventricles are coupled to a lumped circulatory model. For efficient solution of linear systems, we use Flexible GMRES with a nonlinear preconditioner based on block matrix decomposition involving the Schur complement. Three methods for approximating the inverse of the Schur complement are evaluated: inverse of the pressure mass matrix; least squares commutators; and sparse approximate inverse. The sub-matrix corresponding to the displacement variables is preconditioned by a V-cycle of hybrid geometric-algebraic multigrid followed by correction with several iterations of GMRES preconditioned by sparse approximate inverse. The overall solver is demonstrated on a high-resolution two ventricle mesh based on a human anatomy with roughly 130K elements and 1.7M displacement DOF. Effectiveness of the numerical method for active contraction is shown. To the best of our knowledge, this solver is the first to efficiently model ventricular contraction using an iterative linear solver for the mesh size demonstrated and therefore opens the possibility for future very high-resolution models. In addition, several relatively simple benchmark problems are designed for a verification exercise to show that the solver is functioning properly and correctly solves the underlying mathematical model. Here, the output of the newly designed solver is compared to that of the mechanics component of Chaste ('Cancer, Heart and Soft Tissue Environment'). These benchmark tests may be used by other researchers to verify their newly developed methods and codes.

Recently, the robot with many links and degrees of freedoms is actively produced. Generally, the robot that has many degrees of freedoms owns many redundant joints. So we make a suggestion for using redundant joints effectively. The paper proposes using redundant joint as a counter weight. We make a trajectory in momentum space, and we use Fourier Basis Algorism as the method for an optimization. This trajectory generating method has an effect on reducing a driving energy for throwing motion.

In this thesis, we present a dynamical systems approach to adaptive controllers for locomotion control. The approach is based on a rigorous mathematical framework using nonlinear dynamical systems and is inspired by theories of self-organization. Nonlinear dynamical systems such as coupled oscillators are an interesting approach for the on-line generation of trajectories for robots with many degrees of freedom (e.g. legged locomotion). However, designing a nonlinear dynamical system to satisfy a given specification and goal is not an easy task, and, hitherto no methodology exists to approach this problem in a unified way. Nature presents us with satisfactory solutions for the coordination of many degrees of freedom. One central feature observed in biological subjects is the ability of the neural systems to exploit natural dynamics of the body to achieve efficient locomotion. In order to be able to exploit the body properties, adaptive mechanisms must be at work. Recent work has pointed out the importance of the mechanical system for efficient locomotion. Even more interestingly, such well suited mechanical systems do not need complicated control. Yet, in robotics, in most approaches, adaptive mechanisms are either missing or they are not based on a rigorous framework, i.e. they are based on heuristics and ad-hoc approaches. Over the last three decades there has been enormous progress in describing movement coordination with the help of Synergetic approaches. This has led to the formulation of a theoretical framework: the theory of dynamic patterns. This framework is mathematically rigorous and at the same time fully operational. However, it does not provide any guidelines for synthetic approaches as needed for the engineering of robots with many degrees of freedom, nor does it directly help to explain adaptive systems. We will show how we can extend the theoretical framework to build adaptive systems. For this purpose, we propose the use of multi-scale dynamical systems. The basic idea behind multi-scale dynamical systems is that a given dynamical system gets extended by additional slow dynamics of its parameters, i.e. some of the parameters become state variables. The advantages of the framework of multi-scale dynamical systems for adaptive controllers are 1) fully dynamic description, 2) no separation of learning algorithm and learning substrate, 3) no separation of learning trials or time windows, 4) mathematically rigorous, 5) low dimensional systems. However, in order to fully exploit the framework important questions have to be solved. Most importantly, methodologies for designing the feedback loops have to be found and important theoretical questions about stability and convergence properties of the devised systems have to be answered. In order to tackle this challenge, we first introduce an engineering view on designing nonlinear dynamical systems and especially oscillators. We will highlight the important differences and freedom that this engineering view introduces as opposed to a modeling one. We then apply this approach by first proposing a very simple adaptive toy-system, consisting of a dynamical system coupled to a spring-mass system. Due to its spring-mass dynamics, this system contains clear natural dynamics in the form of resonant frequencies. We propose a prototype adaptive multi-scale system, the adaptive frequency oscillator, which is able to adapt its intrinsic frequency to the resonant frequency of the body dynamics. After a small sidetrack to show that we can use adaptive frequency oscillators also for other applications than for adaptive controllers, namely for frequency analysis, we then come back to further investigation of the adaptive controller. We apply the same controller concept to a simple spring-mass hopper system. The spring-mass system consists of a body with two legs attached by rotational joints. The legs contain spring-damper elements. Finally, we present results of the implementation of the controller on a real robot, the experimental robot PUPPY II. This robot is a under-actuated robot with spring dynamics in the knee joints. It will be shown, that due to the appropriate simplification and concentration on relevant features in the toy-system the controller concepts works without a fundamental change on all systems from the toy system up to the real robot.

The usual continuum theories are inadequate in predicting the mechanical behavior of solids in the presence of small defects and stress concentrators; it is well known that such continuum methods are unable to detect the change of the size of the inhomogeneities and defects. For these reasons various augmented continuum theories and strain gradient theories have been proposed in the literature. The major difficulty in implication of these theories lies in the lack of information about the additional material constants which appear in such theories. For fcc metals, for the calculation of the associated characteristic lengths which arise in first strain gradient theory, an atomistic approach based on the Sutton–Chen interatomic potential function is proposed. For the validity of the computed characteristic lengths, the phenomenon of the size effect pertinent to a nano-sized circular void within an fcc (111) plane is examined via both first strain gradient theory and lattice statics. Comparison of the results explains the physical ramifications of the characteristic lengths in improving the usual continuum results. Moreover, by reconsideration of the Kelvin problem it is shown that a commonly employed variant of the first strain gradient theory is only valid for a few fcc metals.

Patient specific Finite Element (FE) simulations are usually expensive. Time consuming geometry creation procedures are normally necessary to use standard FE meshing software, while direct pixel-based meshing techniques typically lead to a large number of degrees of freedom hence introducing a high computational cost. Image-based Cartesian grid Finite Element Method (image-based cgFEM) allows accurate models to be automatically obtained with a low computational cost without the necessity of defining geometries. In cgFEM the image is directly immersed into a Cartesian mesh which is h-adapted on the basis of the pixel value distribution. A hierarchical structure of nested Cartesian grids guarantees the efficiency of the process. In each element, the material elastic properties are heterogeneous, therefore a critical aspect of image-based cgFEM is the integration of the element stiffness matrices which homogenize the material elastic behavior at the element level. This paper compares accuracy and computational cost of different integration strategies: pixel direct integration schemes (Riemann sum and subdomain Gauss quadrature) and recovery based schemes (Least Squares fitting and Superconvergent Patch Recovery).KeywordsCartesian gridFinite ElementMedical SimulationPatient Specific Simulation

A Balancing Domain Decomposition Method by Constraints (BDDC) is constructed and analyzed for the Reissner–Mindlin plate bending problem discretized with Mixed Interpolation of Tensorial Components (MITC) finite elements. This BDDC algorithm is based on selecting the plate rotations and deflection degrees of freedom at the subdomain vertices as primal continuity constraints. After the implicit elimination of the interior degrees of freedom in each subdomain, the resulting plate Schur complement is solved by the preconditioned conjugate gradient method. The preconditioner is based on the solution of local Reissner–Mindlin plate problems on each subdomain with clamping conditions at the primal degrees of freedom and on the solution of a coarse Reissner–Mindlin plate problem for the primal degrees of freedom. The main results of the paper are the proof and numerical verification that the proposed BDDC plate algorithm is scalable, quasi-optimal, and, most important, robust with respect to the plate thickness. While this result is due to an underlying mixed formulation of the problem, both the interface plate problem and the preconditioner are positive definite. The numerical results also show that the proposed algorithm is robust with respect to discontinuities of the material properties.

A nonlinear one-dimensional finite-element model representing the axial and transverse motions of a cantilevered rotating beam is reduced to a single nonlinear normal mode using invariant manifold techniques. This system is an idealized representation for large-amplitude vibrations of a rotorcraft blade. Although this model is relatively simple, it possesses the essential nonlinear coupling effects between the axial and transverse degrees of freedom. The nature of this coupling leads to the fact that we must use many degrees of freedom, whether based on finite elements or modal expansions, in order to accurately represent the beam vibrations. In this work, the slow modal convergence problem is overcome by nonlinear modal reduction that makes use of invariant manifold based nonlinear modes. This reduction procedure generates a single-degree-of-freedom reduced-order model that systematically accounts for the dynamics of all the linear modes, or finite elements, considered in the original model. The approach is used to study the dynamic characteristics of the finite-element model over a wide range of vibration amplitudes. Using extensive simulations, it is shown that the response of the reduced-order model is nearly identical to a reference system which is based on a large-scale representation of the finite-element model, and to a reduced-order Rayleigh-Ritz model. All of the procedures presented here have been computationally automated. Hence, in this study we demonstrate that it is feasible and practical to interface nonlinear finite-element methods with nonlinear modal reduction.

We address the impossibility of achieving exact time reversal in a system with many degrees of freedom. This is a particular example of the difficult task of “aiming” an initial classical state so as to become a specific final state. We also comment on the classical-to-quantum transition in any non-separable closed system of \(n \ge 2\) degrees of freedom. Even if the system is initially in a well-defined WKB, semi-classical state, quantum evolution and, in particular, multiple reflections at classical turning points make it completely quantum mechanical with each particle smeared almost uniformly over all the configuration space. The argument, which is presented in the context of \(n\) hard discs, is quite general. Finally, we briefly address more complex quantum systems with many degrees of freedom and ask when can they provide an appropriate environment to the above simpler systems so that quantum spreading is avoided by continuously leaving “imprints” in the environment. We also discuss the possible connections with the pointer systems that are needed in the quantum-to-classical “collapse” transitions.

In this work, the structural response of a carbon nanotube based nanoactuator under a parallel-plates electrostatic actuation is investigated assuming a strain gradient theory. The sixth-order partial differential equation governing the mode shapes and natural frequencies of beam using Euler-Bernoulli and strain gradient theories are derived. A Galerkin decomposition technique is utilized to convert the partial differential equation to ordinary differential equations representing the system mode shapes. The proposed approach is verified by comparing it to previously published works. The main advantage of the proposed technique based on the Galerkin method is its simplicity and also its low computational cost in analyzing the response of a carbon nanotube based actuator under the effect of initial curvature, size-dependent parameters, and any actuating loads. Additionally, the influences of the axial forces that may arise from any thermal effects were taken into consideration in the derived model. The results obtained based on strain gradient theory, are compared with the classical continuum theory. It is shown that the strain gradient theory leads to higher frequency in comparison with the classical one.