Namcheol Kang

Design Optimization of a Mecanum Wheel to Reduce Vertical Vibrations by the Consideration of Equivalent Stiffness

Mecanum wheels are capable of moving a vehicle to any direction instantaneously by the combination of independent wheel rotations. Because the mecanum wheel is composed of a hub and rollers, however, it has unavoidable drawbacks such as vertical and horizontal vibrations due to the sequential contacts between rollers and ground. In order to investigate the dynamic characteristics of a mecanum wheel, we made a prototype and performed experiments to measure the vertical vibrations. Interestingly, it was observed that the vertical accelerations were asymmetric with respect to the average value of signals; the vibration signals of upward and downward directions show quite different shape. This asymmetric phenomenon was confirmed through the dynamic simulations performed by RecurDyn. In addition, the peak-to-peak and RMS values of the displacements and accelerations were calculated to investigate the effects of the curvature of rollers on the vertical vibrations of the vehicle. Furthermore, we proposed a mecanum wheel having a spring to attenuate the vibrations. It was also noted that the significant reduction of the vertical accelerations was observed due to the absence of the spring. Finally, considering the equivalent stiffness of the mecanum wheel for several different fillet radii, we found the optimal geometric design which minimizes the vertical vibration of a mecanum wheel.

Dynamics of flexible tower-blade and rigid nacelle system: dynamic instability due to their interactions in wind turbine

The dynamic stability of a coupled tower-blade wind turbine system is investigated analytically and experimentally. Coupled equations of motion and associated boundary conditions for the wind tower and a rotating blade are derived by considering the lateral acceleration of the nacelle at the tip of the tower, which is the base of the flexible blade. The coupled eigenvalues are computed for various blade rotational speeds and densities of the tower material by using Galerkin’s method in spatial coordinates. The results indicate that the coupled tower-blade system becomes unstable when certain vibrational modes of the tower and blade coalesce. Additionally, the vibration of the rotating blades is measured using a wireless telemetry system attached to the small-scale tower-blade wind power system, and the results are compared with those of the analytical study. The experiment shows that instability is observed in the same ranges of the blade rotational speed as those predicted by our analytical study.

Vibration Analysis of a Rotating Cantilever Beam with Tip Mass Using DTM

The vibration analysis of a rotating cantilever beam with tip mass was studied by using DTM(differential transformation method). DTM is one of the numerical methods, for finding series solutions by transforming differential equations to algebraic ones similar with Laplace transform. The advantages of the DTM are that it is easy to understand and is effective in finding numerical solutions. Applying DTM, the natural frequencies of a rotating cantilever beam were obtained taking into consideration the effects of tip mass. Also, convergence study of DTM was performed to decide the number of terms used in eigenvalue problems. Numerical results obtained by DTM show good agreement with those by other methods. As a result, it is expected that DTM can be a useful method in vibration analysis such as that of a rotating cantilever beam with tip mass.

Run-flat Tire Optimization Using Response Surface Method and Genetic Algorithm

Ride comfort is one of the major factors in evaluating the performance of the vehicle. Tire is closely related to the ride comfort of the vehicle as the only parts in contact with the road surface directly. Vertical stiffness which is one of the parameters to evaluate the tire performance is great influence on the ride comfort. In general, the lower the vertical stiffness, the ride comfort is improved. Research for improving the ride comfort has been mainly carried out by optimizing the shape of the pneumatic tire. However, demand for safety of the vehicle has been increased recently such as a run-flat tire which is effective in safety improvement. But a run-flat tire have trouble in practical use because of poor ride comfort than general tire. Therefore, In this paper, the research was carried out for improving the ride comfort through the optimization of the SIR shape inside a run-flat tire. Meta-model was generated by using the design of experiment and it was able to reduce the time for the finite element analysis of optimization. In addition, Shape optimization for improving the ride comfort was performed by using the genetic algorithm which is one of the global optimization techniques.

Development of a Five-Degree-of-Freedom Seated Human Model and Parametric Studies for Its Vibrational Characteristics

This study focuses on the biodynamic responses of a seated human model to whole-body vibrations in a vehicle. Five-degree-of-freedom nonlinear equations of motion for a human model were derived, and human parameters such as spring constants and damping coefficients were extracted using a three-step optimization processes that applied the experimental data to the mathematical human model. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of the linearized model were also calculated. In order to examine the effects of the human parameters, parametric studies involving initial segment angles and stiffness values were performed. Interestingly, mode veering was observed between the fourth and fifth human modes when combining two different spring stiffness values. Finally, through the frequency responses of the human model, nonlinear characteristics such as frequency shift and jump phenomena were clearly observed.

Structural Stiffness of Tire Calculated From Strain Energy

The vertical stiffness of a tire is the ratio of the vertical force to the deflection; it can be expressed as the summation of the structural stiffness and air stiffness. However, the calculation of the structural stiffness is a challenging topic. This paper presents a new methodology for extracting the structural stiffness from the strain energy of a regular tire. In order to verify our proposed method, the vertical force-deflection results from the finite element method is compared with those from the strain energy method at zero air pressure. Also the results for an inflated tire are compared to calculate the structural stiffness. Finally, we calculated the contribution ratio of the tire components and used an alternative way of extracting the structural stiffness based on changing the Young’s modulus.Copyright

Eigenvalue Analysis of a Coupled Tower-blade System Considering the Shear Forces of a Nacelle

Eigenvalue analysis of a wind turbine system was investigated analytically. It is derived that the equations of motion of a tower and a blade are coupled by shear forces inter-connected by boundary conditions. The eigenvalues of the coupled system was calculated using Galerkin method and it is found that the system becomes unstable when the tower and blade modes are coalesced. Further, parameter studies for the eigenvalues were performed with respect to the rotating speed of a blade, nacelle mass, blade and tower densities.

Vibrations and Stability of Flexible Corotating Disks in an Enclosure

The vibration and stability of thin, flexible corotating disks in an enclosed compressible fluid is investigated analytically and compared with the results of a single rotating disk. The discretized dynamical system of the corotating disks is derived in the compact form of a classical gyroscopic system similar with a single disk. For the undamped system, coupled structure-acoustic traveling waves destabilize through mode coalescence leading to flutter instability. However, it is found that the flutter regions of the corotating disks are wider than those of a single disk. A detailed investigation of the effects of dissipation arising from acoustic or disk damping is also performed. Finally, in the presence of both acoustic and disk dampings, the instability regions are found and compared with those of a single disk. Although this study does not allow a radial clearance between the disk and the enclosure, the computational frame work of the problem can be expanded to the system having the radial clearance in an enclosure.