Sivakumar M. Srinivasan

Shot peening simulation using discrete and finite element methods

Modeling shot peening process is very complex as it involves the interaction of metallic surfaces with a large number of shots of very small diameter. Conventionally such problems are solved using the finite element software (such as ABAQUS) to predict the stresses and strains. However, the number of shots involved and the number of elements required in a real-life components for a 100% coverage that lasts a considerable duration of peening make such an approach impracticable. Ideally, a method that is suitable for obtaining residual compressive stresses (RCS) and the amount of plastic deformations with the least computational effort seems a dire need. In this paper, an attempt has been made to address this issue by using the discrete element method (DEM) in combination with the finite element method (FEM) to obtain reasonably accurate predictions of the residual stresses and plastic strains. In the proposed approach, the spatial information of force versus time from the DEM simulation is utilized in the FE Model to solve the shot peening problem as a transient problem. The results show that the RCS distribution obtained closely matches with that of the computationally intensive direct FEM simulation. It has also been established, in this paper, that this method works well even in the situations where the robust unit cell approaches are found to be difficult to handle.

Functional behavior of isotropic magnetorheological gels

Magnetorheological (MR) gels are a new class of soft polymers whose properties can be controlled using a magnetic field. The functional effectiveness of these gels depends on their magnetic controllability. In this paper, an experimental investigation on the functional behavior of a particular type of magnetorheological gels under dynamic and static shear conditions in the presence of a magnetic field is studied. MR gels are prepared with micron sized polarizable carbonyl iron particles interspersed in a polymer matrix gel. The compliance of this magnetic gel can be varied under the influence of an external magnetic field. Since dynamical mechanical analysis tests are difficult to conduct in the presence of large deformations of the order of 50% and strong magnetic fields, a free decay test apparatus is designed and fabricated for obtaining the magnetic field dependent shearing response under dynamic conditions at room temperature. It is observed that a significant change in the elastic modulus occurs in the gels under a magnetic field in the range of 0.1‐0.4 T. However, no significant change in the damping ratio is observed under various magnitudes of magnetic field. It is shown that the increase in shear modulus of this kind of magnetic composite gel could be as high as 59% of the zero field value for a gel prepared with 50% by weight of carbonyl iron particles. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Design and Development of a Sun Tracking Mechanism Using the Direct SMA Actuation

In recent years, the growing global interest in the conservation of environment has provided a fresh impetus for research in the area of solar energy utilization. Already, installation of solar energy extraction devices such as solar panels, solar water heaters, solar cookers etc. is becoming popular in urban buildings. Most of these devices consist of a solar receptor that is kept facing the sun during the day with the help of a sun tracking mechanism operated by an electrically driven unit consisting of a sensor, an actuator and a controller. It is obvious that an external power source is necessary for energizing the sun tracking unit. If one could dispense with this extra energy source then the efficiency of the solar panel would be increased. A tracking mechanism directly activated by the sun would go a long way towards achieving this aim. An attempt has been made to develop a simple yet efficient sun tracking mechanism (SSTM) using smart Shape Memory Alloy (SMA). The SMA element incorporated in the SSTM device performs the dual functions of sensing and actuating in such a way as to position the solar receptor tilted appropriately to face the sun directly at all times during the day. The mechanism has been designed such that the thermal stimulus needed to activate the SMA element is provided by the concentration and direct focusing of the incident sun rays on to the SMA element. This paper presents, in detail, the design and construction adopted to develop the functional model that was fabricated and tested for performance.

Power dissipation and temperature distribution in piezoelectric ceramic slabs

A method is presented to determine power dissipation in one-dimensional piezoelectric slabs with internal losses and the resulting temperature distribution. The length of the slab is much greater than the lateral dimensions. Losses are represented using complex piezoelectric coefficients. It is shown that the spatially non-uniform power dissipation density in the slab can be determined by considering either hysteresis loops or the Poynting vector. The total power dissipated in the slab is obtained by integrating the power dissipation density over the slab and is shown to be equal to the power input to the slab for special cases of mechanically and electrically excited slabs. The one-dimensional heat equation that includes the effect of conduction and convection, and the boundary conditions, are then used to determine the temperature distribution. When the analytical expression for the power dissipation density is simple, direct integration is used. It is shown that a modified Fourier series approach yields the same results. For other cases, the temperature distribution is determined using only the latter approach. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the effects of internal losses, heat conduction and convection coefficients, and boundary conditions on the temperature distribution.

Stochastic meshfree method for elasto-plastic damage analysis

This paper presents a stochastic meshfree method for solving boundary-value problems in damage mechanics under elasto-plastic conditions. Isotropic ductile damage evolution law is used to model the coupled elasto-plastic damage growth. Uncertainty associated with initial damage in materials is considered as random field. Moving least squares shape function method and Karhunen Loeve expansion method are used for random field discretization. Statistical parameters of the response quantities are computed using perturbation method. The proposed method involves a new stochastic stress update procedure to solve the nonlinear equations in terms of discretized random variables arising from perturbation of equilibrium equations system. Numerical examples comprising of one and two dimensional problems are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of proposed method.

Constrained probabilistic multi-objective optimization of shot peening process

Shot peening is a cold working process used for improving the fatigue strength of metallic components. An optimum set of peening parameters must increase the residual compressive stress (RCS), but reduce the surface roughness and cold work for improving the fatigue strength. The optimization is made robust to avoid any unfeasible solution that may arise out of random variations of input variables. The current study uses the well-known Design and Analysis of Computer Experiments (DACE) methodology for optimization, which is better than the conventional Design of Experiments (DoE) approach. It employs a finite element method based unit cell approach to determine the RCS, surface roughness and cold work of a given material. Radial basis functions are used to develop the meta-models. A genetic algorithm (GA) is employed for finding a robust and optimum set of shot peening parameters for a given material. With this approach, the operator will achieve the optimum solution specified by the designer.

A Multi-Agent System for Management of Supplier Selection Process in a Fuzzy Supply Chain

Today supplier selection is a critical and demanding process for the industry, which provides the company with the accurate product/raw material and/or services at the right price at the right time and in the required quantities. Consequently, supplier selection become very important for maintaining planned association. The objective of this paper is to introduce a method of supplier selection based on multiagent and fuzzy decision making techniques include with risk factor for the selection of supplier. The proposed method combines the multi agent technique and fuzzy decision making technique for supplier selection. Finally this integrated model is illustrated by an example in an existing firm to validate the proposed model. By applying the concept of risk factor analysis, ranking values of supplier are converted in final pricing model to set segmented price.

A New Approach to the Design of Helical Shape Memory Alloy Spring Actuators

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are smart materials that have the ability to recover their original shape by eliminating residual deformations, when subjected to adequate temperature rise (Shape memory effect). This special behavior attracts the use of SMAs as efficient stroke/force actuators. Most of the engineering applications require helical springs as actuators and proper design of SMA helical spring actuators is very important. In the traditional design approach of SMA spring (Waram, 1993), only strain between linear zones was considered in order to simplify the design and to improve the fatigue life. Only modulus difference between high-temperature and low-temperature phase was utilized, and the transformation strain was not considered as the total transformation strain will be more and will degrade the performance of actuator. In the present design, we have shown that transformation strain can be restricted by using hard stops and the partial transformation strain can be used to improving the capacity of SMA spring actuator. A comparison of the traditional design approach of SMA spring and the proposed design procedure has been made to give an idea of its effect on the design and the related parameters.

Micromechanical Modeling of Onset and Progression of Damage in Composite Structures

Prediction of onset and progression of damage in composite materials with the capability of dealing with complex loadings and the heterogeneity of the constituents using appropriate failure criterion is the focus of this study. The micromechanics of failure (MMF), based on a unit cell model which describes the microstructure of the composite that uses independent failure criterion for each constituent, is proposed in this exercise. As the failure has been predicted at constituent level, micromechanics-based failure criteria show more predictive capabilities in heterogeneous composite structures. A modified failure prediction model has been proposed in this work to better capture the onset of failure, constituents failure, and damage initiation in composites. The progression of damage is predicted using the micromechanics failure criteria with progressive degradation model until complete failure of the composite structure.

An innovative approach to achieve re-centering and ductility of cement mortar beams through randomly distributed pseudo-elastic shape memory alloy fibers

Fibers can play a major role in post cracking behavior of concrete members, because of their ability to bridge cracks and distribute the stress across the crack. Addition of steel fibers in mortar and concrete can improve toughness of the structural member and impart significant energy dissipation through slow pull out. However, steel fibers undergo plastic deformation at low strain levels, and cannot regain their shape upon unloading. This is a major disadvantage in strong cyclic loading conditions, such as those caused by earthquakes, where self-centering ability of the fibers is a desired characteristic in addition to ductility of the reinforced cement concrete. Fibers made from an alternative material such as shape memory alloy (SMA) could offer a scope for re-centering, thus improving performance especially after a severe loading has occurred. In this study, the load-deformation characteristics of SMA fiber reinforced cement mortar beams under cyclic loading conditions were investigated to assess the re-centering performance. This study involved experiments on prismatic members, and related analysis for the assessment and prediction of re-centering. The performances of NiTi fiber reinforced mortars are compared with mortars with same volume fraction of steel fibers. Since re-entrant corners and beam columns joints are prone to failure during a strong ground motion, a study was conducted to determine the behavior of these reinforced with NiTi fiber. Comparison is made with the results of steel fiber reinforced cases. NiTi fibers showed significantly improved re-centering and energy dissipation characteristics compared to the steel fibers.