Composite materials of various types (unidirectional composites, short fiber reinforced plastics, nano-composites, ceramics, etc.) exhibit highly nonlinear, anisotropic, strain-rate and temperature dependent properties in mechanical, thermal and electrical fields. They often exhibit enhanced performance with respect to density as compared to traditional structural materials. However, simulating composite structures is complicated, and usually requires a micro-mechanical, …
The reactor pressure vessels make up the heart of a nuclear power plant, containing the core, core shroud and coolant. These nuclear plants were built and started operating 20 to 30 years ago. The company operating this plants needed to know how this welds can be expected to perform after a long period of service. …
A universal problem when optimizing noise and vibration is that it often conflicts with durability or cost. Multi-body dynamics helps balance these competing requirements early in the design process by addressing key vibration issues facing engineers, such as “will excitations in one part of the systems interaction with another part of the system?” MBD makes …
Bolted or riveted airframe assemblies are typically modeled as continuous meshes. But advances in meshing and solver technology are changing the way we model these assembly structures. Today, continuous meshes are often replaced by individually meshed parts joined together by some type of connector or interaction definition. These individually meshed parts are typically joined together …
At present, most companies use simple hand calculations or results from previous designs to predict loads. Neither of these methods is very accurate. Even small errors in calculating loads create large errors in stress results and very large errors in fatigue life predictions. Accurate loads can be determined by building and testing physical prototypes, but …
Search and rescue operations are extremely dangerous, where even trained men and women face a high risk of injury or death in their effort to save lives. One solution in the face of disasters caused by fires, earthquakes and the like, is designing robots that can reach areas too dangerous for humans. While there are …
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