Successful implementation of an active vibration control system is strictly correlated to the exact knowledge of the dynamic behavior of the system, of the excitation level and spectra and of the sensor and actuator’s specification. Only the correct management of these aspects may guarantee the correct choice of the control strategy and the relative performance. Within this paper, some preliminary activities aimed at the creation of a structurally simple, cheap and easily replaceable active control systems for metal panels are discussed. The final future aim is to control and to reduce noise, produced by vibrations of metal panels of the body of a car. The paper is focused on two points. The first one is the realization of an electronic circuit for Synchronized Shunted Switch Architecture (SSSA) with the right dimensioning of the components to control the proposed test article, represented by a rectangular aluminum plate. The second one is a preliminary experimental study on the test article, in controlled laboratory conditions, to compare performances of two possible control approach: SSSA and a feed-forward control approach. This comparison would contribute to the future choice of the most suitable control architecture for the specific attenuation of structure-born noise related to an automotive floor structure under deterministic (engine and road-tyre interaction) and stochastic (road-tyre interaction and aerodynamic) forcing actions.

The touch trigger probe plays an important role in modern metrology because of its robust and compact design with crash protection, long life and excellent repeatability. Aside from coordinate measuring machines (CMM), touch trigger probes are used for workpiece location on a machine tool and for the accuracy assessment of the machine tools. As a result, the accuracy of the measurement is a matter of interest to the users. The touch trigger probe itself as well as the measuring surface, the machine tool, measuring environment etc. contribute to measurement inaccuracies. The paper presents the effect of surface irregularities, surface wetness due to cutting fluid and probing direction on probing accuracy on a machine tool.

The use of elastic bodies within a multibody simulation became more and more important within the last years. To include the elastic bodies, described as a finite element model in multibody simulations, the dimension of the system of ordinary differential equations must be reduced by projection. For this purpose, in this work, the modal reduction method, a component mode synthesis based method and a moment-matching method are used. Due to the always increasing size of the non-reduced systems, the calculation of the projection matrix leads to a large demand of computational resources and cannot be done on usual serial computers with available memory. In this paper, the model reduction software Morembs++ is presented using a parallelization concept based on the message passing interface to satisfy the need of memory and reduce the runtime of the model reduction process. Additionally, the behaviour of the Block-Krylov-Schur eigensolver, implemented in the Anasazi package of the Trilinos project, is analysed with regard to the choice of the size of the Krylov base, the blocksize and the number of blocks. Besides, an iterative solver is considered within the CMS-based method.

The paper presents a method of analysis of bone remodelling in the vicinity of implants. The authors aimed at building a model and numerical procedures which may be used as a tool in the prosthesis design process. The model proposed by the authors is based on the theory of adaptive elasticity and the lazy zone concept. It takes into consideration not only changes of the internal structure of the tissue (described by apparent density) but also surface remodelling and changes caused by the effects revealing some features of “creep”. Finite element analysis of a lumbar spinal segment with an artificial intervertebral disc was performed by means of the Ansys system with custom APDL code. The algorithms were in two variants: the so-called site-independent and site-specific. Resultant density distribution and modified shape of the vertebra are compared for both of them. It is shown that this two approaches predict the bone remodelling in different ways. A comparison with available clinical outcomes is also presented and similarities to the numerical results are pointed out.

This paper describes assumptions, goals, methods, results and conclusions related to fuel tank arrangement of a flying wing passenger airplane configuration. A short overview of various fuel tank systems in use today of different types of aircraft is treated as a starting point for designing a fuel tank system to be used on very large passenger airplanes. These systems may be used to move fuel around the aircraft to keep the centre of gravity within acceptable limits, to maintain pitch and lateral balance and stability. With increasing aircraft speed, the centre of lift moves aft, and for trimming the elevator or trimmer must be used thereby increasing aircraft drag. To avoid this, the centre of gravity can be shifted by pumping fuel from forward to aft tanks. The lesson learnt from this is applied to minimise trim drag by moving the fuel along the airplane. Such a task can be done within coming days if we know the minimum drag versus CG position and weight value. The main part of the paper is devoted to wing bending moment distribution. A number of arrangements of fuel in airplane tanks are investigated and a scenario of refuelling – minimising the root bending moments – is presented. These results were obtained under the assumption that aircraft is in long range flight (14 hours), CL is constant and equal to 0.279, Specific Fuel Consumption is also constant and that overall fuel consumption is equal to 20 tons per 1 hour. It was found that the average stress level in wing structure is lower if refuelling starts from fuel tanks located closer to longitudinal plane of symmetry. It can influence the rate of fatigue.

Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) has been extensively used in aircraft turbine-engine components, aircraft structural components, aerospace fasteners, high performance automotive parts, marine applications, medical devices and sports equipment. However, wide-spread use of this alloy has limits because of difficulty to machine it. One of the major difficulties found during machining is development of poor quality of surface in the form of higher surface roughness. The present investigation has been concentrated on studying the effects of cutting parameters of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on surface roughness of the product during turning of titanium alloy. Box-Behnken experimental design was used to collect data for surface roughness. ANOVA was used to determine the significance of the cutting parameters. The model equation is also formulated to predict surface roughness. Optimal values of cutting parameters were determined through response surface methodology. A 100% desirability level in the turning process for economy was indicated by the optimized model. Also, the predicted values that were obtained through regression equation were found to be in close agreement to the experimental values.

In the present study, butt joints of aluminum (Al) 8011-H18 and pure copper (Cu) were produced by friction stir welding (FSW) and the effect of plunge depth on surface morphology, microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The welds were produced by varying the plunge depth in a range from 0.1 mm to 0.25 mm. The defect-free joints were obtained when the Cu plate was fixed at the advancing side. It was found that less plunging depth gives better tensile properties compare to higher plunging depth because at higher plunging depth local thinning occurs at the welded region. Good tensile properties were achieved at plunge depth of 0.2 mm and the tensile strength was found to be higher than the strength of the Al (weaker of the two base metals). Microstructure study revealed that the metal close to copper side in the Nugget Zone (NZ) possessed lamellar alternating structure. However, mixed structure of Cu and Al existed in the aluminum side of NZ. Higher microhardness values were witnessed at the joint interfaces resulting from plastic deformation and the presence of intermetallics.

The paper presents the methodology for designing the teeth conjunction of planetary gears in the planetary roller screw mechanism. A function of the planetary gears is to synchronize an operation of rollers in order to avoid axial displacements. A condition of the correct operation is no axial movement of rollers in relation to the nut. The planetary gears are integral parts of rollers and therefore an operation of the gear transmissions has a direct impact on cooperation of the screw, rollers and the nut. The proper design of gear engagements is essential for reducing slippage on surfaces of the cooperating threaded elements. For this purpose, in a designing method, both the limitations of operation and kinematic conditions of rollers’ operation have to be taken into account.

Computer-aided tools help in shortening and eradicating numerous repetitive tasks that reduces the gap between digital model and actual product. Use of these tools assists in realizing free-form objects such as custom fit products as described by a stringent interaction with the human body. Development of such a model presents a challenging situation for reverse engineering (RE) which is not analogous with the requirement for generating simple geometric models. Hence, an alternating way of producing more accurate three-dimensional models is proposed. For creating accurate 3D models, point clouds are processed through filtering, segmentation, mesh smoothing and surface generation. These processes help in converting the initial unorganized point data into a 3D digital model and simultaneously influence the quality of model. This study provides an optimum balance for the best accuracy obtainable with maximum allowable deviation to lessen computer handling and processing time. A realistic non trivial case study of free-form prosthetic socket is considered. The accuracy obtained for the developed model is acceptable for the use in medical applications and FEM analysis.

The main aim of the presented research was to check mechanical response of human body model under loads that can occur during airplane accidents and compare results of analysis with some results of experimental tests described in literature. In simulations, new multi-purpose human body model, the VIRTHUMAN, was used. The whole model, as well as its particular segments, was earlier validated based on experimental data, which proved its accuracy to simulate human body dynamic response under condition typical for car crashes, but it was not validated for loads with predominant vertical component (loads acting along spinal column), typical for airplane crashes. Due to limitation of available experimental data, the authors focused on conducting calculations for the case introduced in 14 CFR: Parts 23.562 and 25.562, paragraph (b)(1), knowing as the 60 pitch test. The analysis consists in comparison of compression load measured in lumbar section of spine of the FAA HIII Dummy (experimental model) and in the Virthuman (numerical model). The performed analyses show numerical stability of the model and satisfactory agreement between experimental data and simulated Virthuman responses. In that sense, the Virthuman model, although originally developed for automotive analyses, shows also great potential to become valuable tool for applications in aviation crashworthiness and safety analyses, as well.

Three-dimensional (3D) finite element analyses (FEA) are performed to simulate the local compression (LC) technique on the clamped single-edge notched tension (SE(T)) specimens. The analysis includes three types of indenters, which are single pair of cylinder indenters (SPCI), double pairs of cylinder indenters (DPCI) and single pair of ring indenters (SPRI). The distribution of the residual stress in the crack opening direction in the uncracked ligament of the specimen is evaluated. The outcome of this study can facilitate the use of LC technique on SE(T) specimens.

Second law analysis (entropy generation) for the steady two-dimensional laminar forced convection flow, heat and mass transfer of an incompressible viscous fluid past a nonlinearly stretching porous (permeable) wedge is numerically studied. The effects of viscous dissipation, temperature jump, and first-order chemical reaction on the flow over the wedge are also considered. The governing boundary layer equations for mass, momentum, energy and concentration are transformed using suitable similarity transformations to three nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Then, the ODEs are solved by using a Keller’s box algorithm. The effects of various controlling parameters such as wedge angle parameter, velocity ratio parameter, suction/injection parameter, Prandtl number, Eckert number, temperature jump parameter, Schmidt number, and reaction rate parameter on dimensionless velocity, temperature, concentration, entropy generation number, and Bejan number are shown in graphs and analyzed. The results reveal that the entropy generation number increases with the increase of wedge angle parameter, while it decreases with the increase of velocity ratio parameter. Also, in order to validate the obtained numerical results of the present work, comparisons are made with the available results in the literature as special cases, and the results are found to be in a very good agreement.