Exact Analytic Solution for the Rotation of a Rigid Body having Spherical Ellipsoid of Inertia and Subjected to a Constant Torque

The exact analytic solution is introduced for the rotational motion of a rigid body having three equal principal moments of inertia and subjected to an external torque vector which is constant for an observer fixed with the body, and to arbitrary initial angular velocity. In the paper a parametrization of the rotation by three complex numbers is used. In particular, the rows of the rotation matrix are seen as elements of the unit sphere and projected, by stereographic projection, onto points on the complex plane. In this representation, the kinematic differential equation reduces to an equation of Riccati type, which is solved through appropriate choices of substitutions, thereby yielding an analytic solution in terms of confluent hypergeometric functions. The rotation matrix is recovered from the three complex rotation variables by inverse stereographic map. The results of a numerical experiment confirming the exactness of the analytic solution are reported. The newly found analytic solution is valid for any motion time length and rotation amplitude. The present paper adds a further element to the small set of special cases for which an exact solution of the rotational motion of a rigid body exists.Comment: "Errata Corridge Postprint" In particular: typos present in Eq. 28 of the Journal version are HERE correcte

Geometric Perspective on Kinematics and Singularities of Spatial Mechanisms

This doctoral dissertation deals with the kinematics and singularity analyses of serial and parallel manipulators with multiple working modes. The inverse kinematics of 6R architectures with non-spherical wrists were solved using simple geometric considerations; the problem was reduced to the solution of a trigonometric equation in one variable, the sixth joint angle. The direct kinematic analysis of the parallel manipulator, namely the Exechon, was conducted; it involves using a standard numerical tool to solve the system of equations in platform\u2019s angle variables. Both kinematics analyses took advantage of the standard numerical solver to obtain the solutions. The singularities of the Exechon were studied with the geometrical interpretation. By using the theory of reciprocal screws, the input-output velocity equations were introduced. This led to the investigation of the Jacobian matrices, which is an essential part when working with any manipulator. A method for obtaining the singularity loci and the numerical example was provided. The formulations presented in this dissertation are general and effective enough to be applicable for many other similar architectures

Limit analysis and inf-sup conditions on convex cones

This paper is focused on analysis and reliable computations of limit loads in perfect plasticity. We recapitulate our recent results arising from a continuous setting of the so-called limit analysis problem. This problem is interpreted as a convex optimization subject to conic constraints. A related inf-sup condition on a convex cone is introduced and its importance for theoretical and numerical purposes is explained. Further, we introduce a penalization method for solving the kinematic limit analysis problem. The penalized problem may be solved by standard finite elements due to available convergence analysis using a simple local mesh adaptivity. This solution concept improves the simplest incremental method of limit analysis based on a load parametrization of an elastic-perfectly plastic problem

Limit analysis and inf-sup conditions on convex cones

This paper is focused on analysis and reliable computations of limit loads in perfect plasticity. We recapitulate our recent results arising from a continuous setting of the so-called limit analysis problem. This problem is interpreted as a convex optimization subject to conic constraints. A related inf-sup condition on a convex cone is introduced and its importance for theoretical and numerical purposes is explained. Further, we introduce a penalization method for solving the kinematic limit analysis problem. The penalized problem may be solved by standard finite elements due to available convergence analysis using a simple local mesh adaptivity. This solution concept improves the simplest incremental method of limit analysis based on a load parametrization of an elastic-perfectly plastic problem

A cell-based smoothed finite element method for kinematic limit analysis

This paper presents a new numerical procedure for kinematic limit analysis problems, which incorporates the cell-based smoothed finite element method with second-order cone programming. The application of a strain smoothing technique to the standard displacement finite element both rules out volumetric locking and also results in an efficient method that can provide accurate solutions with minimal computational effort. The non-smooth optimization problem is formulated as a problem of minimizing a sum of Euclidean norms, ensuring that the resulting optimization problem can be solved by an efficient second-order cone programming algorithm. Plane stress and plane strain problems governed by the von Mises criterion are considered, but extensions to problems with other yield criteria having a similar conic quadratic form or 3D problems can be envisaged

A Mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian Model for the Analysis of Dynamic Fracture

National Science Foundation Grant MEA 84-0065