Path planning for active tensegrity structures

This paper presents a path planning method for actuated tensegrity structures with quasi-static motion. The valid configurations for such structures lay on an equilibrium manifold, which is implicitly defined by a set of kinematic and static constraints. The exploration of this manifold is difficult with standard methods due to the lack of a global parameterization. Thus, this paper proposes the use of techniques with roots in differential geometry to define an atlas, i.e., a set of coordinated local parameterizations of the equilibrium manifold. This atlas is exploited to define a rapidly-exploring random tree, which efficiently finds valid paths between configurations. However, these paths are typically long and jerky and, therefore, this paper also introduces a procedure to reduce their control effort. A variety of test cases are presented to empirically evaluate the proposed method. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Graph edit distance from spectral seriation

This paper is concerned with computing graph edit distance. One of the criticisms that can be leveled at existing methods for computing graph edit distance is that they lack some of the formality and rigor of the computation of string edit distance. Hence, our aim is to convert graphs to string sequences so that string matching techniques can be used. To do this, we use a graph spectral seriation method to convert the adjacency matrix into a string or sequence order. We show how the serial ordering can be established using the leading eigenvector of the graph adjacency matrix. We pose the problem of graph-matching as a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) alignment of the seriation sequences for pairs of graphs. This treatment leads to an expression in which the edit cost is the negative logarithm of the a posteriori sequence alignment probability. We compute the edit distance by finding the sequence of string edit operations which minimizes the cost of the path traversing the edit lattice. The edit costs are determined by the components of the leading eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix and by the edge densities of the graphs being matched. We demonstrate the utility of the edit distance on a number of graph clustering problems

On the simulation of the seismic energy transmission mechanisms

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to research and development methods able to assess the seismic energy propagation on the territory. The seismic energy propagation is strongly related to the complexity of the source and it is affected by the attenuation and the scattering effects along the path. Thus, the effect of the earthquake is the result of a complex interaction between the signal emitted by the source and the propagation effects. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology able to reproduce the propagation law of seismic energy, hypothesizing the "transmission" mechanisms that preside over the distribution of seismic effects on the territory, by means of a structural optimization process with a predetermined energy distribution. Briefly, the approach, based on a deterministic physical model, determines an objective correction of the detected distributions of seismic intensity on the soil, forcing the compatibility of the observed data with the physical-mechanical model. It is based on two hypotheses: (1) the earthquake at the epicentre is simulated by means of a system of distortions split into three parameters; (2) the intensity is considered coincident to the density of elastic energy. The optimal distribution of the beams stiffness is achieved, by reducing the difference between the values of intensity distribution computed on the mesh and those observed during four regional events historically reported concerning the Campania region (Italy)

Calibration of a Structural Finite Element Model for a Representative Inflatable Space Structure Utilizing Probabilistic Methods and Surrogate Models

A structural finite element model representing a novel inflatable airlock concept has been calibrated using fullscale test data. The concept, denoted as the NonAxisymmetric Inflatable Pressure Structure (NAIPS), was developed under NASAs Minimalistic Advanced Softgoods Hatch (MASH) Program. The current studies extended previous numerical efforts by incorporating the midbody section of the NAIPS to the dome section and calibrating the model with test data using a process that included surrogate models. Brief overviews of the finite element model and calibration process are provided. The completion of the calibration process provided a model that adequately replicated the test data. The successful demonstration of calibration of a finite element model representing an inflatable habitat provides confidence in the ability to use numerical simulations and associated surrogate models to support design and certification of inflatable space habitats

Structual-acoustic properties of automotive panels with shell elements

The automotive industry has witnessed a trend in the recent years of reducing the bulk weight of the vehicle in order to achieve improved ride dynamics and economical fuel consumption. Unfortunately, reducing the bulk weight often compromises the noise, vibra- tion, and harshness (NVH) characteristics of the vehicle. In general, the automotive body panels are made out of thin sheet metals (steel and aluminium) that have a very low bend- ing stiffness. Hence, it becomes important to find countermeasures that will increase the structural stiffness of these thin body panels without affecting their bulk weight. One such countermeasure is to introduce the geometrical indentations on various body panels. The geometrical indentation explained in this thesis is in the shape of elliptical dome, which supports the increase of the structural stiffness whilst keeping the bulk weight constant. The primary reason to choose elliptical domes as the applied geometrical indentation is due to a significant amount of interest shown by Jaguar Land Rover. Moreover, the elliptical domes, because of the nature of its design, can cover a larger surface area with minimal depth, thereby, eliminating the possibility of sharp and pointy indentations. This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the structural-acoustic behaviour of the automotive-type panels with dome-shaped indentations. The ultimate aim of this research is to establish a set of design guidelines in order to produce automotive-type panels with optimised dome-shaped indentations. In order to do so, a new design optimisation strategy is proposed that results in the optimal placement of the required dome-shaped indenta- tions. The optimisation problem addressed in this thesis is unlike a general mathematical problem, and requires specific methodologies for its solution. Therefore, the use of genetic algorithm is observed as the most suitable method in order to tackle this type of design optimisation problem. During the development of the optimisation procedure, the preliminary results show a consistency in the design patterns. This led to the motivation to investigate a few intuitively designed panels, which are inspired by the initial, trial, optimisation results. Therefore, four intuitively designed panels are investigated for their structural-acoustic characteristics. The study of the intuitively designed panels provided essential physical insight into the design optimisation problem, which ultimately defined the guidelines in order to develop the proposed optimisation procedure. This type of optimisation procedure is completely new in the domain of structural-acoustic optimisation. The efficiency of the underlying work lies in the separate investigation of both the structural and the acoustic properties of the panels with various dome-shaped indentations, and then utilising the insights gained in order to develop a specific optimisation algorithm to stream-line the dome-shaped panel design procedure

Price Adjustments and Multiregional Rigidities in the Analysis of World Trade

This paper reviews a set of approaches to modeling interregional and international trade flows. It also suggests a framework which is capable of combining price formation mechanisms with factors which cause resistance to change and barriers to trade. In certain respects the framework adheres to the Takayama-Judge tradition, but differs by using a probabilistic framework which generates equilibrium solutions which are not perfect competition equilibria

Civil and Environmental Engineering for the Sustainable Development Goals

This open access volume collects emerging issues in Environmental and Civil Engineering, originating from outstanding doctoral dissertations discussed at Politecnico di Milano in 2021. The advanced innovative insights provided are presented with reference to the relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs), hoping that scientists, technicians and decision makers will find them as a valid support to face future sustainability challenges. Indeed, the fast evolution of our society often falls short in properly taking into consideration its relationship with the environment, which is not only the primary source of any resource and the sink of all the wastes we generate throughout our activities, but also the cause of most of the loading and constraints applied to structures and infrastructures. The lack of a proper consideration of the relationship between the needs of both the society and the environment may lead to strong disequilibria, generating a large amount of threats for a robust, resilient and continuous development. In this perspective, the SDGs set by the United Nations represent the criteria to revise our development model, towards the ability to conjugate different needs to build a safe relation between anthropic activities and the environment. Civil and Environmental Engineering plays a relevant role in providing methods, approaches, risk and impact assessments, as well as technologies, to fulfil the SDGs. Research in these fields may in fact provide technical knowledge and tools to support decision makers and technicians in: (i) planning mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change, extreme weather, earthquakes, drought, flooding and other natural disasters; (ii) designing efficient and sustainable strategies for resources exploitation, minimizing the impact and the unequal distributions; (iii) increasing the safety of structures and infrastructures under exceptional loadings and against the deterioration due to their lifecycle; (iv) adopting a holistic risk management approach and appropriate technologies to reduce pollution and environment deterioration, which increase vulnerability; (v) providing a safe drinking water and sanitation system to protect human health

Shape-from-shading using the heat equation

This paper offers two new directions to shape-from-shading, namely the use of the heat equation to smooth the field of surface normals and the recovery of surface height using a low-dimensional embedding. Turning our attention to the first of these contributions, we pose the problem of surface normal recovery as that of solving the steady state heat equation subject to the hard constraint that Lambert's law is satisfied. We perform our analysis on a plane perpendicular to the light source direction, where the z component of the surface normal is equal to the normalized image brightness. The x - y or azimuthal component of the surface normal is found by computing the gradient of a scalar field that evolves with time subject to the heat equation. We solve the heat equation for the scalar potential and, hence, recover the azimuthal component of the surface normal from the average image brightness, making use of a simple finite difference method. The second contribution is to pose the problem of recovering the surface height function as that of embedding the field of surface normals on a manifold so as to preserve the pattern of surface height differences and the lattice footprint of the surface normals. We experiment with the resulting method on a variety of real-world image data, where it produces qualitatively good reconstructed surfaces