7,205 research outputs found

    On the minimum orbital intersection distance computation: a new effective method

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    The computation of the Minimum Orbital Intersection Distance (MOID) is an old, but increasingly relevant problem. Fast and precise methods for MOID computation are needed to select potentially hazardous asteroids from a large catalogue. The same applies to debris with respect to spacecraft. An iterative method that strictly meets these two premises is presented.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, article accepted for publication in MNRA

    Authentication in Welded Clad Plate with Similar Material and Thickness

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    This paper continues the research previously done by authors on numerical modelling of the dissimilar welded joints with varying clad thicknesses using a commercial finite element software. The current study simulates the welding conditions of a similar clad plate with a thin thickness. The computer simulated outcome then verified with the measured data of from other researchers. A close match between the numerical models and the experimental data was found.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

    Study of a homotopy continuation method for early orbit determination with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS)

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    A recent mathematical technique for solving systems of equations is applied in a very general way to the orbit determination problem. The study of this technique, the homotopy continuation method, was motivated by the possible need to perform early orbit determination with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), using range and Doppler tracking alone. Basically, a set of six tracking observations is continuously transformed from a set with known solution to the given set of observations with unknown solutions, and the corresponding orbit state vector is followed from the a priori estimate to the solutions. A numerical algorithm for following the state vector is developed and described in detail. Numerical examples using both real and simulated TDRSS tracking are given. A prototype early orbit determination algorithm for possible use in TDRSS orbit operations was extensively tested, and the results are described. Preliminary studies of two extensions of the method are discussed: generalization to a least-squares formulation and generalization to an exhaustive global method

    On large deformations of thin elasto-plastic shells: Implementation of a finite rotation model for quadrilateral shell element

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    A large-deformation model for thin shells composed of elasto-plastic material is presented in this work, Formulation of the shell model, equivalent to the two-dimensional Cosserat continuum, is developed from the three-dimensional continuum by employing standard assumptions on the distribution of the displacement held in the shell body, A model for thin shells is obtained by an approximation of terms describing the shell geometry. Finite rotations of the director field are described by a rotation vector formulation. An elasto-plastic constitutive model is developed based on the von Mises yield criterion and isotropic hardening. In this work, attention is restricted to problems where strains remain small allowing for all aspects of material identification and associated computational treatment, developed for small-strain elastoplastic models, to be transferred easily to the present elasto-plastic thin-shell model. A finite element formulation is based on the four-noded isoparametric element. A particular attention is devoted to the consistent linearization of the shell kinematics and elasto-plastic material model, in order to achieve quadratic rate of asymptotic convergence typical for the Newton-Raphson-based solution procedures. To illustrate the main objective of the present approach-namely the simulation of failures of thin elastoplastic shells typically associated with buckling-type instabilities and/or bending-dominated shell problems resulting in formation of plastic hinges-several numerical examples are presented, Numerical results are compared with the available experimental results and representative numerical simulations

    User's manual for GAMNAS: Geometric and Material Nonlinear Analysis of Structures

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    GAMNAS (Geometric and Material Nonlinear Analysis of Structures) is a two dimensional finite-element stress analysis program. Options include linear, geometric nonlinear, material nonlinear, and combined geometric and material nonlinear analysis. The theory, organization, and use of GAMNAS are described. Required input data and results for several sample problems are included

    Finite Element Simulation of Dense Wire Packings

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    A finite element program is presented to simulate the process of packing and coiling elastic wires in two- and three-dimensional confining cavities. The wire is represented by third order beam elements and embedded into a corotational formulation to capture the geometric nonlinearity resulting from large rotations and deformations. The hyperbolic equations of motion are integrated in time using two different integration methods from the Newmark family: an implicit iterative Newton-Raphson line search solver, and an explicit predictor-corrector scheme, both with adaptive time stepping. These two approaches reveal fundamentally different suitability for the problem of strongly self-interacting bodies found in densely packed cavities. Generalizing the spherical confinement symmetry investigated in recent studies, the packing of a wire in hard ellipsoidal cavities is simulated in the frictionless elastic limit. Evidence is given that packings in oblate spheroids and scalene ellipsoids are energetically preferred to spheres.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

    Geometrical nonlinear analysis of thin-walled composite beams using finite element method based on first order shear deformation theory

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    Based on a seven-degree-of-freedom shear deformable beam model, a geometrical nonlinear analysis of thin-walled composite beams with arbitrary lay-ups under various types of loads is presented. This model accounts for all the structural coupling coming from both material anisotropy and geometric nonlinearity. The general nonlinear governing equations are derived and solved by means of an incremental Newton–Raphson method. A displacement-based one-dimensional finite element model that accounts for the geometric nonlinearity in the von Kármán sense is developed to solve the problem. Numerical results are obtained for thin-walled composite beam under vertical load to investigate the effects of fiber orientation, geometric nonlinearity, and shear deformation on the axial–flexural–torsional response
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