A nonsmooth frictional contact formulation for multibody system dynamics

We present a new node-to-face frictional contact element for the simulation of the nonsmooth dynamics of systems composed of rigid and flexible bodies connected by kinematic joints. The equations of motion are integrated using a nonsmooth generalized-α time integration scheme and the frictional contact problem is formulated using a mixed approach, based on an augmented Lagrangian technique and a Coulomb friction law. The numerical results are independent of any user-defined penalty parameter for the normal or tangential component of the forces and, the bilateral and the unilateral constraints are exactly fulfilled both at position and velocity levels. Finally, the robustness and the performance of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated by solving several numerical examples of nonsmooth mechanical systems involving frictional contact.Fil: Galvez, Javier. Université de Liège; BélgicaFil: Cavalieri, Federico José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Cosimo, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; Argentina. Université de Liège; BélgicaFil: Brüls, Olivier. Université de Liège; BélgicaFil: Cardona, Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; Argentin

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Interpretacja geometryczna nieliniowego belkowego elementu skończonego w formalizmie grupy Liego SE(3)

Recently, the authors proposed a geometrically exact beam finite element formulation on the Lie group SE(3). Some important numerical and theoretical aspects leading to a computationally efficient strategy were obtained. For instance, the formulation leads to invariant equilibrium equations under rigid body motions and a locking free element. In this paper we discuss some important aspects of this formulation. The invariance property of the equilibrium equations under rigid body motions is discussed and brought out in simple analytical examples. The discretization method based on the exponential map is recalled and a geometric interpretation is given. Special attention is also dedicated to the consistent interpolation of the velocities.W ostatnim czasie autorzy zaproponowali geometrycznie dokładne sformułowanie dla belkowego elementu skończonego w oparciu o formalizm grupy Liego SE(3). Otrzymano szereg istotnych wyników numerycznych i teoretycznych prowadzących do efektywnej strategii obliczeniowej. Dla przykładu, formalizm ten pozwala uzyskać niezmiennicze równania równowagi przy ruchach ciała sztywnego i elemencie wolnym od blokowania siłami ścinającymi. W obecnym artykule autorzy zajmują się kilkoma istotnymi aspektami tego formalizmu. Właściwość niezmienniczości równań równowagi w warunkach ruchu ciała sztywnego przedyskutowano i zilustrowano prostymi przykładami analitycznymi. Przypomniano metodę dyskretyzacji opartą na mapowaniu wykładniczym i pokazano jej interpretację geometryczną. Specjalną uwagę poświęcono zgodnej interpolacji prędkości

multiphysics modelling of mechatronic multibody systems

Modeling mechatronic multibody systems requires the same type of methodology as for designing and prototyping mechatronic devices: a unified and integrated engineering approach. Various formulations are currently proposed to deal with multiphysics modeling, e.g. graph theories, equational approaches, cosimulation techniques. Recent works have pointed out their relative advantages and drawbacks, depending on the application to deal with: model size, model complexity, degree of coupling, frequency range, etc. This paper is the result of a close collaboration between three Belgian laboratories, and aims at showing that for"non-academic" mechatronic applications (i.e. issuing from real industrial issues), multibody dynamics formulations can be generalized to mechatronic applications, for the model generation as well as for the numerical analysis phases. Model portability being also an important aspect of the work, they must be easily interfaced with control design and optimization programs. A global"demonstrator", based on an industrial case, is discussed: multiphysics modeling, control design and mathematical optimization are carried out to illustrate the consistency and the efficiency of the proposed approaches. © (2006) by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Department of Mechanical Engineering All rights reserved.status: publishe

Topology and generalized shape optimization: Why stress constraints are so important?

The paper continues along the work initiated by the authors in taking into account stress constraints in topology optimization of continuum structures. Revisiting some of their last developments in this field, the authors point out the importance of considering stress constraints as soon as the preliminary design phase, that is, to include stress constraints in the topology optimization problem in order to get the most appropriate structural layout. Numerical applications that can be solved using these new developments make possible to exhibit interesting results related to the specific nature of strength based structural layout for maximum strength compared to maximum stiffness. This particular character of stress design is clearly demonstrated in two kinds of situations: once several load cases are considered and when unequal stress limits in tension and compression are involved

Variational mode decomposition for surface and intramuscular EMG signal denoising

peer reviewedElectromyographic signals contaminated with noise during the acquisition process affect the results of follow-up applications such as disease diagnosis, motion recognition, gesture recognition, and human–computer interaction. This paper proposes a denoising technique based on the variational mode decomposition (VMD) for both surface electromyography signals (sEMG) and intramuscular electromyography signals (iEMG). sEMG and iEMG obtained from 5 healthy subjects were first decomposed using VMD into respective variational mode functions (VMFs), then thresholds were set to remove the noise, and finally, the denoised signal was reconstructed. The denoising efficacy of interval thresholding (IT) and iterative interval thresholding (IIT) techniques in combination with SOFT, HARD, and smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) thresholding operators was quantitatively evaluated by using Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and further statistically validated by Friedman test. The results demonstrated that IIT provides better SNR values than IT at all noise levels (P-value < 0.05) for sEMG signals. For iEMG, IIT outperformed IT at 0db and 5db noise levels, but at a noise level of 10db and 15db, IT outperformed IIT. However, the results for the 10db noise level were statistically insignificant. The SOFT thresholding operator outperforms HARD and SCAD at all noise levels for sEMG, as well as iEMG (P-value < 0.05). The study demonstrates that the combination of the IIT thresholding technique with the VMD-based SOFT thresholding operator yields the best denoising results while retaining the original signal characteristics. The proposed method can be used in the fields of disease diagnosis, pattern recognition, and movement classification

Simulation of sliding friction of spherical rigid bodies subject to multiple impact collisions

This work investigates the dynamics of spherical rigid bodies subject to multiple impact collisions and sliding friction. The contact problem is solved with a mixed dual formulation based on an augmented Lagrangian technique. The equations of motion and the multiple impact collisions are solved in the frame of the nonsmooth generalized-$$\alpha$$ time integrator scheme. In order to consider the mechanical and geometrical properties of the spheres, a rigid body formulation with translational and rotational degrees of freedom is implemented. Finally, in order to assess the numerical performance of the proposed methodology, a multiple impact collisions motion of three spheres over a rigid plane is studied. © 2021, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG