Fluctuations in network dynamics

Most complex networks serve as conduits for various dynamical processes, ranging from mass transfer by chemical reactions in the cell to packet transfer on the Internet. We collected data on the time dependent activity of five natural and technological networks, finding that for each the coupling of the flux fluctuations with the total flux on individual nodes obeys a unique scaling law. We show that the observed scaling can explain the competition between the system's internal collective dynamics and changes in the external environment, allowing us to predict the relevant scaling exponents.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Published versio

The influence of the HAZ softening on the mechanical behaviour of welded joints containing cracks in the weld metal

The mechanical behaviour of welds containing cracks was analysed through the numerical simulation of the three-point bending tests of welded specimens. This paper presents the mechanical model and the methodology used for the numerical simulation of the tests. The variation in crack driving force of cracked welds is studied as a function of the strength mismatch in the heat affected zone and of the crack position relative to the weld metal/heat affected zone interface. This analysis was performed with recourse to the numerical calculation of the J integral.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V2R-4B0X38N-6/1/7027467d6e068a7f5c062427de733a1

Numerical simulation of tensile tests of prestrained sheets

The effect of cross section variation on formability of prestrained samples has been investigated using finite element simulations of a standard sheet tensile test. The mechanical model takes into account large elastoplastic strains and rotations that occur during deformation. Hill's orthotropic yield criterion with isotropic hardening describes the anisotropic plastic properties of the sheet. The isotropic hardening is modelled by a modified Swift law that describes the response of prestrained materials in reloading. Two different situations were simulated: reloading in tension of samples with constant cross sectional area and reloading in tension of samples with two zones of slightly different cross sectional areas. The results show that the strain distribution along the tensile axis of a prestrained sample depends on the level of the prestrain and also on the presence and size of geometrical fluctuations in the cross section, which always occur in experimental samples. This dependence is higher for materials with lower work-hardening rates.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TXD-3W6F4W3-D/1/b0ee20cd6d1b35fcfc8bda63d6c9f67

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of Vickers indentation tests

The development of depth sensing indentation equipment has allowed easy and reliable determination of two of the most popular measured mechanical properties of materials: the hardness and the Young's modulus. However, some difficulties emerge in the experimental procedure to calculate accurate values of these properties. This is related to, for example, the tip geometrical imperfections of the diamond pyramidal indenter and the definition of the contact area at the maximum load. Being so, numerical simulation of ultramicrohardness tests can be a helpful tool for better understanding of the influence of these parameters on procedures for determining the hardness and the Young's modulus. For this purpose, specific finite element simulation software, HAFILM, was developed to simulate the ultramicrohardness tests. Different mesh refinements were tested because of the dependence between the values of the mechanical properties and the size of the finite element mesh. Another parameter studied in this work is the value of the friction coefficient between the indenter and the sample in the numerical simulation. In order to obtain numerical results close to reality, a common geometry and size of the imperfection of the tip of Vickers indenter was taken into account for the numerical description of the indenter.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VJS-4FXNRM9-2/1/fc471d8e5a726ca5ef37aaf842f333c

Influence of process parameters on the deep drawing of stainless steel

Optimization of process parameters in sheet metal forming is an important task to reduce manufacturing cost. To determine the optimum values of the process parameters, it is essential to find their influence on the deformation behaviour of the sheet metal. The significance of three important process parameters namely, die radius, blank holder force and friction coefficient on the deep-drawing characteristics of a stainless steel axi-symmetric cup was determined. Finite element method combined with Taguchi technique form a refined predictive tool to determine the influence of forming process parameters. The Taguchi method was employed to identify the relative influence of each process parameter considered in this study. A reduced set of finite element simulations were carried out as per the Taguchi orthogonal array. Based on the predicted thickness distribution of the deep drawn circular cup and analysis of variance test, it is evident that die radius has the greatest influence on the deep drawing of stainless steel blank sheet followed by the blank holder force and the friction coefficient. Further, it is shown that a blank holder force application and local lubrication scheme improved the quality of the formed part.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V36-4P83CYC-1/1/e6960497333623161079dd55519205b

The role of tension-compression asymmetry of the plastic flow on ductility and damage accumulation of porous polycrystals

The influence of the tension-compression asymmetry of the plastic flow, due to intrinsic single-crystal deformation mechanisms, on porosity evolution and the overall ductility of voided metallic polycrystals is assessed. To this end, detailed micromechanical finite-element analyses of three-dimensional unit cells containing a single initially spherical cavity are carried out. The plastic flow of the matrix (fully-dense material) is described by a criterion that accounts for strength-differential effects induced by deformation twinning of the constituent grains of the metallic polycrystalline materials. The dilatational response of porous polycrystals are calculated for macroscopic axisymmetric tensile loadings corresponding to a fixed value of the stress triaxiality and the two possible values of the Lode parameter. It is shown that damage accumulation, and ultimately ductility of the porous polycrystals are markedly different as compared to the case when the matrix is governed by von Mises criterion. Most importantly, a direct correlation is established between the macroscopic material parameter k that is intimately related to the particularities of the plastic flow of the matrix and the rate of damage accumulation. (C) 2017 Portuguese Society of Materials (SPM). Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.. All rights reserved.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) via the project PTDC/EMETEC/1805/2012.This work has been supported by FCT (Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia) in the scope of the project UID/EEA/04436/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study on the influence of the strain rate sensitivity on the springback of the AA5086 alloy under warm forming conditions

Warm forming processes have been successfully applied to overcome some important drawbacks of the aluminium alloys, such as poor formability and large springback. The virtual try-out of this type of processes requires the accurate prediction of springback. The process conditions considered in this work are the ones established for the benchmark 3 - Springback of an Al-Mg alloy in warm forming conditions, proposed under the Numisheet 2016 international conference. The material under analysis is the AA5086-H111 aluminium alloy. Its mechanical behaviour is described by a Hockett-Sherby hardening law and an orthotropic yield function. The numerical analysis of the warm forming process is performed considering different yield criteria, using a strain rate-dependent flow rule. Although the material presents a positive strain rate sensitivity at 240 degrees C, the influence of the punch velocity on the punch force evolution is negligible due to the impact of the punch velocity on the temperature distribution in the cup. Since the hoop stress distribution on the ring (before splitting) is only slightly influenced by the punch velocity, the impact of the punch velocity on the springback is also negligible.The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under projects with reference PTDC/EME-EME/30592/2017 and PTDC/EME-EME/31657/2017 and by European Regional Development Fund through the Portugal 2020 program and the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme under the project MATIS and UIDB/00285/2020

Influence of the orthotropic behaviour on defects prediction in cup drawing, reverse redrawing and expansion

Finite elements analysis is commonly used in the cans tool design since it allows predicting different sheet metal defects and instabilities that significantly affect the efficient production of beverage cans. These defects include caring, due to the material orthotropic behaviour, thinning and fracture. The numerical prediction of these kind of defects is more complex when different combinations of strain paths are involved. The process conditions considered in this work involve the drawing of a cylindrical cup, the reverse redrawing and the expansion. The two materials under analysis are an AA5352 aluminium alloy and a TH330 steel. The materials orthotropic plastic behaviour is modelled with a non-quadratic yield criterion. The results show that changes in the yield surface lead to slight changes in the caring profile and in the location were strain localization occurs. Moreover, the numerical model must describe in detail the process conditions, since they may affect the formability prediction.The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under projects with reference PTDC/EME-EME/30592/2017 and PTDC/EME-EME/31243/2017 and by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Portugal 2020 program and the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031657) under project MATIS (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000014) and UID/EMS/00285/2020

Modelling of anisotropic work-hardening behaviour of metallic materials subjected to strain-path changes

The present paper aims at reviewing some recent progress in developing advanced constitutive models which are devoted to the description of the anisotropic work-hardening behaviour under strain-path changes at large strains of metallic materials. After reviewing some microscopic and macroscopic experimental evidence, a physically-based phenomenological model using four internal state tensor variables is presented. This model can be simplified into several classical phenomenological models in order to take into account either the isotropic or the kinematic hardening or both. The implementation of the proposed models in the in-house finite element code DD3IMP is briefly recalled. Numerical simulations of the stamping of a curved rail are carried out in order to evaluate the accuracy and the efficiency of the proposed models in modelling the springback.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWM-4DPCBFG-5/1/69adb1186eb64eca13df008f0bfcfcd