Radial basis functions mesh morphing for the analysis of cracks propagation

Abstract Damage tolerant design requires the implementation of effective tools for fracture mechanics analysis suitable for complex shaped components. FEM methods are very well consolidated in this field and reliable procedures for the strength assessment of cracked parts are daily used in many industrial fields. Nevertheless the generation of the computational grid of the cracked part and its update after a certain evolution are still a challenging part of the computational workflow. Mesh morphing, that consists in the repositioning of nodal locations without changing the topology of the mesh, can be a meaningful answer to this problem as it allows the mesh updating without the need of rebuilding it from scratch. Fast Radial Basis Functions (RBF) can be used as an effective tool for enabling mesh morphing on very large meshes that are typically used in advanced industrial applications (many millions of nodes). The applicability of this concept is demonstrated in this paper exploiting state of the art tools for FEA (ANSYS Mechanical) and for advanced mesh morphing (RBF Morph ACT Extension). Proposed method is benchmarked using as a reference a circular notched bar with a surface defect. Reliability of fracture parameter extraction on the morphed mesh is first verified using as a reference literature data and ANSYS Mechanical tools based on re-meshing: different crack shapes are achieved using the new geometry as a morphing target. Crack propagation workflow is then demonstrated showing the computed shape evolution for different size and shape of the initial crack

An RBF Meshless Approach to Evaluate Strain Due to Large Displacements in Flexible Printed Circuit Boards

Thin plates are very often employed in a context of large displacements and rotations, for example, whenever the extreme flexibility of a body can replace the use of complicated kinematic pairs. This is the case of the flexible Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) used, for example, within last-generation foldable laptops and consumer electronics products. In these applications, the range of motion is generally known in advance, and a simple strategy of stress assessment leaving out nonlinear numerical calculations appears feasible other than desirable. In this paper, Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) are used to represent a generic transformation of a bi-dimensional plate, with all the derivate fields being analytically achieved without the need for a numerical grid for large-displacement applications. Strains due to bending are easily retrieved with this method and satisfactorily compared to analytical and shell-based Finite Element Method (FEM) benchmarks. On the other hand, the computational costs of the juxtaposed methods appear far different; with the machine being equal, the orders of magnitude of the time elapsed in computation are seconds for the RBF-based strategy versus minutes for the FEM approach

Structural validation of a realistic wing structure: the RIBES test article

Several experimental test cases are available in literature to study and validate fluid structure interaction methods. They, however, focus the attention mainly on replicating typical cruising aerodynamic conditions forcing the adoption of fully steel made models able to operate with the high loads generated in high speed facilities. This translates in a complete loss of similitude with typical realistic aeronautical wing structures configurations. To reverse this trend, and to better study the aerolastic mechanism from a structural point of view, an aeroelastic measurement campaign was carried within the EU RIBES project. A half wing model for wind tunnel tests was designed and manufactured replicating a typical metallic wing box structure, producing a database of loads, pressure, stress and deformation measurements. In this paper the design, manufacturing and validation activities performed within the RIBES project are described, with a focus on the structural behavior of the test article. All experimental data and numerical models are made freely available to the scientific community

A digital shadow cloud-based application to enhance quality control in manufacturing

In Industry 4.0 era, rapid changes to the global landscape of manufacturing are transforming industrial plants in increasingly more complex digital systems. One of the most impactful innovations generated in this context is the "Digital Twin", a digital copy of a physical asset, which is used to perform simulations, health predictions and life cycle management through the use of a synchronized data flow in the manufacturing plant. In this paper, an innovative approach is proposed in order to contribute to the current collection of applications of Digital Twin in manufacturing: a Digital Shadow cloud-based application to enhance quality control in the manufacturing process. In particular, the proposal comprises a Digital Shadow updated on high performance computing cloud infrastructure in order to recompute the performance prediction adopting a variation of the computer-aided engineering model shaped like the actual manufactured part. Thus, this methodology could make possible the qualification of even not compliant parts, and so shift the focus from the compliance to tolerance requirements to the compliance to usage requirements. The process is demonstrated adopting two examples: the structural assessment of the geometry of a shaft and the one of a simplified turbine blade. Moreover, the paper presents a discussion about the implications of the use of such a technology in the manufacturing context in terms of real-time implementation in a manufacturing line and lifecycle management. Copyright (C) 2020 The Authors

High fidelity numerical fracture mechanics assisted by RBF mesh morphing

The study and design of cyclically loaded structures cannot neglect the evaluation of their fatigue behavior. Today numerical prediction tools allow adopting, in various industrial fields, refined and consolidated procedures for the assessment of cracked parts through analyses based on fracture mechanics. An high level of detail can be obtained through the use of well consolidated FEM methods, allowing an accurate and reliable calculation of the flaw Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) and its resulting prediction in terms of crack propagation. A challenging step for this computational workflow remains, however, the generation and update of the computational grid during crack evolution. It is in this context that radial basis functions (RBF) mesh morphing is emerging as a viable solution to replace the complex and time-consuming remeshing operation. The flaw front is updated, according to its propagation, by automatically deforming the numerical grid obtaining an evolutionary workflow suitable to be used for industrially-sized numerical meshes (many millions of nodes). A review of applications, obtained by exploiting FEA (Ansys Mechanical) and mesh morphing (RBF Morph) state of-the-art tools, is presented in this work. At first the proposed workflow is applied on a circular notched bar with a defect controlled by a two-parameters evolution. The same approach is then refined and demonstrated for a Multi Degree of Freedom (MDoF) case on the same geometry and on the vacuum vessel port stub from the fusion nuclear reactor Iter

Modeling flexible/curved PCBs using RBF mesh morphing

In the recent past, flexible printed circuit board (PCB) electronics have seen a significant surge in many electronics products ranging from smartphone/watches that wrap around our wrists, displays that fold out as large television sets, reconfigurable electronics that conform to the roofs/trunks of cars or as flexible implants that can monitor and treat diseases. Whatever the need is, it is quite evident that the near future is bound to see a significant uptick in day-to-day usage of such electronic products and hence as a direct result there is a need for numerical modeling, simulation and analysis of PCB's that conform to different shapes. However, given the complexity of PCB's, numerical modeling of such structures remains a challenge and there is a need for a clear and simple methodology to accomplish this. In addition, the developed methodology should also be applicable to both the trace mapping and trace modeling techniques typically used while working with Electronic-CAD files. In this work, the RBF (Radial Basis Function) method has been presented as a capable technology that can morph the flat mesh electronic data to a curved space which can be further used for analysis purposes. Since the morphing is being directly implemented at the mesh level, a lot of obstacles and complexity typically encountered while generating curved PCB CAD files can be avoided. The RBF Morph ACT Extension has been the tool of choice in the current context. This extension was built on the modular architecture of the ANSYS Workbench and is hence deeply integrated into Mechanical which makes it easy to work with. While RBF Morph offers a wide range of morphing capabilities, a 2-step morph process which relies on an auxiliary body and 2D coordinate filtering technique has been identified as most reliable technique of choice for most curved geometries. The morph technique developed has been successfully applied to a wide range of curved structures which include solid PCBs as well

Radial basis functions vector fields interpolation for complex fluid structure interaction problems

Fluid structure interaction (FSI) is a complex phenomenon that in several applications cannot be neglected. Given its complexity and multi-disciplinarity the solution of FSI problems is difficult and time consuming, requiring not only the solution of the structural and fluid domains, but also the use of expensive numerical methods to couple the two physics and to properly update the numerical grid. Advanced mesh morphing can be used to embed into the fluid grid the vector fields resulting from structural calculations. The main advantage is that such embedding and the related computational costs occur only at initialization of the computation. A proper combination of embedded vector fields can be used to tackle steady and transient FSI problems by structural modes superposition, for the case of linear structures, or to impose a full non-linear displacement time history. Radial basis functions interpolation, a powerful and precise meshless tool, is used in this work to combine the vector fields and propagate their effect to the full fluid domain of interest. A review of industrial high fidelity FSI problems tackled by means of the proposed method and RBF is given for steady, transient, and non-linear transient FSI problems

Analysis of corrugated board panels under compression load

This paper is focused on the buckling and post buckling behaviour of rectangular corrugated board panels simply supported and subjected to compression load. The aim of the work is to understand the failure mechanism of investigated structure in order to quantify the effect of design parameters on the strength of a panel of given geometry. Two numerical models were developed adopting the finite element method. In the first one the corrugated board is represented by means of shell elements adopting an equivalent material, in the second the local structure is described in full detail modelling both straight and corrugated layers by means of shell elements and representing the connection between layers by special interface elements. The model correctness was checked by the comparison between out of plane central displacement predicted by the models and the experimental values found in literature. For the same case the effect of panel planarity error was evaluated. Finally a parametric analysis to investigate the effect of design parameters was carried out