703 research outputs found
Numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming
The application of numerical modelling and simulation in manufacturing technologies is looking back over about a 20–30 years history. In recent years, the role of modelling and simulation in engineering and in manufacturing industry has been continuously increasing. It is well known that during manufacturing processes simultaneous the effect of many different parameters can be observed. This is the reason why in former years, detailed analysis of manufacturing processes could have been done only by time-consuming and expensive trial-and-error methods. Due to the recent developments in the methods of modelling and simulation, as well as in computational facilities, modelling and simulation has become an everyday tool in engineering practice. Besides the aforementioned facts, the emerging role of modelling and simulation can also be explained by the growing globalisation and competition of the world market requiring shorter lead times and more cost effective solutions. In spite the enormous development of hardware and software facilities, the exclusive use of numerical modelling still seems to be very time- and cost consuming, and there is still often a high scepticism about the results among industrialists. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to overview the present situation of numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming, mainly from the viewpoint of scientific research and industrial applications
Integrated Process Simulation and Die Design in Sheet Metal Forming
During the recent 10-15 years, Computer Aided Process Planning and Die Design
evolved as one of the most important engineering tools in sheet metal forming, particularly in
the automotive industry. This emerging role is strongly emphasized by the rapid development
of Finite Element Modelling, as well. The purpose of this paper is to give a general overview
about the recent achievements in this very important field of sheet metal forming and to
introduce some special results in this development activity. Therefore, in this paper, an
integrated process simulation and die design system developed at the University of Miskolc,
Department of Mechanical Engineering will be analysed. The proposed integrated solutions
have great practical importance to improve the global competitiveness of sheet metal forming
in the very important segment of industry. The concept described in this paper may have
specific value both for process planning and die design engineers
Statistical Thermodynamics
Contains a report on a research project.United States Air Force, Office of Scientific Research, Air Research and Development Command (Contract AF49(638)-95
Development of Lightweight Steels for Automotive Applications
The automotive industry plays a determinant role in the economy of developed countries. Sheet metal forming is one of the most important processes in car manufacturing. Recent trends in car production may be characterized by the application of lightweight principles. Its main priority is to fulfill both the customers’ demands and the increased legal requirements. The application of high strength steels may be regarded as one of the potential possibilities. Applying high strength steels has a positive response for many of the requirements: increasing the strength may lead to the application of thinner sheets resulting in significant mass reduction. Mass reduction is leading to lower consumption with increased environment protection. However, increasing the strength can often lead to the decrease of formability, which is very unfavorable for the forming processes. In this chapter, an overview of recent material developments in the automotive industry concerning the use of new-generation high strength steels will be given. In this paper, the material developments are emphasized from the point of view sheet metal forming; therefore, our focus is on the body-in-white manufacturing in the automotive industry
Plant structural complexity and mechanical defenses mediate predator-prey interactions in an odonate-bird system.
Habitat-forming species provide refuges for a variety of associating species; these refuges may mediate interactions between species differently depending on the functional traits of the habitat-forming species. We investigated refuge provisioning by plants with different functional traits for dragonfly and damselfly (Odonata: Anisoptera and Zygoptera) nymphs emerging from water bodies to molt into their adult stage. During this period, nymphs experience high levels of predation by birds. On the shores of a small pond, plants with mechanical defenses (e.g., thorns and prickles) and high structural complexity had higher abundances of odonate exuviae than nearby plants which lacked mechanical defenses and exhibited low structural complexity. To disentangle the relative effects of these two potentially important functional traits on nymph emergence-site preference and survival, we conducted two fully crossed factorial field experiments using artificial plants. Nymphs showed a strong preference for artificial plants with high structural complexity and to a lesser extent, mechanical defenses. Both functional traits increased nymph survival but through different mechanisms. We suggest that future investigations attempt to experimentally separate the elements contributing to structural complexity to elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of refuge provisioning
Thermodynamic constraints on fluctuation phenomena
The relationships between reversible Carnot cycles, the absence of perpetual
motion machines and the existence of a non-decreasing, globally unique entropy
function forms the starting point of many textbook presentations of the
foundations of thermodynamics. However, the thermal fluctuation phenomena
associated with statistical mechanics has been argued to restrict the domain of
validity of this basis of the second law of thermodynamics. Here we demonstrate
that fluctuation phenomena can be incorporated into the traditional
presentation, extending, rather than restricting, the domain of validity of the
phenomenologically motivated second law. Consistency conditions lead to
constraints upon the possible spectrum of thermal fluctuations. In a special
case this uniquely selects the Gibbs canonical distribution and more generally
incorporates the Tsallis distributions. No particular model of microscopic
dynamics need be assumed.Comment: 12 pages, 24 figure
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