The symplectic approach proposed and developed by Zhong et al. in 1990s for elasticity problems is a rational analytical method, in which ample experience is not needed as in the conventional semi-inverse method. In the symplectic space, elasticity problems can be solved using the method of separation of variables along with the eigenfunction expansion technique, as in traditional Fourier analysis. The eigensolutions include those corresponding to zero and nonzero eigenvalues. The latter group can be further divided into α- and β-sets. This paper reformulates the form of β-set eigensolutions to achieve the stability of numerical calculation, which is very important to obtain accurate results within the symplectic frame. An example is finally given and numerical results are compared and discussed.

An array of rigid piles used as a screening barrier for plane shear (S) waves is investigated in a homogeneous unbounded space. The dynamic poroelastic theory of Biot is employed, under the assumption of an incompressible solid grain. Using Fourier-Bessel series, the problem of multiple scattering is solved by imposing continuity conditions and equilibrium conditions at the soil-pile interfaces with the translational addition theorem. A parametric analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of the permeability of poroelastic soil, separation between piles, number of piles and frequency of incident waves on screening effectiveness of the barrier, and the results are compared with those in an elastic soil medium. Computed results show that the intrinsic permeability of the soil medium displays an apparent effect on the screening of plane S waves.

The failure analysis of simply supported, isotropic, square plates is addressed. Attention focuses on minimum failure load amplitudes and failure locations. von Mises’ equivalent stress along the plate thickness is also addressed. Several distributed and localized loading conditions are considered. Loads act on the top of the plate. Bi-sinusoidal and uniform loads are taken into account for distributed loadings, while stepwise constant centric and off-centric loadings are addressed in the case of localized loadings. Analysis is performed considering plates whose length-to-thickness ratio a/h can be as high as 100 (thin plates) and as low as 2 (very thick plates). Results are obtained via several 2D plate models. Classical theories (CTs) and higher order models are applied. Those theories are based on polynomial approximation of the displacement field. Among the higher order theories (HOTs), HOTs^d models account for the transverse shear deformations, while HOTs models account for both transverse shear and transverse normal deformations. LHOTs represent a local application of the higher order theories. A layerwise approach is thus assumed: by means of mathematical interfaces, the plate is considered to be made of several fictitious layers. The exact 3D solution is presented in order to determine the accuracy of the results obtained via the 2D models. In this way a hierarchy among the 2D theories is established. CTs provide highly accurate results for a/h greater than 10 in the case of distributed loadings and greater than 20 for localized loadings. Results obtained via HOTs are highly accurate in the case of very thick plates for bi-sinusoidal and centric loadings. In the case of uniform and off-centric loadings a high gradient is present in the neighborhood of the plate top. In those cases, LHOTs yield results that match the exact solution.

Ship collision on bridge is a dynamic process featured by high nonlinearity and instantaneity. Calculating ship-bridge collision force typically involves either the use of design-specification-stipulated equivalent static load, or the use of finite element method (FEM) which is more time-consuming and requires supercomputing resources. In this paper, we proposed an alternative approach that combines FEM with artificial neural network (ANN). The radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) employed for calculating the impact force in consideration of ship-bridge collision mechanics. With ship velocity and mass as the input vectors and ship collision force as the output vector, the neural networks for different network parameters are trained by the learning samples obtained from finite element simulation results. The error analyses of the learning and testing samples show that the proposed RBFNN is accurate enough to calculate ship-bridge collision force. The input-output relationship obtained by the RBFNN is essentially consistent with the typical empirical formulae. Finally, a special toolbox is developed for calculation efficiency in application using MATLAB software.

The primary focus of this study is to investigate the control strategies of a hybrid system used in hydraulic excavators. First, the structure and evaluation target of hybrid hydraulic excavators are analyzed. Then the dynamic system model including batteries, motor and engine is built as the simulation environment to obtain control results. A so-called multi-work-point dynamic control strategy, which has both closed-loop speed PI (proportion integral) control and direct torque control, is proposed and studied in the simulation model. Simulation results indicate that the hybrid system with this strategy can meet the power demand and achieve better system stability and higher fuel efficiency.

With the analysis on regulating system in 200 MW steam turbine, the necessity of appending the fast-opening function to the original system is set forth and a new type of fast-opening mechanism is devised. The mathematical model of system is built up. With the use of AMESIM software, the displacement curve of the piston, the force curve of the cartridge valve spool, the pressure curve and the flux curve in the regulation process are obtained based on simulation. The performances of three fast-opening systems composed of cartridge valves with different diameters are compared. Based on the analysis on factors that affect the execution time of fast-opening, the dead zone of the fast-opening system is put forward. To overcome the defect, different operation modes are adopted for different zones. The result shows that with the increase of the valve diameter, the regulating time in the dead zone significantly exceeds the fast-opening time in the whole journey. Accordingly, the optimization operation tactic in the dead zone and the qualification conditions are brought forward. The fast-opening system composed of 32 mm cartridge valves is taken as an example with use of the tactic. The simulation result shows that the maximum regulating time is shortened by 509 ms.

Plastic pipes reinforced by cross helically wound steel wires (PSP), which have exhibited excellent mechanical performance, consist of inner polyethylene (PE) layer, winding layer and outer PE layer. The winding layer is composed of two monolayers where steel wires are cross helically wound. An analytical procedure is developed to predict the short-term burst pressure of PSP as the monolayer is assumed to be elastic and orthotropic. The 3D anisotropic elasticity and Maximum Stress Failure Criterion are employed in the formulation of the elasticity problem. Good agreement between the theoretical results and the experimental data shows that the proposed approach can well predict the short-term burst pressure of PSP.

In this paper a numerical analysis is carried out to obtain the temperature distribution within a single fin. It is assumed that the heat transfer coefficient depends on the temperature. The complete highly non-linear problem is solved numerically and the variations of both, dimensionless surface temperature and dimensionless surface temperature gradient as well as heat transfer characteristics with the governing non-dimensional parameters of the problem are graphed and tabulated.

Numerical simulation and experimental tests were carried out to examine the hydrodynamic behaviors of a double-column floating system of gravity cage under wave conditions. A floating system of gravity cage can be treated as a small-sized floating structure when compared with the wavelengths. The main problem in calculating the wave loads on the small-sized floating structure is to obtain the reasonable force coefficients, which may differ from a submerged structure. In this paper, the floating system of gravity cage is simplified to a 2D problem, where the floating system is set symmetrically under wave conditions. The motion equations were deduced under wave conditions and a specific method was proposed to resolve the problem of wave forces acting on a small-sized floating system of gravity cage at water surface. Results of the numerical method were compared with those from model tests and the hydrodynamic coefficients C_n and C_ were studied. It is found that C_n ranges from 0.6 to 1.0 while C_ is between 0.4 and 0.6 in this study. The results are useful for research on the hydrodynamic behavior of the deep-water gravity sea cages.

Lattice Boltzmann method was used to numerically investigate the motion and orientation distribution of cylindrical and cubic particles in pipe flow with high concentration and high particle to pipe size ratio. The transient impulse model of 3D collisions between particles and between particle and wall is proposed. The numerical results are qualitatively in agreement with and quantitatively comparable to the experiment data. The results show that the increases of both the cylindrical particle to pipe size ratio and the particle aspect ratio decrease the rotation about all axes. All rotations of cubic particles decrease with increasing the particle concentration. The cubic particles, rotating more drastically in the flow with large Reynolds number, rotate faster than the cylindrical particles with the same size. The cylindrical particles align with the flow direction more obviously with decreasing Reynolds numbers. However, the orientations of cubic particles are spread all over the range with no significant difference in magnitude, and the Reynolds numbers have no obvious effect on the orientations of cubic particles.

In this paper, inverse solutions are obtained for the class of 2D steady incompressible couple stress fluid flows. This class consists of flows for which the vorticity distribution is given by ▽²ψ=ψ+f(x,y). The solutions are obtained by applying the inverse method, which makes certain hypotheses regarding the form of the velocity field and pressure but without making any regarding the boundaries of the domain occupied by the fluid. Inverse solutions are derived for three different forms of f(x,y).

The rapidly increasing demand for energy in China leads to the construction of new power plants all over the country. Coal, as the main fuel resource of those power plants, results in increasing problems with the disposal of solid residues from combustion and off gas cleaning. This investigation describes chances for the utilization of fly ash from coal-fired power plants in China. After briefly comparing the situation in China and Germany, the status of aluminum recycling from fly ash and the advantages for using fly ash in concrete products are introduced. Chemical and physical analyses of Chinese fly ash samples, e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), ICP (Inductive Coupled Plasma) and particle size analysis, water requirement, etc. are presented. Reasonable amounts of aluminum were detected in the samples under investigation, but for recovery only sophisticated procedures are available up to now. Therefore, simpler techniques are suggested for the first steps in the utilization of Chinese fly ash.

The operating temperature of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack is a very important parameter to be controlled, which impacts the performance of the SOFC due to thermal cycling. In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy control method based on an affine nonlinear temperature model is developed to control the temperature of the SOFC within a specified range. Fuzzy logic systems are used to approximate nonlinear functions in the SOFC system and an adaptive technique is employed to construct the controller. Compared with the traditional fuzzy and proportion-integral-derivative (PID) control, the simulation results show that the designed adaptive fuzzy control method performed much better. So it is feasible to build an adaptive fuzzy controller for temperature control of the SOFC.

The simultaneous removal of ethyl acetate, benzene and toluene with relatively low or high initial concentration is studied using a laboratory scale gliding arc gas discharge (GA) reactor. Good decomposition efficiencies are obtained which proves that the GA is effective for the treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with either low or high concentration. A theoretical decomposition mechanism is proposed based on detection of the species in the plasma region and analysis of the decomposition by-products. This preliminary investigation reveals that the GA has potential to be applied to the treatment of exhaust air during color printing and coating works, by either direct removal or combination with activated carbon adsorption/desorption process.

The Tainan Basin is one of the set of Cenozoic extensional basins along northern margin of the South China Sea that experienced extension and subsequently thermal subsidence. The Tainan Basin is close to the Taiwan Arc-Trench System and straddles a transition zone between oceanic and continental crust. A new regional multi-channel seismic profile (973-01) across the region of NE South China Sea is introduced in this paper. In seismic stratigraphy and structural geology, a model of Cenozoic tectono-sedimentation of the Tainan Basin is established. The results show that three stages can be suggested in Tainan Basin; In Stage A (Oligocene (?)-Lower Miocene) the stratigraphy shows restricted rifting, indicating crustal extension. Terrestrial sediments mostly filled the faulted sags of the North Depression on the continental shelf. Structural highs, including the Central Uplift, blocked material transportation to the South Depression in abyssal basin. In Stage B the Tainan Basin (Middle-Upper Miocene) exhibits a broad subsidence resulting from the post-rifting thermal cooling. The faulted-sags in North Depression had been filled up. Terrestrial materials were transported over the structural highs and deposited directly in the South Depression through submarine gullies or canyons. This sedimentation resulted in a crucial change in the slope to a modern shape. In Stage C (Latest Miocene-Recent) a phase change from extension to compression took place due to the orogeny caused by the overthrusting of the Luzon volcanic arc. Many inverse structures, such as thrusts, fault bend folds, and a regional unconformity were formed. Forland basin began developing.

It is a very fine substitutable energy technology to synthesize ethanol from biomass-derived syngas. This paper summarized the development of preparing ethanol from syngas, and especially elaborated on the research status of catalysts for the process. Based on the relative researches on the reaction mechanism, structure and performance of the catalysts, the optimum design of catalysts with high activity was presented in this review, which set the theoretical and application foundation for the industrial production of ethanol from syngas.

In this study, the surface chemical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) grown by catalytic decomposition of methane on nickel and cobalt based catalysts were studied by DRIFT (Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform) and transmission Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The results show that the surface exists not only carbon-hydrogen groups, but also carboxyl, ketene or quinone (carbonyl) oxygen-containing groups. These functional groups were formed in the process of the material growth, which result in large amount of chemical defect sites on the walls.