System Subject (system + subject)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Particle swarm optimization of TMD by non-stationary base excitation during earthquake

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 9 2008
A. Y. T. Leung
Abstract There are many traditional methods to find the optimum parameters of a tuned mass damper (TMD) subject to stationary base excitations. It is very difficult to obtain the optimum parameters of a TMD subject to non-stationary base excitations using these traditional optimization techniques. In this paper, by applying particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm as a novel evolutionary algorithm, the optimum parameters including the optimum mass ratio, damper damping and tuning frequency of the TMD system attached to a viscously damped single-degree-of-freedom main system subject to non-stationary excitation can be obtained when taking either the displacement or the acceleration mean square response, as well as their combination, as the cost function. For simplicity of presentation, the non-stationary excitation is modeled by an evolutionary stationary process in the paper. By means of three numerical examples for different types of non-stationary ground acceleration models, the results indicate that PSO can be used to find the optimum mass ratio, damper damping and tuning frequency of the non-stationary TMD system, and it is quite easy to be programmed for practical engineering applications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Hybrid platform for vibration control of high-tech equipment in buildings subject to ground motion.

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 8 2003
Part 2: analysis
Abstract The experimental results of using a hybrid platform to mitigate vibration of a batch of high-tech equipment installed in a building subject to nearby traffic-induced ground motion have been presented and discussed in the companion paper. Based on the identified dynamic properties of both the building and the platform, this paper first establishes an analytical model for hybrid control of the building-platform system subject to ground motion in terms of the absolute co-ordinate to facilitate the absolute velocity feedback control strategy used in the experiment. The traffic-induced ground motion used in the experiment is then employed as input to the analytical model to compute the dynamic response of the building-platform system. The computed results are compared with the measured results, and the comparison is found to be satisfactory. Based on the verified analytical model, coupling effects between the building and platform are then investigated. A parametric study is finally conducted to further assess the performance of both passive and hybrid platforms at microvibration level. The analytical study shows that the dynamic interaction between the building and platform should be taken into consideration. The hybrid control is effective in reducing both velocity response and drift of the platform/high-tech equipment at microvibration level with reasonable control force. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Whither trial-based economic evaluation for health care decision making?

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 7 2006
Mark J. Sculpher
Abstract The randomised controlled trial (RCT) has developed a central role in applied cost-effectiveness studies in health care as the vehicle for analysis. This paper considers the role of trial-based economic evaluation in this era of explicit decision making. It is argued that any framework for economic analysis can only be judged insofar as it can inform two key decisions and be consistent with the objectives of a health care system subject to its resource constraints. The two decisions are, firstly, whether to adopt a health technology given existing evidence and, secondly, an assessment of whether more evidence is required to support this decision in the future. It is argued that a framework of economic analysis is needed which can estimate costs and effects, based on all the available evidence, relating to the full range of possible alternative interventions and clinical strategies, over an appropriate time horizon and for specific patient groups. It must also enable the accumulated evidence to be synthesised in an explicit and transparent way in order to fully represent the decision uncertainty. These requirements suggest that, in most circumstances, the use of a single RCT as a vehicle for economic analysis will be an inadequate and partial basis for decision making. It is argued that RCT evidence, with or without economic content, should be viewed as simply one of the sources of evidence, which must be placed in a broader framework of evidence synthesis and decision analysis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Numerical studies of shear banding in interface shear tests using a new strain calculation method,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 12 2007
Jianfeng Wang
Abstract Strain localization is closely associated with the stress,strain behaviour of an interphase system subject to quasi-static direct interface shear, especially after peak stress state is reached. This behaviour is important because it is closely related to deformations experienced by geotechnical composite structures. This paper presents a study using two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) simulations on the strain localization of an idealized interphase system composed of densely packed spherical particles in contact with rough manufactured surfaces. The manufactured surface is made up of regular or irregular triangular asperities with varying slopes. A new simple method of strain calculation is used in this study to generate strain field inside a simulated direct interface shear box. This method accounts for particle rotation and captures strain localization features at high resolution. Results show that strain localization begins with the onset of non-linear stress,strain behaviour. A distinct but discontinuous shear band emerges above the rough surface just before the peak stress state, which becomes more expansive and coherent with post-peak strain softening. It is found that the shear bands developed by surfaces with smaller roughness are much thinner than those developed by surfaces with greater roughness. The maximum thickness of the intense shear zone is observed to be about 8,10 median particle diameters. The shear band orientations, which are mainly dominated by the rough boundary surface, are parallel with the zero extension direction, which are horizontally oriented. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


On sliding mode observers for systems with unknown inputs

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 8-9 2007
T. Floquet
Abstract This paper considers the problem of designing an observer for a linear system subject to unknown inputs. This problem has been extensively studied in the literature with respect to both linear and nonlinear (sliding mode) observers. Necessary and sufficient conditions to enable a linear unknown input observer to be designed have been established for many years. One way to express these conditions is that the transfer function matrix between the unknown input and the measured output must be minimum phase and relative degree one. Identical conditions must be met in order to design a ,classical' sliding mode observer for the same problem. This paper shows how the relative degree condition can be weakened if a classical sliding mode observer is combined with sliding mode exact differentiators to essentially generate additional independent output signals from the available measurements. A practical example dedicated to actuator fault detection and identification of a winding machine demonstrates the efficacy of the approach. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


,2 -Stabilization of continuous-time linear systems with saturating actuators

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 18 2006
E. B. Castelan
Abstract This paper addresses the problem of controlling a linear system subject to actuator saturations and to ,2 -bounded disturbances. Linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions are proposed to design a state feedback gain in order to satisfy the closed-loop input-to-state stability (ISS) and the closed-loop finite gain ,2 stability. By considering a quadratic candidate Lyapunov function, two particular tools are used to derive the LMI conditions: a modified sector condition, which encompasses the classical sector-nonlinearity condition considered in some previous works, and Finsler's Lemma, which allows to derive stabilization conditions which are adapted to treat multiple objective control optimization problems in a potentially less conservative framework. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Permanence in a periodic delay logistic system subject to constant impulsive stocking

MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN THE APPLIED SCIENCES, Issue 8 2010
Zhijun Liu
Abstract In this paper, a periodic impulsive delay single population system with hereditary effect is established. The constant impulse is realized at fixed moments of time. By using the comparison principle of impulsive differential equations and analysis techniques, the permanence of the system is obtained. It shows that the constant impulsive stocking plays an important role. Numerical simulations are presented to substantiate our analytical results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Optimum inspection under competing risks with proportional hazards

APPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 4 2002
F. G. Badía
Abstract In this work, we present an inspection policy so as to detect the failures of a single-unit system subject to N latent causes of failure when the time and cause of failure are independent. It is supposed that inspections may fail and give an erroneous result. The optimum inspection time which minimizes cost per unit of time for an infinite time span is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]