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Rigid Body (rigid + body)
Terms modified by Rigid Body Selected AbstractsControlled overturning of unanchored rigid bodiesEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 6 2006Rubén Boroschek Abstract Typical small hospital and laboratory equipment and general supplies cannot be anchored to resist earthquake motions. In order to protect these non-structural components, a common procedure is to provide barriers to restrain overturning of objects on shelves and other furniture. In many cases this option is not available, especially for hospital equipment, because of other functional requirements. This work presents an alternative approach. The method proposed here does not avoid overturning, but controls the direction of overturning by providing an inclination to the support base so that the overturning occurs in a preferential direction towards a safe area. For example, objects on shelves, could overturn towards the inside or a wall, and equipment on tables could overturn away from the edge. In both cases this would not only reduce the damage to the particular items, but reduce the amount of debris on the floor. In order to determine the proper inclination of the base, specific rigid bodies are analytically evaluated for bi-directional excitation obtained from 314 earthquake records, in approximately 7500 cases. For each case, several inclination angles are evaluated. Finally, a parametric curve is adjusted to the data, given a relation between angle of inclination and percentage of controlled overturning cases. In all cases a 7° angle gives more than 98% confidence of controlled overturning. The design expressions were later compared with experimental results obtained on a six-degree-of-freedom shake table; confirming the analytical expressions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Micromechanical viscoelasto-plastic models and finite element implementation for rate-independent and rate-dependent permanent deformation of stone-based materialsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 13 2010Qingli Dai Abstract This paper presents parallel and serial viscoelasto-plastic models to simulate the rate-independent and the rate-dependent permanent deformation of stone-based materials, respectively. The generalized Maxwell viscoelastic and Chaboche's plastic models were employed to formulate the proposed parallel and serial viscoelasto-plastic constitutive laws. The finite element (FE) implementation of the parallel model used a displacement-based incremental formulation for the viscoelastic part and an elastic predictor,plastic corrector scheme for the elastoplastic component. The FE framework of the serial viscoelasto-plastic model employed a viscoelastic predictor,plastic corrector algorithm. The stone-based materials are consisted of irregular aggregates, matrix and air voids. This study used asphalt mixtures as an example. A digital sample was generated with imaging analysis from an optically scanned surface image of an asphalt mixture specimen. The modeling scheme employed continuum elements to mesh the effective matrix, and rigid bodies for aggregates. The ABAQUS user material subroutines defined with the proposed viscoelasto-plastic matrix models were employed. The micromechanical FE simulations were conducted on the digital mixture sample with the viscoelasto-plastic matrix models. The simulation results showed that the serial viscoelasto-plastic matrix model generated more permanent deformation than the parallel one by using the identical material parameters and displacement loadings. The effect of loading rates on the material viscoelastic and viscoelasto-plastic mixture behaviors was investigated. Permanent deformations under cyclic loadings were determined with FE simulations. The comparison studies showed that the simulation results correctly predicted the rate-independent and rate-dependent viscoelasto-plastic constitutive properties of the proposed matrix models. Overall, these studies indicated that the developed micromechanical FE models have the abilities to predict the global viscoelasto-plastic behaviors of the stone-based materials. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A lumped mass numerical model for cellular materials deformed by impactINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2001Z. H. Tu Abstract When impacted by a relatively rigid body, cellular materials undergo severe deformation and extensive material failure. However, such behaviour may not be well described using traditional numerical approaches such as the finite element method. This paper presents a lumped mass numerical model which can accommodate high degrees of deformation and material failure. The essence of this model is to discretize a block of material into contiguous element volumes, each represented by a mass point. Interactions between a node and its neighbours are accounted for by defining ,connections' that represent their interfaces which transmit stresses. Strains at a node are calculated from the co-ordinates of the surrounding nodes; these also determine the stresses on the interfaces. The governing equations for the entire solution domain are then converted into a system of equations of motion with nodal positions as unknowns. Failure criteria and possible combinations of ,connection' breakage are incorporated to model the occurrence of damage. A practical contact algorithm is also developed to describe the contact interactions between cellular materials and rigid bodies. Simulations for normal and oblique impacts of rigid rectangular, cylindrical and wedge-tipped impactors on crushable foam blocks are presented to substantiate the validity of the model. The generally good correlation between the numerical and experimental results demonstrates that the proposed numerical approach is able to model the impact response of the crushable foam. However, some limitations in modelling crack propagation in oblique impacts by a rigid impactor on foam blocks are observed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Abinitio structure determination of m -toluidine by powder X-ray diffractionJOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004Mwaffak Rukiah The powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the crystalline phase of m -toluidine has been recorded with a sensitive curved detector (CPS120) at 150,K. The structure has been solved by real-space methods (simulated annealing) followed by Rietveld refinements with phenyl rings as rigid bodies and with soft constraints on bond lengths for peripheral atoms. The cell is monoclinic with space group P21/c and Z = 8. Equivalent molecules form chains along c. The crystalline cohesion is achieved by N,H,N hydrogen bonds between neighbouring chains of non-equivalent molecules and by van der Waals interactions of neighbouring chains of equivalent molecules. The hydrogen-bonding network has been confirmed by lattice-energy minimization. Anisotropic strain effects of the cell have been calculated. The directions of the minimal strains correspond to the directions of the hydrogen bonds. An explanation of the difficulty to crystallize the metastable phase is given. [source] Graph-theoretical identification of dissociation pathways on free energy landscapes of biomolecular interactionJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2010Ling Wang Abstract Biomolecular association and dissociation reactions take place on complicated interaction free energy landscapes that are still very hard to characterize computationally. For large enough distances, though, it often suffices to consider the six relative translational and rotational degrees of freedom of the two particles treated as rigid bodies. Here, we computed the six-dimensional free energy surface of a dimer of water-soluble alpha-helices by scanning these six degrees of freedom in about one million grid points. In each point, the relative free energy difference was computed as the sum of the polar and nonpolar solvation free energies of the helix dimer and of the intermolecular coulombic interaction energy. The Dijkstra graph algorithm was then applied to search for the lowest cost dissociation pathways based on a weighted, directed graph, where the vertices represent the grid points, the edges connect the grid points and their neighbors, and the weights are the reaction costs between adjacent pairs of grid points. As an example, the configuration of the bound state was chosen as the source node, and the eight corners of the translational cube were chosen as the destination nodes. With the strong electrostatic interaction of the two helices giving rise to a clearly funnel-shaped energy landscape, the eight lowest-energy cost pathways coming from different orientations converge into a well-defined pathway for association. We believe that the methodology presented here will prove useful for identifying low-energy association and dissociation pathways in future studies of complicated free energy landscapes for biomolecular interaction. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010 [source] Neural network approach to firm grip in the presence of small slipsJOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 6 2001A. M. Al-Fahed Nuseirat This paper presents a two stage method for constructing a firm grip that can tolerate small slips of the fingertips. The fingers are assumed to be of frictionless contact type. The first stage was to formulate the interaction in the gripper,object system as a linear complementarity problem (LCP). Then it was solved using a special neural network to find minimal fingers forces. The second stage was to use the obtained results in the first stage as a static mapping in training another neural network. The second neural network training included emulating the slips by random noise in the form of changes in the positions of the contact points relative to the reference coordinate system. This noisy training increased robustness against unexpected changes in fingers positions. Genetic algorithms were used in training the second neural network as global optimization techniques. The resulting neural network is a robust, reliable, and stable controller for rigid bodies that can be handled by a robot gripper. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] Free Rotational Diffusion of Rigid Particles with Arbitrary Surface Topography: A Brownian Dynamics Study Using Eulerian AnglesMACROMOLECULAR THEORY AND SIMULATIONS, Issue 2-3 2008Tom Richard Evensen Abstract Rotational diffusion of rigid bodies is an important topic that has attracted sustained interest for many decades, but most existing studies are limited to particles with simple symmetries. Here, we present a simple Brownian dynamics algorithm that can be used to study the free rotational diffusion of rigid particles with arbitrary surface topography. The main difference between the new algorithm and previous algorithms is how the numerical values of the mobility tensor are calculated. The only parameters in the numerical algorithm that depend on particle shape are the principal values of the particle rotational mobility tensor. These three scalars contain all information about the surface topography that is relevant for the particle rotational diffusion. Because these principal values only need to be pre-calculated once, the resulting general algorithm is highly efficient. The algorithm is valid for arbitrary mass density distribution throughout the rigid body. In this paper, we use Eulerian angles as the generalized coordinates describing the particle angular orientation. [source] A Holistic Simulation Approach from a Measured Load to Element Stress Using Combined Multi-body Simulation and Finite Element ModellingPROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2009Matthias Harter The design of vehicle bodies requires the knowledge of the vehicle's structural response to external loads and disturbances. In rigid multi-body simulation the dynamic behaviour of complex systems is calculated with rigid bodies and neglect of body elasticity. On the other hand, in finite element models large degree of freedom numbers are used to represent the elastic properties of a single body. Both simulation methods can be combined, if the finite element model size is reduced to a degree of freedom number feasible to multi-body simulation. The application to practical purposes requires the use and interconnection of several different software tools. In this contribution a holistic method is presented, which starts with the measurement or synthesis of loads and excitations, continues with the integration of a reduced finite element model into a multi-body system, the dynamic response calculation of this combined model, and concludes with the result expansion to the full finite element model for calculating strain and stress values at any point of the finite element mesh. The applied software tools are Simpack, Nastran, and Matlab. An example is given with a railway vehicle simulated on measured track geometry. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Energy consistent time integration of planar multibody systemsPROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2006Stefan Uhlar The planar motion of rigid bodies and multibody systems can be easily described by coordinates belonging to a linear vector space. This is due to the fact that in the planar case finite rotations commute. Accordingly, using this type of generalized coordinates can be considered as canonical description of planar multibody systems. However, the extension to the three-dimensional case is not straightforward. In contrast to that, employing the elements of the direction cosine matrix as redundant coordinates makes possible a straightforward treatment of both planar and three-dimensional multibody systems. This alternative approach leads in general to differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) governing the dynamics of rigid body systems. The main purpose of the present paper is to present a comparison of the two alternative descriptions. In both cases energy-consistent time integration schemes are applied. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Structural changes of hexamethylenetetramine and undecanedioic acid co-crystal (HMT-C11) as a function of the temperatureACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 3 2003Carlos Basílio Pinheiro HMT-C11 belongs to the family of adducts formed by the co-crystallization of N4(CH2)6 molecules (hexamethylenetetramine or HMT) and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids HOOC(CH2)n, 2COOH with 5 ,n, 13 (Cn). The adducts exhibit a layered structure in which the packing between HMT and Cn is determined by strong hydrogen bonds. The compounds in this family studied so far present thermotropic structural phase transitions and, depending on the chain length, disordered, twinned and modulated phases. The structure refinement of HMT-C11 based on X-ray diffraction experiments indicates three distinct phases from the melting point down to liquid nitrogen temperature: phase I is not crystalline; phase II is disordered (stacking fault) and its average structure is described in space group Bmmb; phase III is partially disordered and its symmetry is P21/c. The systematic study of the structure evolution of phase III upon cooling revealed that the disorder has a dynamic character (anharmonicity). The main structural change observed from 293,K down to 93,K is the increase of the tilting angle of the C11 chains relative to the layer plane and the rotation of the HMT molecules. Both HMT and C11 behave like rigid bodies in the temperature range investigated. The quality of the refinements leads to a conclusive model for the O,H,N hydrogen bonds linking HMT and C11. [source] A simple procedure to approximate slip displacement of freestanding rigid body subjected to earthquake motionsEARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS, Issue 4 2007Tomoyo Taniguchi Abstract A simple calculation procedure for estimating absolute maximum slip displacement of a freestanding rigid body placed on the ground or floor of linear/nonlinear multi-storey building during an earthquake is developed. The proposed procedure uses the displacement induced by the horizontal sinusoidal acceleration to approximate the absolute maximum slip displacement, i.e. the basic slip displacement. The amplitude of this horizontal sinusoidal acceleration is identical to either the peak horizontal ground acceleration or peak horizontal floor response acceleration. Its period meets the predominant period of the horizontal acceleration employed. The effects of vertical acceleration are considered to reduce the friction force monotonously. The root mean square value of the vertical acceleration at the peak horizontal acceleration is used. A mathematical solution of the basic slip displacement is presented. Employing over one hundred accelerograms, the absolute maximum slip displacements are computed and compared with the corresponding basic slip displacements. Their discrepancies are modelled by the logarithmic normal distribution regardless of the analytical conditions. The modification factor to the basic slip displacement is quantified based on the probability of the non-exceedence of a certain threshold. Therefore, the product of the modification factor and the basic slip displacement gives the design slip displacement of the body as the maximum expected value. Since the place of the body and linear/nonlinear state of building make the modification factor slightly vary, ensuring it to suit the problem is essential to secure prediction accuracy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A fluorescence energy transfer-based mechanical stress sensor for specific proteins in situFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 12 2008Fanjie Meng To measure mechanical stress in real time, we designed a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) cassette, denoted stFRET, which could be inserted into structural protein hosts. The probe was composed of a green fluorescence protein pair, Cerulean and Venus, linked with a stable ,-helix. We measured the FRET efficiency of the free cassette protein as a function of the length of the linker, the angles of the fluorophores, temperature and urea denaturation, and protease treatment. The linking helix was stable to 80 °C, unfolded in 8 m urea, and rapidly digested by proteases, but in all cases the fluorophores were unaffected. We modified the ,-helix linker by adding and subtracting residues to vary the angles and distance between the donor and acceptor, and assuming that the cassette was a rigid body, we calculated its geometry. We tested the strain sensitivity of stFRET by linking both ends to a rubber sheet subjected to equibiaxial stretch. FRET decreased proportionally to the substrate strain. The naked cassette expressed well in human embryonic kidney-293 cells and, surprisingly, was concentrated in the nucleus. However, when the cassette was located into host proteins such ,-actinin, nonerythrocyte spectrin and filamin A, the labeled hosts expressed well and distributed normally in cell lines such as 3T3, where they were stressed at the leading edge of migrating cells and relaxed at the trailing edge. When collagen-19 was labeled near its middle with stFRET, it expressed well in Caenorhabditis elegans, distributing similarly to hosts labeled with a terminal green fluorescent protein, and the worms behaved normally. [source] Improved inter-modality image registration using normalized mutual information with coarse-binned histogramsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 6 2009Haewon Nam Abstract In this paper we extend the method of inter-modality image registration using the maximization of normalized mutual information (NMI) for the registration of [18F]-2-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) with T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) volumes. We investigate the impact on the NMI maximization with respect to using coarse-to-fine grained B-spline bases and to the number of bins required for the voxel intensity histograms of each volume. Our results demonstrate that the efficiency and accuracy of elastic, as well as rigid body, registration is improved both through the use of a reduced number of bins in the PET and MR histograms, and of a limited coarse-to-fine grain interpolation of the volume data. To determine the appropriate number of bins prior to registration, we consider the NMI between the two volumes, the mutual information content of the two volumes, as a function of the binning of each volume. Simulated data sets are used for validation and the registration improves that obtained with a standard approach based on the Statistical Parametric Mapping software. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Rigid body dynamics in terms of quaternions: Hamiltonian formulation and conserving numerical integrationINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 4 2009Peter Betsch Abstract In the present paper unit quaternions are used to describe the rotational motion of a rigid body. The unit-length constraint is enforced explicitly by means of an algebraic constraint. Correspondingly, the equations of motion assume the form of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). A new route to the derivation of the mass matrix associated with the quaternion formulation is presented. In contrast to previous works, the newly proposed approach yields a non-singular mass matrix. Consequently, the passage to the Hamiltonian framework is made possible without the need to introduce undetermined inertia terms. The Hamiltonian form of the DAEs along with the notion of a discrete derivative make possible the design of a new quaternion-based energy,momentum scheme. Two numerical examples demonstrate the performance of the newly developed method. In this connection, comparison is made with a quaternion-based variational integrator, a director-based energy,momentum scheme, and a momentum conserving scheme relying on the discretization of the classical Euler's equations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Accurate eight-node hexahedral elementINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 6 2007Magnus Fredriksson Abstract Based on the assumed strain method, an eight-node hexahedral element is proposed. Consistent choice of the fundamental element stiffness guarantees convergence and fulfillment of the patch test a priori. In conjunction with a ,-projection operator, the higher order strain field becomes orthogonal to rigid body and linear displacement fields. The higher order strain field in question is carefully selected to preserve correct rank for the element stiffness matrix, also for distorted elements. Volumetric locking is also removed effectively. By considerations of the bending energy, improved accuracy is obtained even for coarse element meshes. The choice of local co-ordinate system aligned with the principal axes of inertia makes it possible to improve the performance even for distorted elements. The strain-driven format obtained is well suited for materials with non-linear stress,strain relations. Several numerical examples are presented where the excellent performance of the proposed eight-node hexahedral is verified. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Improvement of a frictional contact algorithm for strongly curved contact problemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 14 2003M. C. Oliveira Abstract One of the challenges in contact problems is the prediction of the actual contact surface and the kind of contact that is established in each region. In numerical simulation of deep drawing problems the contact conditions change continuously during the forming process, increasing the importance of a correct evaluation of these parameters at each load step. In this work a new contact search algorithm devoted to contact between a deformable and a rigid body is presented. The rigid body is modelled by parametric Bézier surfaces, whereas the deformable body is discretized with finite elements. The numerical schemes followed rely on a frictional contact algorithm that operates directly on the parametric Bézier surfaces. The algorithm is implemented in the deep drawing implicit finite element code DD3IMP. This code uses a mechanical model that takes into account the large elastoplastic strains and rotations. The Coulomb classical law models the frictional contact problem, which is treated with an augmented Lagrangian approach. A fully implicit algorithm of Newton,Raphson type is used to solve within a single iterative loop the non-linearities related with the frictional contact problem and the elastoplastic behaviour of the deformable body. The numerical simulations presented demonstrate the performance of the contact search algorithm in an example with complex tools geometry. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A lumped mass numerical model for cellular materials deformed by impactINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2001Z. H. Tu Abstract When impacted by a relatively rigid body, cellular materials undergo severe deformation and extensive material failure. However, such behaviour may not be well described using traditional numerical approaches such as the finite element method. This paper presents a lumped mass numerical model which can accommodate high degrees of deformation and material failure. The essence of this model is to discretize a block of material into contiguous element volumes, each represented by a mass point. Interactions between a node and its neighbours are accounted for by defining ,connections' that represent their interfaces which transmit stresses. Strains at a node are calculated from the co-ordinates of the surrounding nodes; these also determine the stresses on the interfaces. The governing equations for the entire solution domain are then converted into a system of equations of motion with nodal positions as unknowns. Failure criteria and possible combinations of ,connection' breakage are incorporated to model the occurrence of damage. A practical contact algorithm is also developed to describe the contact interactions between cellular materials and rigid bodies. Simulations for normal and oblique impacts of rigid rectangular, cylindrical and wedge-tipped impactors on crushable foam blocks are presented to substantiate the validity of the model. The generally good correlation between the numerical and experimental results demonstrates that the proposed numerical approach is able to model the impact response of the crushable foam. However, some limitations in modelling crack propagation in oblique impacts by a rigid impactor on foam blocks are observed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optimal convergence properties of the FETI domain decomposition methodINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN FLUIDS, Issue 1 2007Y. Maday Abstract In this paper an original variant of the FETI domain decomposition method is introduced for heterogeneous media. This method uses new absorbing interface conditions in place of the Neumann interface conditions defined in the classical FETI method. The optimal convergence properties of the classical FETI method and of its variant are first demonstrated, both in the case of homogeneous and heterogeneous media. Secondly, novel and efficient absorbing interface conditions, which avoid rigid body motions, are investigated and analysed. Numerical experiments illustrate the dependence of the proposed method upon several parameters, and confirm the robustness and efficiency of this method when equipped with such absorbing interface conditions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Neural network-based adaptive attitude tracking control for flexible spacecraft with unknown high-frequency gainINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 6 2010Qinglei Hu Abstract Adaptive control design using neural networks (a) is investigated for attitude tracking and vibration stabilization of a flexible spacecraft, which is operated at highly nonlinear dynamic regimes. The spacecraft considered consists of a rigid body and two flexible appendages, and it is assumed that the system parameters are unknown and the truncated model of the spacecraft has finite but arbitrary dimension as well, for the purpose of design. Based on this nonlinear model, the derivation of an adaptive control law using neural networks (NNs) is treated, when the dynamics of unstructured and state-dependent nonlinear function are completely unknown. A radial basis function network that is used here for synthesizing the controller and adaptive mechanisms is derived for adjusting the parameters of the network and estimating the unknown parameters. In this derivation, the Nussbaum gain technique is also employed to relax the sign assumption for the high-frequency gain for the neural adaptive control. Moreover, systematic design procedure is developed for the synthesis of adaptive NN tracking control with L2 -gain performance. The resulting closed-loop system is proven to be globally stable by Lyapunov's theory and the effect of the external disturbances and elastic vibrations on the tracking error can be attenuated to the prescribed level by appropriately choosing the design parameters. Numerical simulations are performed to show that attitude tracking control and vibration suppression are accomplished in spite of the presence of disturbance torque/parameter uncertainty. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Flight control of a rotary wing UAV using backsteppingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 6 2010Bilal Ahmed Abstract This paper presents a novel application of backstepping controller for autonomous landing of a rotary wing UAV (RUAV). This application, which holds good for the full flight envelope control, is an extension of a backstepping algorithm for general rigid body velocity control. The nonlinear RUAV model used in this paper includes the flapping and servo dynamics. The backstepping-based controller takes advantage of the ,decoupling' of the translation and rotation dynamics of the rigid body, resulting in a two-step procedure to obtain the RUAV control inputs. The first step is to compute desired thrusts and flapping angles to achieve the commanded position and the second step is to compute control inputs, which achieve the desired thrusts and flapping angles. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the inclusion of a flapping angle correction term in control. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested using a high-fidelity RUAV simulation model. The RUAV simulation model is based on miniature rotorcraft parameters. The closed-loop response of the rotorcraft indicates that the desired position is achieved after a short transient. The Eagle RUAV control inputs, obtained using high-fidelity simulation results, clearly demonstrate that this algorithm can be implemented on practical RUAVs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Stabilization of an underactuated bottom-heavy airship via interconnection and damping assignmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 18 2007Zili Cai Abstract This paper focuses on feedback stabilization of a neutrally buoyant and bottom-heavy airship actuated by only five independent controls (with the rolling motion underactuated). The airship is modelled as an eudipleural submerged rigid body whose dynamics is formulated as a Hamiltonian system with respect to a Lie,Poisson structure. By exploiting the geometrical structure and using the so-called interconnection and damping assignment (IDA) passivity-based methodology for port-controlled Hamiltonian systems, state feedback control laws asymptotically stabilizing two typical motions are designed via La Salle invariance principle and Chetaev instability theorem. Simulation results verify the control laws. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Adaptive/robust time-varying stabilization of second-order non-holonomic chained form with input uncertaintiesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 15 2002B. L. Ma Abstract Adaptive and robust time-varying control schemes are constructed to stabilize second-order non-holonomic chained form in the presence of input uncertainties. The proposed control schemes guarantee that all the state variables converge to zero asymptotically in spite of input uncertainties, and are applied to the stabilization of a planar rigid body driven by active force and torque with unknown inertia and geometric parameters. The basic idea of the proposed stabilization schemes is to first convert the non-holonomic system into a linear time-varying form by time-varying co-ordinate transformation, and then design control laws to stabilize the converted linear time-varying system. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Parametric Rietveld refinement for the evaluation of powder diffraction patterns collected as a function of pressureJOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2010Ivan Halasz Under the assumption that the structural parameters of a crystalline phase change `smoothly' with increasing pressure, the evolution of the parameters can be parameterized as a function of pressure using continuous monotonic functions. Four different approaches to determine the structural evolution of As2O5 with increasing pressure from a set of powder diffraction patterns collected over the pressure range from 2.5 to 19.5,GPa have been investigated. Approach (A) was the common sequential refinement of atomic coordinates with restraints on the geometry and was compared with three parameterization approaches. Approach (B) used direct parameterization by low-order polynomials of each crystallographically distinct atomic coordinate, (C) described the atoms of the asymmetric unit as a rigid body and allowed the internal degrees of freedom of the rigid body to vary with the change in pressure using rigid unit modes, and (D) described the crystal structure as a distortion of the higher-symmetry structure of As2O5 (which is here also a high-temperature phase) by using symmetry-adapted distortion modes. Approach (D) offers the possibility to directly introduce an order parameter into Rietveld refinement through an empirical power law derived from Landau theory and thus to obtain the value of the critical exponent. In contrast, the rigid-body approach did not fit the data as well. All parameterizations greatly reduce the number of required parameters. [source] A precise boundary element method for macromolecular transport propertiesJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 9 2004Sergio Aragon Abstract A very precise boundary element numerical solution of the exact formulation of the hydrodynamic resistance problem with stick boundary conditions is presented. BEST, the Fortran 77 program developed for this purpose, computes the full transport tensors in the center of resistance or the center of diffusion for an arbitrarily shaped rigid body, including rotation-translation coupling. The input for this program is a triangulation of the solvent-defined surface of the molecule of interest, given by Connolly's MSROLL or other suitable triangulator. The triangulation is prepared for BEST by COALESCE, a program that allows user control over the quality and number of triangles to describe the surface. High numerical precision is assured by effectively exact integration of the Oseen tensor over triangular surface elements, and by scaling the hydrodynamic computation to the precise surface area of the molecule. Efficiency of computation is achieved by the use of public domain LAPACK routines that call BLAS Level 3 hardware-optimized subroutines available for most processors. A protein computation can be done in less than 10 min of CPU time in a modern Pentium IV processor. The present work includes a complete analysis of the sources of error in the numerical work and techniques to eliminate these errors. The operation of BEST is illustrated with applications to ellipsoids of revolution, and Lysozyme, a small protein. The typical numerical accuracy achieved is 0.05% compared to analytical theory. The numerical precision for a protein is better than 1%, much better than experimental errors in these quantities, and more than 10 times better than traditional bead-based methods. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 9: 1191,1205, 2004 [source] Gravity compensation of spatial two-DOF serial manipulatorsJOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 7 2002T. Wongratanaphisan This article presents the analysis of gravity compensation of a two-DOF serial manipulator operating in three-dimensional space by means of linear spring suspension. The physical configuration of the serial manipulator is assumed general. The analysis begins with gravity compensation of a one-DOF manipulator in order to form the basis which is then extended to a two-DOF manipulator. The approach taken in the analysis is that of conservation of potential energy. The goal is to seek the location and the stiffness of springs that provide complete compensation of gravity in the manipulator system. It has been found that complete compensation of gravity in a two-DOF serial manipulator system is possible. Unlike many previous works on spring suspension of a rigid body, which assume that one end of the suspending spring is attached to ground, it is proven in this study that, for complete compensation in a two-DOF manipulator, the spring that suspends the distal link cannot be connected to ground. Instead, it must be in certain motion relative to the proximal link. The discussion on how to provide such a motion for the spring is given. It is also explained how the problem of gravity compensation of a robot manipulator can be shifted to that of changing gravity environment within a manipulator system. The concept can be applied to simulation and testing of robot manipulators that will be sent to operate in a different gravity environment, such as space. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Active force closure for multiple objectsJOURNAL OF FIELD ROBOTICS (FORMERLY JOURNAL OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS), Issue 3 2002Kensuke Harada This article discusses active force closure (AFC) for the manipulation of multiple objects. AFC for multiple objects is defined in such a way that the finger can generate an arbitrary acceleration onto a certain point of multiple objects. We define two kinds of AFC: in the first, an arbitrary acceleration can be generated onto each of the objects; in the second, an arbitrary acceleration can be generated onto the center of mass of multiple objects without changing the relative position of the objects. We show that the grasped object cannot always be manipulated arbitrarily even if the first kind of AFC is satisfied. We also show that the grasped objects are manipulated like a single rigid body if the second kind of AFC is satisfied. To explain these features of AFCs, numerical examples for the grasp of three objects are shown. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE BASAL BODY COMPLEX AND PUTATIVE VESTIGIAL FEEDING APPARATUS IN PHACUS PLEURONECTES (EUGLENOPHYCEAE)JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 2001Article first published online: 24 SEP 200 Shin, W.1, Boo, S. M.2, & Triemer, R. E.1 1Department of Life Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA; 2Department of Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejon 305-764, Korea Phacus pleuronectes (O. F. Müller) Dujardin is a phototrophic euglenoid with small discoid chloroplasts, a flat, rigid body, and longitudinally arranged pellicular strips. The flagellar apparatus consisted of two basal bodies and three flagellar roots typical of many phototrophic euglenoids, but also had a large striated fiber that connected the two basal bodies and associated with the ventral root. The three roots, in combination with the dorsal microtubular band, extended anteriorly and formed the major cytoskeletal elements supporting the reservoir membrane and ultimately the pellicle. A cytoplasmic pocket arose in the reservoir/canal transition region. It was supported by the ventral root and a C-shaped band of electron-opaque material that lined the cytoplasmic side of the pocket. A large striated fiber extended from this C-shaped band toward the reservoir membrane. The presence of striated fibers in the basal apparatus and associated with the microtubule reinforced pocket suggested that P. pleuronectes may be at the base of the Phacus lineage and may be more closely related to the phagotrophic euglenoids than to Phacus species which are ovoid in shape and have thicker pellicle strips. [source] Free Rotational Diffusion of Rigid Particles with Arbitrary Surface Topography: A Brownian Dynamics Study Using Eulerian AnglesMACROMOLECULAR THEORY AND SIMULATIONS, Issue 2-3 2008Tom Richard Evensen Abstract Rotational diffusion of rigid bodies is an important topic that has attracted sustained interest for many decades, but most existing studies are limited to particles with simple symmetries. Here, we present a simple Brownian dynamics algorithm that can be used to study the free rotational diffusion of rigid particles with arbitrary surface topography. The main difference between the new algorithm and previous algorithms is how the numerical values of the mobility tensor are calculated. The only parameters in the numerical algorithm that depend on particle shape are the principal values of the particle rotational mobility tensor. These three scalars contain all information about the surface topography that is relevant for the particle rotational diffusion. Because these principal values only need to be pre-calculated once, the resulting general algorithm is highly efficient. The algorithm is valid for arbitrary mass density distribution throughout the rigid body. In this paper, we use Eulerian angles as the generalized coordinates describing the particle angular orientation. [source] Uniform stabilization of a one-dimensional hybrid thermo-elastic structureMATHEMATICAL METHODS IN THE APPLIED SCIENCES, Issue 14 2003Marié Grobbelaar-Van Dalsen Abstract This paper is concerned with the stabilization of a one-dimensional hybrid thermo-elastic structure consisting of an extensible thermo-elastic beam which is hinged at one end with a rigid body attached to its free end. The model takes account of the effect of stretching on bending and rotational inertia. The property of uniform stability of the energy associated with the model is asserted by constructing an appropriate Lyapunov functional for an abstract second order evolution problem. Critical use is made of a multiplier of an operator theoretic nature, which involves the fractional power A,1/2 of the bi-harmonic operator pair A acting in the abstract evolution problem. An explicit decay rate of the energy is obtained. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Generalized factorization for N×N Daniele,Khrapkov matrix functionsMATHEMATICAL METHODS IN THE APPLIED SCIENCES, Issue 13 2001M. C. Câmara Abstract A generalization to N×N of the 2×2 Daniele,Khrapkov class of matrix-valued functions is proposed. This class retains some of the features of the 2×2 Daniele,Khrapkov class, in particular, the presence of certain square-root functions in its definition. Functions of this class appear in the study of finite-dimensional integrable systems. The paper concentrates on giving the main properties of the class, using them to outline a method for the study of the Wiener,Hopf factorization of the symbols of this class. This is done through examples that are completely worked out. One of these examples corresponds to a particular case of the motion of a symmetric rigid body with a fixed point (Lagrange top). Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||