• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.423-435
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• 2008

This paper employs the reproducing kernel (RK) approximation for evaluation of field theory-based incompatibility tensor in a polycrystalline plasticity simulation. The modulation patterns, which is interpreted as mimicking geometrical-type dislocation substructures, are obtained based on the proposed method. Comparisons are made using FEM and RK based approximation methods among different support sizes and other evaluation conditions of the strain gradients. It is demonstrated that the evolution of the modulation patterns needs to be accurately calculated at each time step to yield a correct physical interpretation. The effect of the higher order strain derivative processing zone on the predicted modulation patterns is also discussed.

• Multiscale and Multiphysics Mechanics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.143-156
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures require advanced analysis techniques for better estimation of their seismic responses, especially in the case of exhibiting complex three-dimensional coupling of torsional and flexural behaviors. This study focuses on validating a numerical approach for evaluating the seismic response of a three-dimensional unsymmetrical RC structure through the participation in the SMART 2013 international benchmark program. The benchmark program provides material properties, detailed drawings of the RC structure, and input ground motions for the seismic response evaluation. In this study, nonlinear constitutive models of concrete and rebar were formed and local tests were conducted to verify the constitutive models in finite element analysis. Elastic calibration of the finite element model of the SMART 2013 RC structure was performed by comparing numerical and experimental results in modal and linear time history analyses. Using the calibrated model, nonlinear earthquake analysis and seismic fragility analysis were performed to estimate the behavior and vulnerability of the RC structure with various ground motions.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.339-356
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• 2013

This paper investigates the optimized parameters of Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) for vibration control of high-rise structures including Soil Structure Interaction (SSI). The Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) method is employed for optimization. The TMD Mass, damping coefficient and spring stiffness are assumed as the design variables of the controller; and the objective is set as the reduction of both the maximum displacement and acceleration of the building. The time domain analysis based on Newmark method is employed to obtain the displacement, velocity and acceleration of different stories and TMD in response to 6 types of far field earthquakes. The optimized mass, frequency and damping ratio are then formulated for different soil types; and employed for the design of TMD for the 40 and 15 story buildings and 10 different earthquakes, and well results are achieved. This study leads the researchers to the better understanding and designing of TMDs as passive controllers for the mitigation of earthquake oscillations.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.203-214
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• 2017

In this study we present the reaction mechanism of $Cu_2ZnSnSe_4$ (CZTSe) nanoparticles synthesized by microwave-assisted chemical synthesis. We performed reactions every 10 minutes in order to identify different phases during quaternary CZTSe formation. The powder samples were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that in the first minutes copper phases are predominant, then copper and tin secondary phases react to form ternary phase. The quaternary phase is formed at 50 minutes while ternary and secondary phases are consumed. At 60 minutes pure quaternary CZTSe phase is present. After 60 minutes the quaternary phase decomposes in the previous ternary and secondary phases, which indicates that 60 minutes is ideal reaction time. The EDS analysis of pure quaternary nanocrystals (CZTSe) showed stoichiometric relations similar to the reported research in the literature, which falls in the range of Cu/(Zn+Sn): 0.8-1.0, Zn/Sn: 1.0-1.20. In conclusion, the evolution pathway of CZTSe synthesized by this novel method is similar to other synthesis methods reported before. Nanoparticles synthesized in this study present desirable properties in order to use them in solar cell and photoelectrochemical cell applications.

• Ceramist
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.402-416
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• 2019

The development of next-generation secondary batteries, including lithium-ion batteries (LIB), requires performance enhancements such as high energy/high power density, low cost, long life, and excellent safety. The discovery of new materials with such requirements is a challenging and time-consuming process with great difficulty. To pursue this challenging endeavor, it is pivotal to understand the structure and interface of electrode materials in a multiscale level at the atomic, molecular, macro-scale during charging / discharging. In this regard, various advanced material characterization tools, including the first-principle calculation, high-resolution electron microscopy, and synchrotron-based X-ray techniques, have been actively employed to understand the charge storage- and degradation-mechanisms of various electrode materials. In this article, we introduce and review recent advances in in-situ synchrotron-based x-ray techniques to study electrode materials for LIBs during thermal degradation and charging/discharging. We show that the fundamental understanding of the structure and interface of the battery materials gained through these advanced in-situ investigations provides valuable insight into designing next-generation electrode materials with significantly improved performance in terms of high energy/high power density, low cost, long life, and excellent safety.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2009

While the classical theory of Griffith is the foundation of modern understanding of brittle fracture, it has a number of significant shortcomings: Griffith theory does not predict crack initiation and path and it suffers from the presence of unphysical stress singularities. In 1998, Francfort and Marigo presented an energy functional minimization method, where the crack (or its absence) as well as its path are part of the problem's solution. The energy functionals act on spaces of functions of bounded variations, where the cracks are related to the discontinuity sets of such functions. The new model presented here uses modified energy functionals to account for molecular interactions in the vicinity of crack tips, resulting in Barenblatt cohesive forces, such that the model becomes free of stress singularities. This is done in a physically consistent way using recently published concepts of Sinclair. Here, for the consistency of the model, it becomes necessary to allow for crack reversibility and to consider local minimizers of the energy functionals. The latter is achieved by introducing different time scales. The model is solved in its global as well as in its local version for a simple one-dimensional example, showing that local minimization is necessary to yield a physically reasonable result.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.395-402
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• 2006

In analyzing the nano-scale phenomena or behaviors of nano devices or materials, it is often desirable to deal with more atoms than can be treated only with a full atomistic simulation. However, even now, it is advisable to apply the atomistic simulation to the narrow region where the deformation field changes rapidly but to apply the conventional continuum model to the region far from that region. This equivalent continuum model can be formulated by applying the Cauchy-Born rule to the exact atomistic potential as in the quasicontinuum method. To couple the atomistic model with the equivalent continuum model, continuum displacements are conformed to the molecular displacements at the discrete positions of the atoms within the bridging domain. To satisfy the coupling constraints, we apply the Lagrange multiplier method. The continuum model in the bridging model should be applied on the region where the deformation field changes gradually. Then we can make the nodal spacing in the continuum model be much larger than the atomic spacing. In the first step, we generate the atomic-resolution mesh with the nodal spacing equal to the atomic spacing, and then we eliminate the nodal degrees of freedom adaptively using the node deactivation techniques. We eliminate more DOFs as the regions are more far from the atomistic region. Computing time and computational resources can be greatly reduced by the present node deactivation technique in multi scale analysis.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.369-379
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• 2008

A combined stochastic diffusion and mean-field model is developed for a systematic study of the grain growth in a pure single-phase polycrystalline material. A corresponding Fokker-Planck continuity equation is formulated, and the interplay/competition of stochastic and curvature-driven mechanisms is investigated. Finite difference results show that the stochastic diffusion coefficient has a strong effect on the growth of small grains in the early stage in both two-dimensional columnar and three-dimensional grain systems, and the corresponding growth exponents are ~0.33 and ~0.25, respectively. With the increase in grain size, the deterministic curvature-driven mechanism becomes dominant and the growth exponent is close to 0.5. The transition ranges between these two mechanisms are about 2-26 and 2-15 nm with boundary energy of 0.01-1 J $m^{-2}$ in two- and three-dimensional systems, respectively. The grain size distribution of a three-dimensional system changes dramatically with increasing time, while it changes a little in a two-dimensional system. The grain size distribution from the combined model is consistent with experimental data available.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.211-228
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• 2012

This paper reports the development of a generalized inverse analysis formulation for the parameter estimation of four-parameter Burger model. The analysis is carried out by formulating the problem as a mathematical programming formulation in terms of identification of the design vector, the objective function and the design constraints. Thereafter, the formulated constrained nonlinear multivariable problem is solved with the aid of fmincon: an in-built constrained optimization solver module available in MatLab. In order to gain experience, a synthetic case-study is considered wherein key issues such as the determination and setting up of variable bounds, global optimality of the solution and minimum number of data-points required for prediction of parameters is addressed. The results reveal that the developed technique is quite efficient in predicting the model parameters. The best result is obtained when the design variables are subjected to a lower bound without any upper bound. Global optimality of the solution is achieved using the developed technique. A minimum of 4-5 randomly selected data-points are required to achieve the optimal solution. The above technique has also been adopted for real-time settlement of four oil refineries with encouraging results.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.768-774
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• 2010

Reconstruction of implicit surfaces from scattered point data sets have been developed in various engineering and scientific studies. In this paper, we represent a method to construct functions of 2D point data using multi-scale kernels and show it can be applied to graphics applications needed to access data in real-time. Our approach is similar to previous work in that a set of coefficients of the functions are calculated and stored in the preprocessing stage and function values at arbitrary positions are evaluated for real-time applications, however, it is different from others in that users can choose detail levels freely in real-time processing stage. The reason why the functions implicitly supports multi-resolution results from the mathematical properties of multi-scale kernels, and proposed method can be expanded to represent multi-resolution functions of n-dimensional data.