Due to complex structure of aortic valve (AV) leaflets and its strong interaction with the blood flow field, realistic and accurate modeling of the valve deformations comes with many challenges. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of AV material properties on the valve deformations, by implementing different non-linear properties of the AV leaflets in three different material models. In the computations, we captured the dynamics between the leaflet deformations and blood flow field variations by using an iterative implicit fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach. By comparison of the FSI simulation results of these three models, the effects of hyperelasticity and anisotropy on the valve deformations have been studied in detail. The simulation results reveal the fact that the material characteristics strongly affect the deformation characteristics of the leaflets in the systolic phase. The material anisotropy stabilizes the leaflet movements during the systolic phase, which helps decreasing the flutters of the leaflets during the peak jet blood flow. Similarly, it has been observed that the hyperelastic behavior yields an increase in the valve opening area during systolic phase which prevents the risk of excessive work of the heart due to high pressure difference. Furthermore, simulation results indicate that the stress levels in hyperelastic model are much lower, compared to the stress levels in linear elastic one. This suggests that the non-linear material character of the leaflets decreases the risk of calcification.

Despite its well-reported application in a few welding processes, the use of reinforcing powders in weld joints to improve weld integrity has not garnered ample research attention for Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process. In this study, the adoption of Titanium alloy powders as metallic reinforcement for mild steel butt welds was investigated. By adopting Taguchi’s L4 orthogonal array, process optimisation for titanium-reinforced mild steel butt welds were first carried out. In the second phase of welding, the optimum parameters were used to create and compare two sets of weldments; one set was reinforced with titanium alloy powder and the other set left unreinforced. It was observed that in the Weld Metal (WM) region, the titanium-reinforced samples had higher micro-hardness values than their unreinforced counterparts with an average of 285.62 HV and 211.6 HV respectively. However, there was no substantial improvement in the ultimate tensile strength of the mild steel butt welds due to titanium powder reinforcements. Interestingly, the formation of acicular ferrite microstructure was more prevalent in the titanium-reinforced weldments and this was attributed to the presence of titanium inclusions in the weld metal. This prevalence of acicular ferrite suggests improved toughness properties in the weld joint region. While the higher hardness values in the Weld Metal of the reinforced sample indicates improved wear resistance.

This paper focuses on modelling inelasticity of additively manufactured polylactide (PLA) thermoplastic using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) printing technology. The material response of PLA is viscoplastic and temperature-dependent, as is typically seen for thermoplastics. The inelastic deformation of printed PLA undergoes initial yielding, strain softening, and subsequent failure. The Three-Network (TN) constitutive model was employed in this work, which captures experimentally observed material response and consists of three molecular equilibrium and time-dependent viscous networks that act in parallel. The parameter identification was performed in accordance with experimental data from uniaxial testing and a validation experiment was carried out by loading plate with a hole and measuring its strain distribution using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method, which was compared with the predictions from Finite Element Analysis (FEA).

The study of the stress state and power parameters when pulling workpieces in a special die with an inclined working surface at various shapes of the plastic deformation zone and geometric parameters of the special die was conducted. The distinctive feature of the proposed special die and the metal treatment process in the working channel of this die was described. The theoretical provisions and assumptions from the fundamental theory of plasticity and metal forming were used. The influence of the intensity of shear deformations on the stress state and force at the angles of inclination of the working surface of the die within 45–20°, the value of the ratio of the diameter of the workpiece to the length of the inclined surface d/z=1.5–2.0 was investigated. The optimal d/z ratio was determined by the method to a rigid punch indenting a rigid-plastic half-space, as well as by the method of strain energy. The field of slip lines and hodographs of velocities for various shapes of the deformation zone and geometric parameters of a special die were constructed. Based on the constructed slip line fields and velocity hodographs, the mean stress and stress components at the nodal points of the slip line field with the compilation of the equilibrium equations for all forces applied to the plastic zone were calculated. The study of the influence of contact friction between the working surface of the die channel and the workpiece on the stress state and power parameters during pulling was carried out. It was revealed that the optimal ratio d/z=1.5 and the optimal angle of inclination of the working channel of the die α=20°. It was found that for these parameters in the zone of plastic deformation, mainly significant compressive stresses act, which favorably affect the obtaining of a homogeneous and refined microstructure, and also exclude the appearance of anisotropy due to the implementation of maximum shear deformations in the workpiece.

In this research, crash test results from CNG locating method optimization approach for crashworthiness and testing its safety are presented. The locating process is based on principal energy considerations inspired from the current design process in passenger vehicle design development. The potential of the vehicle concept to absorb kinetic energy can be estimated at the very beginning of the design process by the free crash lengths in the different areas of the vehicle and estimates of average forces required in the specific segment and parts of the car body at particular crash phases. Based on the basic principle of vehicle crash analysis using the finite element method, a passenger VAN finite element model was selected to simulate the front and side rear collision test of the VAN, therefore the LS-DYNA software is adopted to calculate the deformation of the car and the acceleration time history curves during the crashing process; the anti-impact capability of the vehicle is evaluated from this simulation. It is important to determine appropriate force distributions and the corresponding loads paths through the whole structure for all relevant crash load in dedicated crash test cases. The results demonstrate that the improvement of local structure and location for the required CNG tanks in safe locations in vehicle chassis can promote the crashworthiness of the car, but the further improvement needs a major change of the vehicle structure. The outcomes are interpreted by using LS-PREPOST to analyze the energy absorption characteristics during crash for different cases at a velocity of 50km/h the duration of 12ms. The result analysis was necessary to derive distinct deformation phases characteristic and following that, the essential crash elements are compared with and without CNG tanks installation in each crash case. At last, the conclusion determines the proposed tank locating model in the selected passenger VAN is within the safe range of crash analysis standards.

This study applied the Constructal Design Method (CDM) associated with the Finite Element Method (FEM) through computational models to perform a geometric analysis on rectangular stiffened plates of steel subjected to a uniform transverse loading, in order to minimize its maximum and central out-of-plane deflections. Considering a non-stiffened plate as reference and maintaining the total volume of steel constant, a portion of material volume deducted from its thickness was transformed into stiffeners through the ϕ parameter, which represents the ratio between the material volume of the stiffeners and the reference plate. Adopting ϕ = 0.30, 27 geometric arrangements of stiffened plates were established, being 9 arrangements for each 3 different stiffeners' thicknesses adopted: t_s = 6.35 mm, t_s = 12.70 mm and t_s = 25.40 mm. For each ts value, the number of longitudinal (N_ls) and transverse (N_ts) stiffeners were varied from 2 to 4. Thus, in each plate arrangement configured, the influence of the ratio between the height of the transverse and longitudinal stiffeners (h_ts/h_ls) was analyzed, taking into account the values 0.50; 0.75; 1.00; 1.25; 1.50; 1.75 and 2.00, regarding to the maximum and central deflections. The results have shown that transforming a portion of steel from a non-stiffened reference plate into stiffeners can reduce the maximum and central deflections by more than 90%. Moreover, it was observed that to reduce the deflections it is more effective consider h_ts > h_ls, once the ratio hts/h_ls = 2.00 was the one that led to the better mechanical behavior among the analyzed cases.

This study presents a finite element approach of a numerical model to investigate the profile of the deformed sprayed particles and the compressive residual stresses analysis at the interfacial zone of particle and substrate impact using cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS). The Lagrangian approach was used to analyze, in details, the material deformation behavior during impact, contact problems of single-particle impact process and the outputs of equivalent plastic strain and temperature to achieve a qualitative understanding of cold gas dynamic spray contact process of cold sprayed particle on the substrate. The evolution of residual compressive stresses during impact was also analyzed for multiple-particles impact process using the Lagrangian approach. It can be observed that the compressive residual stresses increase by increasing the preheating temperature and particle initial impact velocity.

In this paper, free vibrations of the tapered shear deformable column are studied. The column is clamped at the bottom and is free or hinged or clamped at the top. The column has a tapered cross-section, square and circular, under the condition of constant volume. The axial compressive load is acted to the top. The differential equations of such column were derived, in which the effects of the rotary inertia and shear deformation were included. For computing natural frequencies with mode shapes, the differential equations were solved numerically. The effects of column parameters of the frequencies and mode shapes were performed, and its results were extensively discussed.

This work focusses on the crack growth behaviour of the compact tension specimen under mixed-mode loading, and numerical investigation using ANSYS Mechanical APDL 19.2 extended finite element software with different loading angles. The fatigue life is predicted under constant amplitude fatigue loading using the Paris’ law. The predicted values of the fatigue life in the present study provide consistency with the experimental and numerical results. In addition, the study showed that the direction of crack growth follows the same literature trend of experimental results. According to the results of the crack growth path, there is no effect of changing the geometries thicknesses on the crack growth trajectory. Its only effect is the resistance to higher plastic deformation which decreases as the thickness increases.

This work is a contribution to the study of the rigidity of rotational friction welding of cylindrical specimens made on a parallel lathe. We performed welding of three combinations of parts: steel / steel, aluminium / aluminium and steel / aluminium according to three numbers of rotations of the spindle (900, 1250 and 1800 rpm). To control the rigidity and quality of these assemblies, tensile tests are used followed by ultrasonic testing to ensure that the tips are welded and that there are no internal defects. Hardness profile of the welded zone according to the welding parameters was obtained. Metallographic observations have detected the profile of the various zones welded and affected thermally. The results of the mechanical tests showed that a rotation speed of 1250 rpm can produce a very good weld, with other parameters kept constant.