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Earthquakes represent one of the most catastrophic natural events affecting mankind. At present, a universally accepted risk mitigation strategy for seismic events remains to be proposed. Most approaches are based on vibration isolation of structures rather than on the remote shielding of incoming waves. In this work, we propose a novel approach to the problem and discuss the feasibility of a passive isolation strategy for seismic waves based on large-scale mechanical metamaterials, including for the first time numerical analysis of both surface and guided waves, soil dissipation effects, and adopting a full 3D simulations. The study focuses on realistic structures that can be effective in frequency ranges of interest for seismic waves, and optimal design criteria are provided, exploring different metamaterial configurations, combining phononic crystals and locally resonant structures and different ranges of mechanical properties. Dispersion analysis and full-scale 3D transient wave transmission simulations are carried out on finite size systems to assess the seismic wave amplitude attenuation in realistic conditions. Results reveal that both surface and bulk seismic waves can be considerably attenuated, making this strategy viable for the protection of civil structures against seismic risk. The proposed remote shielding approach could open up new perspectives in the field of seismology and in related areas of low-frequency vibration damping or blast protection.

The friction-induced vibration of a novel 5-DoF (degree-of-freedom) mass-on-oscillating-belt model considering multiple types of nonlinearities is studied. The first type of nonlinearity in the system is the nonlinear contact stiffness, the second is the non-smooth behaviour including stick, slip and separation, and the third is the geometrical nonlinearity brought about by the moving-load feature of the mass slider on the rigid belt. Both the linear stability of the system and the nonlinear steady-state responses are investigated, and rich dynamic behaviours of the system are revealed. The results of numerical study indicate the necessity of the transient dynamic analysis in the study of friction-induced-vibration problems as the linear stability analysis fails to detect the occurrence of self-excited vibration when two stable solutions coexist in the system. The bifurcation behaviour of the steady-state responses of the system versus some parameters is determined. Additionally, the significant effects of each type of nonlinearity on the linear stability and nonlinear steady-state responses of the system are discovered, which underlie the necessity to take multiple types of nonlinearities into account in the research of friction-induced vibration and noise.

According to investigation, the wheelset generally appears in a mass eccentric condition. Therefore, the finite element model of a wheelset–track system with mass eccentricity was established in this study to investigate the dynamic response characteristics based on the frictional self-excited vibration theory. The research results show that, when the frictional self-excited vibration of the wheelset–track system occurs, the unstable vibration characteristics of the wheelset–track system corresponding to different dynamic imbalance values are almost the same. That is, the magnitude of the dynamic imbalance value has little influence on the frictional self-excited vibration of the wheelset–track system. Simultaneously, from the perspective of the excitation frequency f of the wheel polygonal wear, it shows a trend of increasing frequency with an increase in the running speed. Ultimately, as the phase difference in mass eccentricity grows, pronounced instability becomes evident within the mid- to high-frequency ranges once friction-induced self-excitation arises in the wheelset–track system. This condition readily promotes high-order polygonal wear on the wheel surfaces.

During tunnel excavation using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), the interaction between the cutter and the rock causes the cutterhead to generate abrupt vibrations, which could lead to engineering problems, such as bearing seal failure and even cutterhead cracking. In this study, large-scale physical model tests with various cutter spacings were performed to study the vibration and load characteristics of the cutterhead during the rock-breaking process. Through a TBM modal comprehensive test bench, the real-time acceleration of the cutterhead was obtained using a monitoring system. The test results showed that the complete time-domain curves were stepped and periodic. When the cutterhead was stuck or rock peeled off during the excavation, the monitoring curves showed abrupt vibrations, which were mainly concentrated at 0–3 Hz and were typical low-frequency vibrations. Taking measured data as the driving parameter, the real-time mechanical characteristics of the cutterhead were determined through transient dynamic analysis. Numerical simulation results showed that the vibration trend during excavation was the superposition of random vibrations generated by rock breaking and tunneling without rock cutting. During the tunneling process, the wear of the edge cutters should be highlighted in actual construction. The related methods and results can provide an essential reference for the selection of cutterheads.

This research details the development and evaluation of a Modern Ultrasonic Cleaning Tank (MUCT) designed to enhance cleaning efficiency in jewelry manufacturing, particularly for silver jewelry, replacing the traditional method, which was less efficient and had higher operating costs. The MUCT offers capabilities of single- or dual-frequency ultrasonic operation (28 kHz and 40 kHz) and adjustable transducer positioning. An advanced method involving computer simulations, utilizing harmonic response analysis and transient dynamic analysis, was employed to determine the acoustic pressure inside the MUCT, thereby indicating the cavitation intensity required to achieve high cleaning efficiency. Simulation results confirm that this design can distribute acoustic pressure throughout the MUCT, as intended. A prototype MUCT was assembled, and its operation was validated through foil corrosion tests, ultrasonic power concentration (UPC) measurements, and jewelry cleaning tests. The results revealed that the MUCT’s center provided the maximum UPC of 28 W/L and an acoustic pressure of 30.43 MPa, effectively operating at single and dual frequencies, and achieving superior dirt removal. The highest cleaning efficiency of 100% was achieved using dual frequency with a 97% water and 3% dishwashing liquid mixture at 60 °C, exceeding the 23.52% obtained with water at 27 °C without ultrasonic treatment. The MUCT, successfully integrated into the manufacturing process, offers customizable features to meet various cleaning needs, providing flexibility, improved performance, and cost savings.

The downhole engineering parameters measurement sub is a key component of the rotary steerable drilling system. To enable a measurement sub to serve reliably under downhole complex conditions, the structural parameters optimization of its key but weak elastic cell is systematically studied. First, the multiple relations among measurement sensitivities, structural stiffnesses, and strength during structural parameters design are summarized. Second, the selection of the structural parameters of the elastic cell is characterized as a multi-objective optimization model, which is solved using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II). Furthermore, the finite element method (FEM) is used to verify the measurement performance and static strength of the proposed structure. Finally, transient dynamics analysis is applied to investigate the dynamic strength of the designed structure. The results show that the proposed parameters optimization strategy can quickly obtain the database for the structural parameters design of an elastic cell. The static analysis results based on the FEM further verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Transient dynamic analysis also reveals the relative rigor of the proposed methodology framework to some extent. This work has practical significance for improving the drilling efficiency and reducing drilling risks. In addition, this proposed methodology has good extensibility.

Large scale elastic metamaterials have recently attracted increasing interest in the scientific community for their potential as passive isolation structures for seismic waves. In particular, so-called “seismic shields” have been proposed for the protection of large areas where other isolation strategies (e.g. dampers) are not workable solutions. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of an innovative design based on hierarchical design of the unit cell, i.e. a structure with a self-similar geometry repeated at different scales. Results show how the introduction of hierarchy allows the conception of unit cells exhibiting reduced size with respect to the wavelength while maintaining the same or improved isolation efficiency at frequencies of interest for earthquake engineering. This allows to move closer to the practical realization of such seismic shields, where low-frequency operation and acceptable size are both essential characteristics for feasibility.

At present, development of manufacturer’s ultrasonic cleaning tank (UCT) to match the requirements from consumers usually relies on computer simulation based on harmonic response analysis (HRA). However, this technique can only be used with single-frequency UCT. For dual frequency, the manufacturer used information from empirical experiment alongside trial-and-error methods to develop prototypes, resulting in the UCT that may not be fully efficient. Thus, lack of such a proper calculational method to develop the dual frequency UCT was a problem that greatly impacted the manufacturers and consumers. To resolve this problem, we proposed a new model of simulation using transient dynamics analysis (TDA) which was successfully applied to develop the prototype of dual frequency UCT, 400 W, 18 L in capacity, eight horn transducers, 28 and 40 kHz frequencies for manufacturing. The TDA can indicate the acoustic pressure at all positions inside the UCT in transient states from the start to the states ready for proper cleaning. The calculation also reveals the correlation between the positions of acoustic pressure and the placement positions of transducers and frequencies. In comparison with the HRA at 28 kHz UCT, this TDA yielded the results more accurately than the HRA simulation, comparing to the experiments. Furthermore, the TDA can also be applied to the multifrequency UCTs as well. In this article, the step-by-step development of methodology was reported. Finally, this simulation can lead to the successful design of the high-performance dual frequencies UCT for the manufacturers.

With the further exploitation of offshore resources, there are more and more offshore oil and gas fields which cannot meet the production capacity requirements. So, it becomes extremely urgent to pay attention to the decommissioning of the exploitation equipment in abandoned offshore fields. A new decommissioning solution is offered by the double-ship integrated offshore platform decommissioning equipment comes. However, as the equipment will inevitably bear the combined actions of various dynamic and static loads during operation, the strength and stability of the overall unit and the connections between different modules will be greatly challenged by the complex ocean. Firstly, the dynamic characteristics of the integrated decommissioning system are analyzed in this paper. Mathematical modeling of the lifting arm system is established based on the unit characteristics matrix, and a dynamic equation of the flexible lifting arm unit and system is developed based on Lagrange’s equation and solved through numerical calculation. Secondly, modal analysis and transient analysis of the lifting arm in specific working conditions are performed according to the prototype parameters of the designed decommissioning system. Finally, according to the principle of similitude, a hydrodynamic experiment method is proposed with an integrated decommissioning multi-dimensional vibration test bench. The decommissioning system model test bench is designed and built to perform the dynamic response test, and this paper compares the test results and the simulation results for verification. The comparison verifies that the theoretical analysis and the tests prove each other valid and the results are accurate, meaning this work provides a powerful theoretical reference and offers effective research methods for future studies on super-large-scale integrated decommissioning equipment.

This paper presents a finite element formulation for transient dynamic analysis of sandwich beams with embedded viscoelastic material using fractional derivative constitutive equations. The sandwich configuration is composed of a viscoelastic core (based on Timoshenko theory) sandwiched between elastic faces (based on Euler–Bernoulli assumptions). The viscoelastic model used to describe the behavior of the core is a four-parameter fractional derivative model. Concerning the parameter identification, a strategy to estimate the fractional order of the time derivative and the relaxation time is outlined. Curve-fitting aspects are focused, showing a good agreement with experimental data. In order to implement the viscoelastic model into the finite element formulation, the Grünwald definition of the fractional operator is employed. To solve the equation of motion, a direct time integration method based on the implicit Newmark scheme is used. One of the particularities of the proposed algorithm lies in the storage of displacement history only, reducing considerably the numerical efforts related to the non-locality of fractional operators. After validations, numerical applications are presented in order to analyze truncation effects (fading memory phenomena) and solution convergence aspects.