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Although structural intensity was introduced in the 80's, this concept never found practical applications, neither for numerical nor experimental approaches. Quickly, it has been pointed out that only the irrotational component of the intensity offers an easy interpretation of the dynamic behavior of structures by visualizing the vibration energy flow. This is especially valuable at mid and high frequency where the structure response understanding can be challenging. A new methodolodgy is proposed in order to extract this irrotational intensity field from the Finite Element Model of assembled structures such as Bodies In White. This methodology is hybrid in the sense that it employs two distinct solvers: a dynamic solver to compute the structural dynamic response and a thermal solver to address a diffusion equation analogous to the thermal conduction built from the previous dynamic response.

Water management in PEMFC power generation systems is a key point to guarantee optimal performances and durability. It is known that a poor water management has a direct impact on PEMFC voltage, both in drying and flooding conditions: furthermore, water management entails phenomena from micro-scale, i.e., formation and water transport within membrane, to meso-scale, i.e., water capillary transport inside the GDL, up to the macro-scale, i.e., water droplet formation and removal from the GFC. Water transport mechanisms through the membrane are well known in literature, but typically a high computational burden is requested for their proper simulation. To deal with this issue, the authors have developed an analytical model for the water membrane content simulation as function of stack temperature and current density, for fast on-board monitoring and control purposes, with good fit with literature data.

Thermo-mechanical fatigue and natural aging due to environmental conditions are difficult to simulate in an actual test with the advanced fiber-reinforced composites, where their fatigue and aging behavior is little understood. Predictive modeling of these processes is challenging. Thermal cyclic tests take a prohibitively long time, although the strain rate effect can be scaled well for accelerating the mechanical stress cycles. Glass fabric composites have important applications in aircraft and spacecraft structures including microwave transparent structures, impact-resistant parts of wing, fuselage deck and many other load bearing structures. Often additional additively manufactured features and coating on glass fabric composites are employed for thermal and anti-corrosion insulations. In this paper we employ a thermo-mechanical fatigue model based accelerated fatigue test and life prediction under hot to cold cycles.

In applications demanding high performance under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature, a range of Mechanically Attached Fittings (MAFs) is offered by various Multinational Corporations (MNCs). These engineered fittings have been innovatively designed to meet the rigorous requirements of the aerospace industry, offering a cost-effective and lightweight alternative to traditional methods such as brazing, welding, or other mechanically attached tube joints. One prominent method employed for attaching these fittings to tubing is through Internal Swaging, a mechanical technique. This process involves the outward formation of rigid tubing into grooves within the fitting. One of the methods with which this intricate operation is achieved is by using a drawbolt - expander assembly within an elastomeric swaging machine.

Abstract: Hydraulic systems in aircrafts largely comprise of metallic components with high strength to weight ratios which comprise of 2024 Aluminum and Titanium Ti-6AL-4V. The selection of material is based on low and high pressure applications respectively. For aircraft fluid conveyance products, hydraulic conduits are fabricated by axisymmetric turning to support flow conditions. The hydraulic conduits further carries groves within for placement of elastomeric sealing components. This article presents a systematic study carried out on common loads experienced by fluid carrying conduits and the failure modes induced. The critical failure locations on fluid carrying conduits of 2024-T351 Aluminum was identified, and the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis was carried out to identify the characteristic footprints of failure surfaces and crack initiation. Through this analysis, a load to failure mode correlation is established.

Aerospace structural components grapple with the pressing issue of high-cycle fatigue-induced micro-crack initiation, especially in high-performance alloys like Titanium and super alloys. These materials find critical use in aero-engine components, facing a challenging combination of thermo-mechanical loads and vibrations that lead to gradual dislocations and plastic strain accumulation around stress-concentrated areas. The consequential vibration or overload instances can trigger minor cracks from these plastic zones, often expanding unpredictably before detection during subsequent inspections, posing substantial risks. Effectively addressing this challenge demands the capability to anticipate the consequences of operational life and aging on these components. It necessitates assessing the likelihood of crack initiation due to observed in-flight vibration or overload events.

For intelligent vehicles, a robust perception system relies on training datasets with a large variety of scenes. The architecture of federated learning allows for efficient collaborative model iteration while ensuring privacy and security by leveraging data from multiple parties. However, the local data from different participants is often not independent and identically distributed, significantly affecting the training effectiveness of autonomous driving perception models in the context of federated learning. Unlike the well-studied issues of label distribution discrepancies in previous work, we focus on the challenges posed by scene heterogeneity in the context of federated learning for intelligent vehicles and the inadequacy of a single scene for training multi-task perception models. In this paper, we propose a federated learning-based perception model training system.

Fracture characterization of automotive metals under simple shear deformation is critical for the calibration of advanced fracture models employed in forming and crash simulations. In-plane shear fracture tests of high ductility materials have proved challenging since the sample edge fails first in uniaxial tension before the fracture limit in shear is reached at the center of the gage region. Although through-thickness machining is undesirable, it appears required to promote higher strains within the shear zone. The present study seeks to adapt existing in-plane shear geometries, which have otherwise been successful for many automotive materials, to have a local shear zone with a reduced thickness. It is demonstrated that a novel shear zone with a pocket resembling a “peanut” can promote shear fracture within the shear zone while reducing the risk for edge fracture. An emphasis was placed upon machinability and surface quality for the design of the pocket in the shear zone.

Multiple hybrid bead designs were investigated in this study to control the springback on DP780 samples using post-stretching technique. The performance of the four different hybrid bead designs was evaluated by measuring the minimum blank-lock tonnage required to control the springback during a U-channel stamping process. A finite element (FE) model of the U-channel stamping process was developed to simulate the process and predict the minimum blank-lock tonnage required for springback control using each of the hybrid bead designs. It is shown that the developed FE model predicts both the required minimum blank-lock tonnage for post-stretching, and the springback profile, with good accuracy.

During the vehicle lifecycle, customers are able to directly perceive the outer panel stiffness of vehicles in various environmental conditions. The outer panel stiffness is an important factor for customers to perceive the robustness of the vehicle. In the real test of outer panel stiffness after prototype production, evaluators manually press the outer panel in advance to identify vulnerable areas to be tested and evaluate the performance only in those area. However, when developing the outer panel stiffness performance using FEA (Finite Element Analysis) before releasing the drawing, it is not possible to filter out these areas, so the entire outer panel must be evaluated. This requires a significant amount of computing resources and manpower. In this study, an approach utilizing artificial intelligence was proposed to streamline the outer panel stiffness analysis and improve development reliability.

Multiple experimental studies were performed on galling intiation for variety of tooling materials, coatings and surface treatments, sheet materials with various surface textures and lubrication. Majority of studies were performed for small number of samples in laboratory conditions. In this paper, the methodology of screening experiment using different combinations of tooling configurations and sheet material in the lab followed by the high volume small scale U-bend performed in the progressive die on the mechanical press is discussed. The experimental study was performed to understand the effect of the interface between the sheet metal and the die surface on sheet metal flow during stamping operations. Aluminum sheet AA5754 2.5mm thick was used in this experimentation. The sheet was tested in laboratory conditions by pulling between two flat insert with controllable clamping force and through the drawbead system with variable radii of the female bead.

Roller offsetting is an incremental forming technique used to generate offset stiffening or mating features in sheet metal parts. Compared to die forming, roller offsetting utilizes generic tooling to create versatile designs at a relatively lower forming speed, making it well-suited for low volume productions in automotive and other industries. However, more significant distortion can be generated from roller offset forming process resulting from springback after forming. In this work, we use particle swarm optimization to identify the tool path and resulting feature geometry that minimizes distortion. In our approach, time-dependent finite element simulations are adopted to predict the distortion of each candidate tool path using a quarter symmetry model of the part. A multi-objective fitness function is used to both minimize the distortion measure while constraining the minimal radius of curvature in the tool path.

Off-roading is the scenario of driving a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, rocks, and other natural terrain. Vehicle designed for that purpose requires jumping from height due to uneven surfaces/patches. This also requires them to sustain a high amount of loads acting upon them on impact. Thus, off-roading vehicles should not only provide intended vehicle dynamics performance but at the same time should be durable as well. Drop test which is done in a controlled environment is a widely used method to validate the durability of vehicle in such scenarios wherein the vehicle is dropped from a certain predefined height. In Multibody dynamics simulation, drop test was replicated and acceleration data computed at different locations in the vehicle were correlated with actual physical test data. Correlation was done for different drop heights. This paper presents relevant details of the virtual vehicle modeling, loadcase, test data & subsequent correlation.

Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs), produced through injection molding, are increasingly preferred over steel in automotive applications due to their lightweight, moldability, and excellent physical properties. However, the expanding use of FRPs presents a critical challenge: deformation stability. The occurrence of warping significantly compromises the initial product quality due to challenges in part mounting and interference with surrounding parts. Consequently, mitigating warpage in FRP-based injection parts is paramount for achieving high-quality parts. In this study, we present a holistic approach to address warpage in injection-molded parts using FRP. We employed a systematic Design of Experiments (DOE) methodology to optimize materials, processes, and equipment, with a focus on reducing warpage, particularly for the exterior part. First, we optimized material using a mixture design in DOE, emphasizing reinforcements favorable for warpage mitigation.

Soft magnetic cores of electric motors and generators are normally manufactured by stamping individual circular laminates from non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) sheets and stacking them layer by layer to reach the required height. The traditional lamination method can only achieve the average performance of the NOES since the magnetization is in all the directions of the sheet plane. Although NOES is ideal to have isotropic magnetic properties in all the directions of the sheet plane, commercially available electrical steel sheets always show apparent anisotropy in the rotating magnetization directions lying in the sheet plane. The anisotropy in magnetic properties not only causes fluctuations in the rotating magnetic field, but also leads to oscillations in electromagnetic torque, and thus needs to be minimized.

Certain sports utility vehicles (SUVs) utilize dual latches and gas struts in their hood design. This is primarily driven by the larger size of the hood and specific architectural requirements. These hoods can be securely latched either by a dynamic single stroke closing method or by quasistatic two stroke closing method. In dynamic method, the hood is closed with a single, high-velocity motion for the final primary latching, whereas in quasistatic method, force is initially applied for the secondary latching and then for the final primary latching. In this study, both the dynamic and quasistatic closing methods are compared in terms of closing force and velocity and hood over travel distance. A load cell is used for measuring the closing force, velocity meter is used for velocity measurement and a rope sensor is used for measuring the hood over travel distance.

Due to the expense and time commitment associated with extensive product testing, vehicle manufacturers are developing new simulation techniques to verify vehicle component performance with less testing and more confidence in the final product. Battery lifetime is of particular difficulty to predict, since each battery is different and there are many different control scenarios that could be implemented based on the specific requirements of each battery type. In order to solve this problem for a 12V auxiliary lead-acid battery, a battery durability analysis model has been previously adapted from lithium-ion applications, which is capable of verifying the impact of lead-acid battery durability in a short period of time. In this study, calibration tools for this model were developed and are presented here, and durability analysis and verification are performed for the application of new electric vehicles.

The flight mechanisms of birds have long inspired efforts to develop bioinspired aerial vehicles. This study presents a computational framework to analyze a flapping mechanism's structural behavior and performance based on the Scotch yoke principle. A three-dimensional CAD model is developed and meshed for finite element analysis in ANSYS. Structural steel is chosen as the material. Static analysis is performed under simulated flapping loads to predict deformation, stresses, fatigue life, and failure points. Preliminary results identify regions of high-stress concentration requiring optimization. Topology optimization is conducted to determine an optimal material layout within defined constraints. Additional shape and compliance optimizations are employed. Comparison of initial and optimized designs significantly reduces maximum deformation and stresses throughout the structure. Fatigue life and safety factors are markedly improved.

Rubber isolators are widely used under random vibrations. In order to predict their fatigue life, a study on the fatigue analysis methodology for rubber isolators is carried out in this paper. Firstly, taking a mount used for isolating air conditioning compressor vibrations as studying example, accelerations versus time of rubber isolator at both sides are acquired for a car under different running conditions. The acceleration in time domain is transformed to frequency domain using the Fourier transform, and the acceleration power spectral density (PSD) is the obtained. Using the PSD as input, fatigue test is carried for the rubber isolator in different temperature and constant humidity conditions. A finite element model of the rubber isolator using ABAQUS is established for estimating fatigue life, and model validity is verified through static characteristic testing. Dynamic responses of the rubber isolator at frequency domain are calculated if a unit load is applied.

Vibration from a mechanical system not only produces unwanted noises annoying to people around, but also runs a risk of fatigue failure that would actually hinder its functionality. There are several forms of vibration depending on the sources of excitation forms. Mechanical systems with rotating components can be subjected to sinusoidal excitation due to the fact the center of mass is not perfectly aligned with the rotating axis. If the rotating speed is strictly ramping up or ramping down, this can create an excitation whose frequency is changing with time in a frequency range corresponding to the speeds swept. Compared with a single sinusoidal excitation, the issue with fatigue at swept sinusoidal excitation, is that as it sweeps through a wide frequency range, some swept frequencies will definitely coincide with the natural frequencies of the system. Certainly, the stress response exactly at the resonant frequency becomes the highest and could account for a lot of fatigue damage.