Narrow Results

This paper introduces a novel numerical method for investigating the dynamic stability of a flutter panel exposed to a supersonic gas flow and a fluctuating axial excitation force. Initially, the system equation of motion was derived using Lagrange’s equation, where the first two modes are coupled Mathieu–Hill equations with damping, constituting a system of linear second-order differential equations with periodically variable coefficients. Subsequently, a new numerical method was proposed to analyze the dynamic stability of coupled Mathieu–Hill equations with damping. This method involves breaking down an arbitrary parametric load into discrete segments to approximate the variable excitation function using a step function. The system responses of each segment are then accumulated in matrix form. The proposed numerical method proves particularly effective for dynamic systems whose parameters cannot be treated as small. In practical application, the method allows the construction of instability regions corresponding to natural frequencies, subharmonics, and combination frequencies. Dynamic stability diagrams were generated based on dynamic pressure ratio, air/panel density ratio, Mach number, panel thickness—length ratio, and excitation frequency. The results demonstrated general agreement with those obtained through Hsu’s perturbation method, however, our numerical results have proven more accurate. The paper concludes by offering suggestions for suppressing panel flutter through appropriate parameter combinations.

The impact of information improvement on local stability is examined for continuous dynamics. It is conventionally believed that removal of uncertainty always brings additional stability to an existing equilibrium. This paper shows that the relation between information and equilibrium stability may not be monotonic. Removal of information lag may sometimes destabilize the otherwise stable continuous model. Economic applications to Cournot and Bertrand competition are examined where the role of improved information on stability is shown to be cost-structure specific. Elimination of lags may cause stability loss. The conclusion drawn on two-dimensional continuous dynamics is briefly generalized to multidimensional system.

With the development of high temperature superconducting (HTS) maglev, studies on the running stability have become more and more significant to ensure the operation safety. An experimental HTS maglev vehicle was tested on a 45-m long ring test line under the speed from 4 km/h to 20 km/h. The lateral and vertical acceleration signals of each cryostat were collected by tri-axis accelerometers in real time. By analyzing the phase relationship of acceleration signals on the four cryostats, several typical motion modes of the HTS maglev vehicle, including lateral, yaw, pitch and heave motions were observed. This experimental finding is important for the next improvement of the HTS maglev system.

This paper presents a systematic process for designing a damping controller for pulse width modulated series compensator (PWMSC) to improve the angular stability of a multi-machine power system. The proposed controller is robust and tuned by satisfying the multiple H_∞ performance criteria to stabilize the system at multiple operating conditions. The design problem has been converted into a constrained nonlinear optimization problem with the time domain-based objective function which is solved by an augmented Lagrangian particle swarm optimization (ALPSO) algorithm. The proposed control scheme has been implemented on two nonlinear test systems. The nonlinear simulation results clearly verify that the designed controller with proposed model improves the dynamic stability of the case studies, particularly when the operating loadings changes.

In this paper, we study the concept of Evolutionarily Stable Strategies (ESSs) for symmetric games with $n\ge 3$ players. The main properties of these games and strategies are analyzed and several examples are provided. We relate the concept of ESS with previous literature and provide a proof of finiteness of ESS in the context of symmetric games with $n\ge 3$ players. We show that unlike the case of $n=2$, when there are more than two populations an ESS does not have a uniform invasion barrier, or equivalently, it is not equivalent to the strategy performing better against all strategies in a neighborhood. We also construct the extended replicator dynamics for these games and we study an application to a model of strategic planning of investment.

The present paper is concerned with the vibration, buckling and dynamic instability behavior of laminated composite, cross-ply, doubly-curved panels with a central circular hole subjected to in-plane static and periodic compressive loads. A generalized shear deformable Sanders' theory is used to model the curved panels, considering the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. Bolotin's approach is used for studying the dynamic instability regions of doubly-curved panels. The effects of non-uniform edge loads, curvature with different cutout ratios, static and dynamic load factors, and lamination parameters on curved panels are investigated with the results discussed.

In this paper, static and dynamic stabilities of a cantilever laminated composite beam, having a linear translation spring as elastic support whose position is changeable from the free end to midspan of the beam, subjected to periodic vertical end loading, are examined. The beam is assumed to be an Euler beam and the finite element model used can accommodate symmetric and antisymmetric lay-ups. Solutions referred to as combination resonance are investigated for the dynamic stability analysis. The effects of length-to-thickness ratio, the variation of cross-section in one direction, orientation angle, static and dynamic load parameters, stiffness and position of the elastic support on stability are examined.

Using Fourier series as shape functions practically eliminates the ill-conditioning problem associated with high-order polynomials in structural analyses as confirmed by the newly constructed condition number diagram. This paper extends the Fourier p-elements to study the dynamic stability of frame structures. Both conservative and follower forces are considered. The results compare very well to the exact method of dynamic stiffness. It is found that the Fourier p-elements outperform the dynamic stiffness method in terms of versatility in applications and numerical stability at the very low and high ends of the frequency spectrum. New results of follower tension are given. Follower tension buckling under uniformly distributed follower tension is originally reported.

The present study deals with the dynamic stability of laminated composite pre-twisted cantilever panels. The effects of various parameters on the principal instability regions are studied using Bolotin's approach and finite element method. The first-order shear deformation theory is used to model the twisted curved panels, considering the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. The results on the dynamic stability studies of the laminated composite pre-twisted panels suggest that the onset of instability occurs earlier and the width of dynamic instability regions increase with introduction of twist in the panel. The instability occurs later for square than rectangular twisted panels. The onset of instability occurs later for pre-twisted cylindrical panels than the flat panels due to addition of curvature. However, the spherical pre-twisted panels show small increase of nondimensional excitation frequency.

This paper deals with the stability of the pylons of a cable-stayed bridge under the action of time-dependent loads, due to the vibration of the bridge deck. The stability of such problems of cable-stayed bridges is solved by a technique developed in the Laboratory of Metal Structures and Steel Bridges, of National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), as well as Bolotin's technique for the solution of nonlinear problems of dynamic stability. Three cases are studied: pylons with damping, pylons under forced vibration, and pylons subjected to an arbitrary external dynamic load. Useful relations are established by the aforementioned solution method, examples for a variety of pylons are presented, and interesting results regarding the stability of each case are given in diagrams.

It is well-known that the domains of static stability and dynamic stability (even for a linear approach) do not match each other when the system is no more conservative and the dynamic approach is usually privileged, meaning that the dynamic stability domain is included in the static one. Following previous works proposing a new criterion of static stability of nonconservative systems and prolonging a paper of Gallina devoted to linear dynamic instability (flutter), we show in this paper some remarkable relations between the two approaches: contrary to the common thought, the new static stability criterion implies partially the dynamic one.

Presented herein is a modified Galerkin discretization procedure for determining the qualitative dynamic behavior of elastic cantilevers with internal damping under partial follower step loading at their tips. For this strong nonlinear nonconservative system, the scheme proposed makes use of basic functions that are a product of nonlinear corrections of approximate linear shape functions. These corrected modes are computed in a way that all the nonlinear nonhomogeneous boundary conditions of the actual problem are satisfied throughout the motion. Numerical results obtained using a two-mode approach are found to be in very good qualitative agreement with the finite element results presented in the literature, not only in the vicinity of the critical states, but also in remote unstable domains. The effect of variation of initial conditions is also investigated and the advantages of the proposed procedure compared with conventional ones are discussed. Further research is required for establishing its capabilities and the range of its applicability for a broader class of nonconservative dynamic problems.

A mathematical model suitable for static and dynamic analyses of curved-in-plane cable-stayed bridges is proposed. By expressing the tensile forces of the cables in relation to the deck and pylon deformations, the problem is reduced to the solution of a beam curved-in-plane that is subjected to the usual permanent and external loads and to the tensile forces of the cables, the latter being functions of the deformation of the beam. The theoretical formulation presented is based on a continuum approach, which is suitable for the three-dimensional (3D) analysis of long span cable-supported bridges. Numerical examples will be analyzed to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach.

This article presents the evaluation of static and dynamic behavior of functionally graded ordinary (FGO) beam and functionally graded sandwich (FGSW) beam for pined–pined end condition. The variation of material properties along the thickness is assumed to follow exponential and power law. A finite element method is used assuming first order shear deformation theory for the analysis. The element chosen is different from the conventional elements as the shape functions of the element are obtained from the exact solution of the static part of governing differential equation derived according to Hamilton's principle. Moreover, the shape functions depend on length, cross-section and material properties which ensure better accuracy of the solution. The effect of power law index on critical buckling load and natural frequencies of FGO beam is investigated. The critical buckling load of FGO beam with steel-rich bottom increases with power law index whereas the trend reverses for beam with Al-rich bottom. The first three natural frequencies of FGO beam are found to decrease to a minimum value and then increase as the power law index increases from one. The dynamic stability of FGO beam with steel-rich bottom is found to be more than that of beam with Al-rich bottom. An FGSW beam with alumina as bottom skin, steel top skin, and mixture of alumina and steel as core is chosen for analysis. The critical buckling load of FGSW beam increases with the increase of core thickness for variation of material properties in core as per power law with index more than one, whereas it decreases with the increase of core thickness for variation of material properties in core as per exponential law. The first three natural frequencies of the FGSW beam increase with the increase of FGM core for both the types of property distributions. The dynamic stability of the FGSW beam is enhanced as the thickness of the FGM core is increased.

The intrinsic relationship between deterministic system and stochastic system is profoundly revealed by the probability density evolution method (PDEM) with introduction of physical law into the stochastic system. On this basis, stochastic dynamic stability analysis of single-layer dome structures under stochastic seismic excitation is firstly studied via incorporating an energetic physical criterion for identification of dynamic instability of dome structures into PDEM, which yields to sample stability (stable reliability). However, dynamic instability is not identical to structural failure definitely, where strength failure can be experienced not only in the stable structure but also when the structure is out of dynamic stability. It is practically feasible to decouple the stochastic dynamic response of dome structures to be a stable one and an unstable one according to the generalized density evolution equation (GDEE). Consequently, the global failure probability can be investigated separately based on the corresponding independent stochastic response. For unstable failure probability assessment, the failure probability is the unstable probability if the dome's failure is attributed to instability, whereas inverse absorbing is firstly implemented to get rid of the stochastic response before instability and a complementary process is filled in the safe domain immediately to finally assess the probability of strength failure after dynamic instability.

A nonclassical first-order shear deformation shell model is developed to analyze the axial buckling and dynamic stability of microshells made of functionally graded materials (FGMs). For this purpose, the modified couple stress elasticity theory is implemented into the first-order shear deformation shell theory. Unlike the classical shell theory, the newly developed shell model contains an internal material length scale parameter to capture efficiently the size effect. By using the Hamilton's principle, the higher-order governing equations and boundary conditions are derived. Afterward, the Navier solution is utilized to predict the critical axial buckling loads of simply-supported functionally graded (FG) microshells. Moreover, the governing equations are written in the form of Mathieu–Hill equations and then Bolotin's method is employed to determine the instability regions. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influences of static load factor, axial wave number, dimensionless length scale parameter, material property gradient index, length-to-radius and length-to-thickness aspect ratios on the axial buckling and dynamic stability responses of FGM microshells. It is revealed that size effect plays an important role in the value of critical axial buckling load and instability region of FGM microshells especially corresponding to those with lower aspect ratios.

The dynamic stability of bidirectional woven fiber laminated glass/epoxy composite shallow shells subjected to harmonic in-plane loading in hygrothermal environment is considered. An eight-noded isoparametric shell element with five degrees of freedom is used in the analysis. In the present finite element formulation, a composite doubly curved shell model based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used for the dynamic stability analysis of shell panels subjected to hygrothermal loading. A program is developed using MATLAB for the parametric study on the dynamic stability of shell panels under the hygrothermal field. The effects of various parameters like static load factor, curvature, shallowness, temperature, moisture, stacking sequence and boundary conditions on the dynamic instability regions of woven fiber glass/epoxy shell panels are investigated. The location of dynamic instability regions is shown to affect significantly due to presence of the hygrothermal field.

In the first part of this paper, elastostatic stability of cracked conservative flanged concrete beam-columns has been analyzed. Using the derived expression for the lateral stiffness under constant axial force, their elastodynamic stability is investigated in this second part. As expected, the instantaneous values of the stiffness and the damping coefficients of the lumped-mass underdamped SDOF nonlinear structures are found to depend upon the vibration amplitude. The natural frequency has been found to vanish at the two critical axial loads defined in the first part. For axial load exceeding the second critical value, the concrete beam-columns in the second equilibrium state are shown to exhibit loss of dynamic stability by divergence. Depending upon the initial conditions, the phase plane has been partitioned into dynamically stable and unstable regions. Under harmonic excitations, the nonlinear dynamical systems exhibit subharmonic resonances and jump phenomena. Loss of dynamic stability has been predicted for some ranges of damping ratio as well as of peak sinusoidal force and forcing frequency. Sensitivity of dynamic stability to the initial conditions and the sense of the peak sinusoidal force have also been predicted. The theoretical significance and the methodology adopted in this paper are also discussed.

The dynamic stability of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of circular cylinders has been well investigated. However, there have been few studies on this topic for bridge decks. To fill this gap, this study focuses on the dynamic stability of a VIV system for bridge decks. Some recently developed techniques for nonlinear dynamics are adopted, for example, the state space reconstruction and Poincare mapping techniques. The dynamic stability of the VIV system is assessed by combining analytical and experimental approaches, and a typical bridge deck is analyzed as a case study. Results indicate that the experimentally observed hysteresis phenomenon corresponds to the occurrence of saddle-node bifurcation of the VIV system. Through the method proposed in this study, the evolution of dynamic stability of the VIV system versus wind velocity is established. The dynamic characteristics of the system are further clarified, which offers a useful clue to understanding the VIV system for bridge decks, while providing valuable information for mathematical modeling.

The dynamic stability behavior of rotating functionally graded carbon nanotube reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) cylindrical shells under combined static and periodic axial forces is investigated. The governing equations are derived based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) of shells. The initial mechanical stresses due to the steady state rotation of the shell are evaluated by solving the dynamic equilibrium equations. The equations of motion under different boundary conditions are discretized in the spatial domain and transformed into a system of Mathieu–Hill type equations using the differential quadrature method (DQM) together with the trigonometric series. The influences of both the initial mechanical stresses and Coriolis acceleration are considered. Then, the parametric resonance is analyzed and the dynamic instability regions are determined by employing the Bolotin’s first approximation. After validating the approach, the effects of rotational speed, Coriolis acceleration, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) distribution in the thickness direction, CNTs volume fraction, length and thickness-to-mean radius ratios on the principal dynamic instability regions are examined in detail.