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Topologically interlocked materials are a class of materials in which individual unit elements interact with each other through contact only. Cracks and other defects occurring due to external loading are contained in the individual unit elements. Thus, topologically interlocked materials are damage tolerant and provide high structural integrity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concepts of remanufacturing in the context of a material for which the intended use is structural such that the material's structural integrity is of concern. In particular, the study is concerned with the mechanical behavior of a topologically interlocked material.

A topologically interlocked material based on tetrahedron unit elements is investigated experimentally. Manufacturing with aid of a robotically controlled end‐effector is demonstrated, and mechanical properties are determined for a plate configuration. A conceptual mechanical model for failure of topologically interlocked materials is developed and used to interpret the experimental results.

It is demonstrated that remanufacturing of the topologically interlocked material is possible with only a limited loss of material performance. The proposed model predicts trends in agreement with the experimental findings.

While the model predictions are qualitatively in agreement with experiments, more detailed finite element models are needed to predict the material performance accurately. Experiments were conducted on a model material obtained from a 3D printer and should be verified on other solids.

The authors demonstrate that damage containment together with the absence of binders or adhesives enables reuse through remanufacturing without loss of structural integrity.

Topologically interlocked materials emerge as attractive materials for sustainable engineering once their material performance are weighted with an environmental impact factor.

Remanufacturing experiments on a novel class of materials were conducted and a new model for the characterization of the structural integrity of topologically interlocked materials is proposed and successfully evaluated against experiments in at least qualitative form.

The efficiency of the finite element analysis via force method depends on the overall flexibility matrix of the structure, while this matrix is directly affected from null bases vectors. As the null bases for an indeterminate structure are not unique, for an optimal analysis, the selected null bases should be sparse and banded corresponding to sparse, banded and well-conditioned flexibility matrix. This paper aims to present an efficient method for the formation of optimal flexibility matrix of finite element models comprising tetrahedron elements via mathematical optimization technique.

For this purpose, a linear mixed integer programming model is presented for finding sparse solution of underdetermined linear system, which is correspond to sparse null vector. The charged system search algorithm is improved and used to find the best generator for formation of null bases.

The efficiency of the present method is illustrated through some examples. The proposed method leads to highly sparse, banded and accurate null basis matrices. It makes an efficient force method feasible for the analysis of finite element model comprising tetrahedron elements.

The force method, in which the member forces are used as unknowns, can be appealing to engineers. The main problem in the application of the force method is the formation of a self-stress matrix corresponding to a sparse flexibility matrix. In this paper, the highly sparse, banded and accurate null basis matrices gains by using mathematical optimization technique.

Introducing the concept of a design domain to truss topology optimization, this paper presents an algorithm generating geometrically admissible ground structures on possibly concave (or even disconnected) 3D design domains. That is a set of connections between nodal points actually respecting the geometry of the design domain. Since ground structures may be applied in other contexts the presentation does not assume any specifics of truss topology optimization. However, in the example section an application of ground structures in a truss topology optimization problem may be found.

Develops a method which performs Boolean operations on two unstructured arbitrary meshes. Deletes the overlapping or interfering elements of two individual meshes and creates a mesh of tetrahedral elements in their place to provide an interface between the remnants of the original meshes. Gives various examples where two volume meshes are joined or where a surface mesh is imposed on a volume mesh. Shows, through these examples, the effects of various input parameters on the quality of the final mesh.

The focus of this paper is on the efficient numerical computation of 3D electromagnetic field problems by using the finite element (FE) and multigrid (MG) methods. The magnetic vector potential is used as the field variable and the discretization is performed by Lagrange (nodal) as well as Ne´de´lec (edge) finite elements. The resulting system of equations is solved by applying a preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) method with an adapted algebraic multigrid (AMG) as well as an appropriate geometric MG preconditioner.

The field of magnetic levitation by ferromagnetic attraction in conjunction with a linear propulsion system has experienced interest for many years. The increasing capacity of modern computers allow the use of numerical field calculation methods under very realistic conditions. This paper deals with possibilities of a scalar potential magnetic field analysis in a short‐stator propulsion system. The eddy currents in the railway were modelled by the special boundary condition for a thin sheet. The numerical algorithm is based on a finite element method with tetrahedrons. To increase the accuracy of calculations the adaptive technique was introduced. As results the calculated forces, power losses in the railway and the adaptive meshes were shown.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the stress-strain relationships of single-jersey knitted fabrics from uniaxial tensile test followed by deformation behavior using finite element analysis. In order to elaborate the study, high, medium and low tightness knitted fabrics were selected and deformation of fabrics analyzed in course, wales and bias directions (0, 45 and 90 degrees).

This study focussed on uni-axial tensile test of produced test samples using Instron 6021 tester and a development of single-jersey knitted loop model using Auto Desk Inventor software (ADI). The knitted fabric material properties and knitted loop model was imported to ANSYS 12.0 software.

Due to structural changes the tightness and thickness of knitted fabric decreases with increase in loop length The tensile result shows maximum breaking strength at course direction (13.43 kg f/mm2 at 2.7 mm) and maximum extension at wales direction (165.77 kg f/mm2 at 3.3 mm). When the loop length increases, the elongation of fabrics increased and load carrying capacity of fabrics reduced. The Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and shear modulus of fabrics reduced with increase in loop length. The deformation of fabrics increased with increase in loop length. The increase in loop length gives large amount of structural changes and it is due to slacking or jamming in loops and loosening in dimensions. When comparing the deformation results, the variation within the fabric is higher and structural damage little more when increasing the loop length of the fabric.

From ANOVA test, stress and strain distribution was statistically significant among course, wales and bias directions at 95 percent confidence level. The values got from Instron test indicates that testing direction can alter its deformation. In deformation analysis, comparing both experimental and prediction, high amount of structural changes observed in wales direction. The used tetrahedral elements can be used for contact analysis with high accuracy. For non-linear problems, consistent approach was proposed which makes the sense to compare with experimental methods. The proposed model will make possible developments and the preliminary validation tests shows good agreement with experimental data.

Laser sintering of polyamide lattice-based lightweight fairing components for subsequent racetrack testing requires a high quality and a reliable design. Hence, the purpose of this study was to develop a design methodology for such additively manufactured prototypes, considering efficient generation and structural simulation of boundary conformal non-periodic lattices, optimization of production parameters as well as experimental validation.

Multi-curved, sandwich structure-based demonstrators were designed, simulated and experimentally tested with boundary conformal lattice cells. The demonstrator’s non-periodic lattice cells were simplified by forward homogenization processes. To represent the stiffness of the top and bottom face sheet, constant isotropic and mapped transversely isotropic simulation approaches were compared. The dimensional accuracy of lattice cells and demonstrators were measured with a gauge caliper and a three-dimensional scanning system. The optimized process parameters for lattice structures were transferred onto a large volume laser sintering system. The stiffness of each finite element analysis was verified by an experimental test setup including a digital image correlation system.

The stiffness prediction of the mapped was superior to the constant approach and underestimated the test results with −6.5%. Using a full scale fairing the applicability of the development process was successfully demonstrated.

The design approach elaborated in this research covers aspects from efficient geometry generation over structural simulation to experimental testing of produced parts. This methodology is not only relevant in the context of motor sports but is transferrable for all additively manufactured large scale components featuring a complex lattice sub-structure and is, therefore, relevant across industries.

In the case of machines, structures and assemblies, the crack generation and propagation is becoming a great concern, especially in airplane wings, turbine blades and such other applications. This is because these parts are very large in size and the crack size is very small, i.e. in microns. Hence, there is an important need to locate the crack and to find its severity before it starts to propagate and also to detect these parameters by on-site non-destructive testing methods. This paper aims to develop and test the methodology to locate an unknown single open crack in steel cantilever beam along with its severity.

This study covers analytical, numerical and experimental analysis for healthy and cracked beams. Vibration-based approach and finite element analysis (FEA) approach is used for analytical and numerical study respectively. Own designed and dedicated experimental set-up is used for testing purpose along with fast fourier transform analyzer. An anti-resonance technique is used to locate and to find the severity of unknown crack. The statistical approach helps to validate the results.

The comparison of the natural frequency of healthy and cracked steel cantilever beam shows that the crack in the beam reduces its natural frequency. The accuracy of results is achieved by finding actual density and Young's modulus of steel specimen under consideration. It is helpful to verify the health of the non-cracked beam by applying dye testing. The study of natural frequency and anti-resonance gives the location of crack and its depth also. The FEA approach proved to be an important tool for numerical analysis of cracked beam.

The research is limited to steel material and surface cracks only.

Practically, this study highlights how to locate a surface crack in steel beam along with its depth, i.e. severity with great accuracy. Identification of the factors such as location and depth of a crack provide the severity of damage in airplane wings, turbine blades, bridges and many more, and thereby, it helps in safety at working vicinity.

The identification and solutions of current research helps to predict the operational life of machine elements such as airplane wings, turbine blades, bridges and many more, and thereby, it helps in the safety of people in working vicinity of such structures.

The work presented, is based on original research and experimentation. This work is valued contribution in the field of methodologies applied for fault detection in structures and also determining its correctness by numerical and experimental work.

The purpose is to reduce round-off errors in numerical simulations. In the numerical simulation, different kinds of errors may be created during analysis. Round-off error is one of the sources of errors. In numerical analysis, sometimes handling numerical errors is challenging. However, by applying appropriate algorithms, these errors are manageable and can be reduced. In this study, five novel topological algorithms were proposed in setting up a structural flexibility matrix, and five different examples were used in applying the proposed algorithms. In doing so round-off errors were reduced remarkably.

Five new algorithms were proposed in order to optimize the conditioning of structural matrices. Along with decreasing the size and duration of analyses, minimizing analytical errors is a critical factor in the optimal computer analysis of skeletal structures. Appropriate matrices with a greater number of zeros (sparse), a well structure and a well condition are advantageous for this objective. As a result, a problem of optimization with various goals will be addressed. This study seeks to minimize analytical errors such as rounding errors in skeletal structural flexibility matrixes via the use of more consistent and appropriate mathematical methods. These errors become more pronounced in particular designs with ill-suited flexibility matrixes; structures with varying stiffness are a frequent example of this. Due to the usage of weak elements, the flexibility matrix has a large number of non-diagonal terms, resulting in analytical errors. In numerical analysis, the ill-condition of a matrix may be resolved by moving or substituting rows; this study examined the definition and execution of these modifications prior to creating the flexibility matrix. Simple topological and algebraic features have been mostly utilized in this study to find fundamental cycle bases with particular characteristics. In conclusion, appropriately conditioned flexibility matrices are obtained, and analytical errors are reduced accordingly.

(1) Five new algorithms were proposed in order to optimize the conditioning of structural flexibility matrices. (2) A JAVA programming language was written for all five algorithms and a friendly GUI software tool is developed to visualize sub-optimal cycle bases. (3) Topological and algebraic features of the structures were utilized in this study.

This is a multi-objective optimization problem which means that sparsity and well conditioning of a matrix cannot be optimized simultaneously. In conclusion, well-conditioned flexibility matrices are obtained, and analytical errors are reduced accordingly.

Engineers always finding mathematical modeling of real-world problems and make them as simple as possible. In doing so, lots of errors will be created and these errors could cause the mathematical models useless. Applying decent algorithms could make the mathematical model as precise as possible.

Errors in numerical simulations should reduce due to the fact that they are toxic for real-world applications and problems.

This is an original research. This paper proposes five novel topological mathematical algorithms in order to optimize the structural flexibility matrix.