The bidirectional long-wave model introduced by Wu (1994)^[1] and Yih & Wu (1995)^[2] is applied to evaluate interactions between multiple solitary waves progressing in both directions in a uniform channel of rectangular cross-section and undergoing collisions of two classes, one being head-on and the other overtaking collisions between these solitons. For a binary head-on collision, the two interacting solitary waves are shown to merge during a phase-locking period from which they reemerge separated, each asymptotically recovering its own initial identity while both being retarded in phase from their original pathlines. For a binary overtaking collision between a soliton of height α₁ overtaking a weaker one of height α₁, the two solition peaks are shown to either pass through each other or remain separated throughout the encounter according as α₁/α₂ or <3, respectively. With no phase locking during the overtaking, the two solitary waves re-emerge afterwards with their initial forms recovered and with the stronger wave being advanced whereas the weaker one retarded in phase from their original pathlines. By extension, the theory is generalized to apply to uniform channels of arbitrary cross-sectional shape.

The stochastic boundary element method is developed to analyze elasticity problems with random material and/or geometrical parameters and randomly perturbed boundaries. Based on the first-order Taylor series expansion, the boundary integration equations concerning the mean and deviation of the displacements are derived, respectively. It is found that the randomness of material parameters is equivalent to a random body force, so the mean and covariance matrices of unknown boundary displacements and tractions can be obtained. Furthermore, the mean and covariance of displacements and stresses at inner points can also be obtained. Numerical examples show that the proposed stochastic boundary element method gives satisfactory solutions, as compared with those obtained by theoretical analysis or other numerical methods.

This paper deals with the chaotic attitude motion of a magnetic rigid spacecraft with internal damping in an elliptic orbit. The dynamical model of the spacecraft is established. The Melnikov analysis is carried out to prove the existence of a complicated nonwandering Cantor set. The dynamical behaviors are numerically investigated by means of time history, Poincaré map, Lyapunov exponents and power spectrum. Numerical simulations demonstrate the chaotic motion of the system. The input-output feedback linearization method and its modified version are applied, respectively, to control the chaotic attitude motions to the given fixed point or periodic motion.

In this paper, the peeling behavior and the spalling resistance effect of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets externally bonded to bent concrete surfaces are firstly investigated experimentally. Twenty one curved specimens and seven plane specimens are studied in the paper, in which curved specimens with bonded CFRP sheets can simulate the concrete spalling in tunnel, culvert, arch bridge etc., whereas plane specimens with bonded CFRP sheets can simulate the concrete spalling in beam bridge, slab bridge and pedestrian bridge. Three kinds of curved specimens with different radii of curvature are chosen by referring to practical tunnel structures, and plane specimens are used for comparison with curved ones. A peeling load is applied on the FRP sheet by loading a circular steel tube placed into the central notch of beam to debond CFRP sheets from the bent concrete surface, meanwhile full-range load–deflection curves are recorded by a MTS 831.10 Elastomer Test System. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical analysis is also conducted for the specimens. Both theoretical and experimental results show that only two material parameters, the interfacial fracture energy of CFRP-concrete interface and the tensile stiffness of CFRP sheets, are needed for describing the interfacial spalling behavior. It is found that the radius of curvature has remarkable influence on peeling load–deflection curves. The test methods and test results given in the paper are helpful and available for reference to the designer of tunnel strengthening.

The dynamical behavior of fluids affected by the asymmetric gravity jitter oscillations, in particular, the effect of surface tension on partially-filled rotating fluids in a Dewar tank imposed by time-dependent directions of background reduced gravity accelerations is investigated. Results show that the greater the components of background reduced gravity in radial and circumferential directions, the greater will be the tendency toward increasing amplitude and degrees of asymmetry of the liquid-vapor interface profiles.

Using nonequilibrium statistical mechanics closure method, it is shown that the skewness factor of the velocity derivative of isotropic turbulence approaches a constant −0.515 when the Reynolds number is very high, which is in agreement with the DNS (direct numerical simulation) result of Vincent and Meneguzzi (1991).

In the present paper, a so-called epsilon-continuation approach is proposed for the solution of singular optimum in truss topology optimization problems. This approach is an improved version of the epsilon-relaxed approach developed by the authors previously. In the proposed approach, we start the optimization process from a relaxation parameter with a relatively large value and obtain a solution by applying the epsilon-relaxed approach. Then we decrease the value of the relaxation parameter by a small amount and choose the optimal solution found from the previous optimization process as the initial design for the next optimization. This continuation process is continued until a small termination value of the relaxation parameter is reached. Convergence analysis of the proposed approach is also presented. Numerical examples show that this approach can alleviate the dependence of the final solution on the initial choice of the design variable and enhance the probability of finding the singular optimum from rather arbitrary initial designs.

We develop a two dimensional model of a vesicle adhered on a curved substrate via long-range molecular interactions while subjected to a detachment force. The relationship between the force and displacement of the vesicle is investigated as a function of the substrate shape. It is shown that both the force– displacement relationship and the maximum force at pull-off are significantly dependent on the substrate shape. The results suggest that probes with different tip shapes may be designed for cell manipulation. For example, we demonstrate that a vesicle can be pulled off a flat surface using a probe with a curved tip.

Abstract.

A new state vector is presented for symplectic solution to three dimensional couple stress problem. Without relying on the analogy relationship, the dual PDEs of couple stress problem are derived by a new state vector. The duality solution methodology in a new form is thus extended to three dimensional couple stress. A new symplectic orthonormality relationship is proved. The symplectic solution to couple stress theory based a new state vector is more accordant with the custom of classical elasticity and is more convenient to process boundary conditions. A Hamilton mixed energy variational principle is derived by the integral method.

The paper combines a self-adaptive precise algorithm in the time domain with Meshless Element Free Galerkin Method (EFGM) for solving viscoelastic problems with rotationally periodic symmetry. By expanding variables at a discretized time interval, the variations of variables can be described more precisely, and iteration is not required for non-linear cases. A space-time domain coupled problem with initial and boundary values can be converted into a series of linear recursive boundary value problems, which are solved by a group theory based on EFGM. It has been proved that the coefficient matrix of the global EFG equation for a rotationally periodic system is block-circulant so long as a kind of symmetry-adapted reference coordinate system is adopted, and then a partitioning algorithm for facilitating parallel processing was proposed via a completely orthogonal group transformation. Therefore instead of solving the original system, only a series of independent small sub-problems need to be solved, leading to computational convenience and a higher computing efficiency. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the full advantages of the proposed algorithm.