{"title":"Study on the dynamic performance of the vehicle-ballastless track system subjected to dislocation of fault zone","authors":"Zheng Li , Weidong Wang , Lei Xu , Jun Peng","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103938","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103938","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China's High-speed railways are now being constructed on a large scale in the complex mountainous regions of the West. However, due to the large number of active fault zones (AFZs) in western China, track structures inevitably need to be laid in fault zones. To understand the impact of small fault dislocations on the mechanical behavior of vehicle-track interaction in the elastic region, this paper establishes a vehicle-track-soil dynamic model. This model employs a novel iterative algorithm to describe and compute the static deformation of the track induced by the AFZ. Besides, the additional deformation of tracks is treated as the e of the vehicle-track-soil interaction system, for depicting its dynamic effects on the interaction system. The validation and an illustrative case are implemented in numerical studies, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The analysis results indicate that the dynamic performance of the vehicle-track interaction system in the vertical direction deteriorates obviously subjected to the dislocation of fault. The high stiffness of slab tracks exacerbates their vulnerability to fault-induced deformations, particularly for the phenomenon that large localized tensile stress occurs under the moving vehicle load. Moreover, the laying angle of the ballastless track is also a significant factor that degrades the performance of the vehicle-track interaction system subjected to fault dislocation, an aspect overlooked in previous research related to railway foundation deformation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 103938"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143873853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Liming Bo , Yao Chen , Xiaodong Feng , Xingwang Cao , Min Tang , Pooya Sareh
{"title":"Inflatable design and deployment morphology of conical Kresling origami structures","authors":"Liming Bo , Yao Chen , Xiaodong Feng , Xingwang Cao , Min Tang , Pooya Sareh","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103937","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103937","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Inflatable capsules and tubular structures have been widely used in solar panels, floating platforms, and energy-absorbing components due to their beneficial characteristics, such as lightweight construction and convenient deployment. However, most traditional inflatable capsules require rigidification to maintain their stiffness and deployed shapes, which introduces additional complexity and challenges, especially in space exploration. In this study, we propose an inflatable cone based on the conical Kresling origami pattern, capable of achieving high surface flatness and a large deployment ratio without the need for rigidification. To this end, an improved design method for multi-layer conical origami structures is introduced. The folding and deployment processes of cones with various geometric parameters are analyzed through numerical simulations, focusing on maximum plastic strain, deployment ratio, and surface flatness. The results reveal that conical origami structures with a single chirality exhibit superior surface flatness. Increasing the number of creases and the arc radius can effectively reduce maximum plastic strain. However, excessive creases and an overly large arc radius can negatively impact both the deployment ratio and surface flatness. Additionally, reducing the structure's conicity lowers the deployment ratio and plastic strain but has little effect on surface flatness. The proposed inflatable metallic cone shows strong potential for applications in aerospace and structural engineering.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 103937"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143873741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Uncertainty quantification of engineering problems using N-body system designs: An overview","authors":"Jan Mašek, Miroslav Vořechovský","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103927","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103927","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>When conducting an uncertainty quantification of computationally intensive models, it is vital that the realizations of the input random variables are consciously selected so that completing of each simulation yields as much new information as possible. To achieve that, a great effort is invested into optimization of uniformity of input sampling points across the design domain.</div><div>The purpose of this paper is threefold: (i) it provides a review of design optimality criteria, with a focus on distance-based criteria that can be viewed in analogy to N-body systems, and includes comparisons to low-discrepancy designs; (ii) it documents, for the first time, that point samples obtained using the authors’ previously developed N-body optimization algorithm Vořechovský et al. (2019), Vořechovský and Mašek (2020) exhibit exceptional uniformity and outperform samples generated by existing methods; and (iii) it explains potential pitfalls of applying N-body analogies too naively — such as neglecting energetic considerations, dimension scaling, and domain boundaries — as well as identifies opportunities for efficient computational implementation. We demonstrate that using these optimized designs in numerical analyses, both in research and engineering practice, leads to either a substantial increase in estimation precision or a reduction in the number of model runs required to achieve a desired estimation error. The performance of the constructed point samples is compared to the sampling methods that are today considered as go-to sampling strategies by researchers and practicing engineers. It is demonstrated that the proposed optimization method is superior to the state-of-the art methods in both robustness as well as estimation error (variance reduction). Inherent limitations for vast point samples posed by a finite computing power are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"207 ","pages":"Article 103927"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143873753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jie Liu , Dezheng Jiang , Zhiyong Li , Junfeng He , Linjie Jian , Hongxin Wang , Guilin Wen , Zhen-Pei Wang , Yi Min Xie
{"title":"On the nonlinear dynamic performance of a novel bistability-driven soft robot","authors":"Jie Liu , Dezheng Jiang , Zhiyong Li , Junfeng He , Linjie Jian , Hongxin Wang , Guilin Wen , Zhen-Pei Wang , Yi Min Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103940","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103940","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soft robots have many advantages, including large deformation and excellent motion capability in complex environments. Finding the dynamic behaviour of soft robots is essential for their control and performance optimization. This work has theoretically and experimentally studied the nonlinear dynamic performances of a novel bistability-driven soft robot. The bistable structure consists of a soft spine, an origami shell, and tension springs, which is the critical component to drive the soft robot to move fast, but also generates complex nonlinear dynamic behavior. A nonlinear dynamic model of the soft robot is established based on the piecewise constant curvature method, the generalized coordinate, and Lagrange equations. Extensive experiments have been conducted to investigate the nonlinear dynamic performance of the soft spine, the bistable structure, and the soft robot. Dynamic tests have verified the effectiveness of the theoretical model in terms of the bending angle, velocity, and acceleration changes with time and the deformation morphology at limit states. Results show that the soft robot can switch between two stable states in 0.5 s and rapidly stabilize, enabling rapid movement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103940"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143859048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Size-dependent topology optimization for eigenfrequency maximization of microplates using consistent couple stress theory","authors":"M.Z. Roshanbakhsh, S.M. Tavakkoli","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103941","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103941","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper aims to maximize the fundamental eigenfrequency of the Mindlin microplate using the topology optimization approach and consistent couple stress theory (C<img>CST). The modified bound formulation and the modified solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) approach are implemented to circumvent some undesired issues including repeated eigenfrequencies and localized mode. A four-node finite element with 80 degrees of freedom is used to meet the C<img>CST-based C<sup>1</sup> continuity requirements, which reduces to 48 degrees of freedom when stretching deformation is neglected. The generalized optimality criteria method (G-OCM) is adopted to update the design variables. Subsequently, undesired frequency bands are removed by using a continuously differentiable frequency band constraint (FBC). The optimal topology for in-plane and out-of-plane vibration as well as their coupling mode are presented. Also, the optimal distribution of the nano-reinforcement phase to maximize the eigenfrequency of the nanocomposite microplate is determined. To achieve this, the reinforcement-phase element volume fraction and a special unified homogenization function, instead of SIMP, are considered for the design variable and material properties interpolation scheme, respectively. The small-scale effects are investigated by using some benchmark examples, which reveal that as in-plane dimensions approach the length scale parameter, the optimal topology will no longer resemble the classical form. Moreover, the obtained results show that the proposed nano-reinforcement design significantly increases the microplate fundamental eigenfrequency by the addition of only 1 % of reduced graphene oxide (rGO).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103941"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sjard Mathis Rosenbusch, Philipp Diercks, Vitaliy Kindrachuk, Jörg F. Unger
{"title":"Integrating custom constitutive models into FEniCSx: A versatile approach and case studies","authors":"Sjard Mathis Rosenbusch, Philipp Diercks, Vitaliy Kindrachuk, Jörg F. Unger","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103922","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103922","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The development and integration of user-defined constitutive relationships into finite element (FE) tools using standardized interfaces play a pivotal role in advancing the capabilities of FE solvers for structural mechanics applications. While commercial FE solvers like Abaqus and Ansys have designed their interfaces to provide custom stresses, tangents, and updated history variables, the open-source solver FEniCSx remains efficient only when the constitutive update has an analytical representation. This restricts the application of FEniCSx for non-linear structural mechanics.</div><div>Since FEniCSx has become a powerful and popular open-source tool for solving partial differential equations, particularly due to its automatic computation of Hessians, we aim to develop a generalized interface to enhance its capability for constitutive modeling. This approach will address complex constitutive equations that require iterative solutions at the quadrature point level. Specific implementation challenges, such as using return-mapping procedures, can then be managed commonly. The provided interface for custom constitutive models offers a versatile way to implement them in various languages, including C++, Python, Rust, and Fortran. Finally, with UMATs for viscoplastic models as an example, we demonstrate how existing user subroutines can be incorporated into the interface and utilized within the FEniCSx framework.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103922"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuwei Ye , Qing Ai , Xu Zhang , Meng Liu , Yong Shuai
{"title":"A rapid reconstruction strategy of full-domain temperature field based on discrete measurement points for electronics thermal management","authors":"Yuwei Ye , Qing Ai , Xu Zhang , Meng Liu , Yong Shuai","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103935","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103935","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dynamic thermal management of multi-heat-source systems increasingly relies on full-domain thermal analysis and evaluations in real-time. However, the conventional discrete measurements and reconstruction techniques both struggle to capture the global temperature field evolution due to the real-time uncertainty of operating conditions. In addition, temperature field inversion of heat-source systems in the small data regime is also a challenging problem to be solved in practical engineering systems. Therefore, a rapid reconstruction strategy based on a small dataset and sparse sensors is described, herein to monitor the full-domain thermal states online, irrespective of variable operating conditions. Specifically, by dimensionality reduction, a series of low-dimensional eigenvectors can be identified from a small high-fidelity dataset under diverse operating conditions, characterizing the most dominant spatial distribution and evolutionary patterns of the thermal field. Online reconstruction is driven by dynamically adjusting the eigenvector coefficients by minimizing the error between real-time measurements and predictions. The global state is further estimated via assembling the order-reduced eigenvectors in a specific formula. In addition, QR decomposition is integrated for robust reconstruction. The feasibility and potential of the reconstruction technique was proved by analytical nondimensionalized temperature models. Finally, an extensive evaluation was concluded by referring to the simulation cases of a distributed multi-heat-source system with anisotropic thermal conductivity and in variable environments. The reconstruction results demonstrate the effectiveness and fast dynamic response of this approach, which can facilitate the synchronized monitoring of the global thermal distribution and effectively assist in regulating internal heat transport.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103935"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angie Mendoza-Cuy , Oscar Begambre-Carrillo , Jesús D. Villalba-Morales
{"title":"Topology optimization of steel slotted dampers with the hybrid cellular automata technique","authors":"Angie Mendoza-Cuy , Oscar Begambre-Carrillo , Jesús D. Villalba-Morales","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103921","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103921","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cellular automata is a computational technique that has proven valuable for solving engineering problems. In the field of structural optimization, it has been applied to find the optimal topology of a structure, given the similarities between the problem characteristics and the computational representation. This paper proposes a cellular automata-based methodology for the topology optimization of steel slotted dampers. A multi-objective approach is formulated to maximize the energy dissipation capacity and minimize the damper’s mass. A single-cycle displacement protocol is utilized to determine energy dissipation capacity in Ansys. The results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves the optimal shape obtained from a configuration with vertical slots more efficiently than other two algorithms in the literature. The energy dissipation capacity was increased by 3.5 times while using only fourteen iterations to converge. By testing several initial slot configurations, the CA-based method proved to be less dependent on the initial decision. Finally, the effects of using a one-cycle displacement protocol, symmetry considerations, and the height/width ratio are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103921"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143845087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inverse design of multiband higher-order elastic topological insulators via generative deep learning","authors":"Lei Fan , Yafeng Chen , Jie Zhu , Zhongqing Su","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103934","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103934","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Higher-order elastic topological insulators with corner states exhibit significant potential for robust elastic wave localization. Nevertheless, it is quite challenging to design multiband topological structures on demand via traditional empirical methods that rely on trial and error. Here, we present a novel inverse design paradigm for multiband higher-order elastic topological insulators based on deep learning techniques. A generative model that enables a vast design space is first developed, incorporating a rich series of unit cell patterns with the desired crystalline symmetry and fabrication feasibility. Thereafter, a predictive model is constructed to efficiently forecast the dispersion characteristics of any given unit cell, thereby accelerating the discovery of potential multiband topological structures. We demonstrate the effectiveness and reusability of the proposed design framework through diverse examples of multiband higher-order elastic topological insulators with multi-frequency corner states. This deep learning-driven approach addresses the limitations of conventional inverse design methods, which often require computationally expensive simulations and lack flexibility to variable design tasks. Our work underscores great potential of deep learning techniques for the inverse design of high-performance topological metamaterials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103934"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143839426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An open-source LS-DYNA implementation of the variational damage model","authors":"Ya Duan , Xiaoying Zhuang , Huilong Ren , Timon Rabczuk","doi":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103924","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.advengsoft.2025.103924","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The variational damage model (VDM), formulated within a variational framework, provides an effective and computationally efficient approach to fracture modeling. However, existing implementations primarily rely on custom-developed codes, which limits their accessibility and broader adoption in engineering applications. To address this limitation, this study integrates newly developed variational damage models into the commercial finite element software LS-DYNA, enabling their practical use in large-scale simulations. Building upon the VDM and the novel variational damage model (NVDM) proposed by Ren et al. (2024), this work develops user-defined material subroutines (UMATs) for LS-DYNA: (i) <strong>UMAT-VDM</strong>: A variational damage model. (ii) <strong>UMAT-NVDM</strong>: An enhanced variational damage model incorporating a threshold parameter. The effectiveness of these implementations is assessed through a series of quasi-static and dynamic fracture simulations. The results demonstrate that both UMAT-VDM and UMAT-NVDM accurately capture sharp crack interfaces while maintaining computational efficiency due to the absence of gradient terms. Additionally, UMAT-NVDM produces finer crack patterns and exhibits improved capability in modeling complex fracture processes compared to UMAT-VDM. To facilitate further research and application, the open-source implementation of these subroutines, written in free-format FORTRAN90 syntax, is publicly available on GitHub at <span><span>https://github.com/yaduann/vdm-and-nvdm</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50866,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Engineering Software","volume":"206 ","pages":"Article 103924"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143823964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}