Sharif Digital Repository

An explicit dynamics extended finite element method (X-FEM) is applied to the problems with material interfaces. To this end, the available X-FEM element mass matrix lumping techniques have been identified and assessed. It is shown that all the methods have their own limitations and are not general enough to handle the enrichment functions specifically developed for the elements with material interfaces. Hence, a general element mass matrix lumping technique has been introduced which exactly preserves the kinetic energies of the basic rigid body and enrichment modes. The idea is borrowed from the previously published method for a specific range of enrichment functions and extended to... 

The present paper studies the failure of concrete from the mesoscopic point of view. Biphasic cubic concrete samples containing spherical aggregates embedded in a homogenized mortar have been simulated using standard finite element method. Linear elasticity and damage-plasticity hypotheses are considered for the aggregates and mortar, respectively. Various triaxial loading conditions are assumed for each sample to generate adequate discrete failure points within the stress space. In the next step, the approximated failure surfaces of specimens are constructed using the Delaunay triangulation technique. The effects of mesostructural features such as aggregate grading curve, aggregate... 

The crushing behaviour of dynamically loaded metal foam-filled square columns has been investigated using an extended version of the existing self-similar pressure dependent constitutive model for metal foams. The model has been implemented in ABAQUS/Explicit and analyses have been conducted using different approaches to model the uniaxial and hydrostatic hardening behaviour of metal foams. A practical and reliable procedure to approximate the observed anisotropic behaviour within the computational framework of isotropic plasticity is introduced. The comparison between the available experimental and newly generated numerical results is presented in order to illustrate the accuracy and... 

In this paper, the effects of foam density distribution and initial impactor inclination angle on crushing behaviour of metal foam-filled thin-walled square columns have been investigated. The simplified version of an existing pressure dependent self-similar constitutive model with tensile failure for metal foam has been implemented in ABAQUS/Explicit code. Random distribution of cubic regions with normal distribution of density has been created. The analyses have been accomplished for three distinct foam densities, two extreme random distributions (fine and coarse), and five different impactor inclination angles. A local effect on folding patterns of columns filled with low-density foam has... 

The effect of spot welding failure, flange location, sheet metal thickness, glue presence in foam-wall contact area, and foam filling on the bending crash performance and the collapse mechanism of empty and foam-filled box-beams is investigated. It is observed that the flange location in box-beams controls spot welds force, the energy absorption capacity of box-beams, and collapse behavior of the sections. As a result, the definition of spot weld failure criterion is inevitable in most cases. A survey on the effect of slight aluminium foam filling (12% mass increase) shows that the specific energy absorption value (SEA) and the energy dissipation performance of a filled section can even... 

Learning a foreign language encompasses a process of trial and error that can lead to the progression of the learner's interlanguage, meaning that the learners make use of their language knowledge that receives feedback and brings about progress through diagnosis of the problems and being corrected by the teacher. Therefore, there exists a need to analyze the underlying reasons causing the students to remain taciturn with a low willingness to communicate (WTC) during a language class. There has been much work done investigating the role of the learner's stable personal characteristics (traits) along with their situational changes at a specific time (states) that influence the student's... 

Accurate system identification (SI) is essential for flight controller design of unmanned aerial vehicles and microaerial vehicles (MAVs). SI can be performed either in frequency or time domain using flight test data. As flight testing is often costly and may even lead to catastrophic events before some flight stability analysis is at hand, a low-cost 5 degree-of-freedom free motion platform (FMP) is designed and used for initial identification of MAVs via wind tunnel testing. A typical MAV is constructed as a test case and equipped with inertial sensors for testing and validation purposes. The proposed FMP allows for both rotational as well as translational motions that in turn provide for... 

Using 3-D scanned data to analyze and extract pore network plays a vital role in investigation of porous media's characteristics. In this paper, a new simple method is developed to detect pores and throats for analyzing the connectivity and permeability of the network. This automated method utilizes some of the common and well-known image processing functions which are widely accessible by researchers and this has led to an easy algorithm implementation. In this method, after polishing and quality control of images, using city-block distance function and watershed segmentation algorithm, pores and throats are detected and 3-D network is produced. This method can also be applied on 2-D images... 

In this paper, we try to recognize and distinguish different groups of arrhythmia using novel features which have been obtained from the heart rate's phase space in recent years. For this purpose, we used Triangular Phase Space Mapping (TPSM) and Parabolic Phase Space Mapping (PPSM). For recognition, we used three groups of 15 subjects using the Physionet database (Arrhythmia, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), and Atrial Fibrillation (AF)) with Normal Sinus Rhythm (NSR). The obtained features discriminate arrhythmia from NSR by p