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In structural engineering, active structures that combine the principles of lightweight construction with flexible component behavior are increasingly being realized. Within this approach, the lightweight design offers material-efficient structures which, due to their reduced mass, provide a good basis for an energy-efficient actuation. In addition, the use of flexible component behavior provides the possibility to keep the number of required actuators as low as possible, while maintaining a high degree of adaptability. Therefore, the resulting active hybrid structures represent a promising approach with respect to the development of sustainable active structures in our built environment. Due to a larger number of relevant objectives, this new kind of structures requires a higher design effort compared to classical structures from the field of structural engineering. This dissertation aims to contribute to a more efficient and generalized design process for active hybrid structures. In order to achieve this goal, several strategies have been investigated. First of all, useful target criteria related to the mentioned relevant areas are derived. These should enable a more target-oriented design and provide a basis for formulating appropriate target weighting, allowing the development of ideal compromise solutions that combine structural stiffness, bending elastic transformation behavior and an efficient actuation concept. In addition, a variety of approaches have been investigated to improve the design process of active hybrid structures in a broad stress field between stiffness and compliance. These mainly include the aspects of structure generation, analyses for an optimal load transfer as well as the determination of an associated optimal actuation concept. In the context of this thesis, different subroutines are investigated for the mentioned partial steps of an overall hierarchical method which were implemented in a software application. Some variations of this generalized method were applied to diverse structural case studies of cantilevered systems with different degrees of structural stiffness. Three of these examples, representing segments of roof structures that differ in terms of their bending elastic transformation behavior, were analyzed in more detail in this thesis. These analysis results were verified on real active hybrid prototypes.
The development of computer technologies allows using numerical simulations in the early stages of aircraft design more and more often. The role of both wind tunnels and initial test flights used to validate of solutions seems to be diminishing. Big systems for three-dimensional simulations of Fluid-Structure Interactions (FSI) constitute highly specialized and costly software. Most of the codes are based on many simplifications. One of them is the assumption of linearity of the structural model being in contradiction with real-life situations. The postdoctoral dissertation presents the results of simulations for complex, multi-scale objects and non-linear structure models and extended structure testing in relation to damage in macroscale analysis. What is crucial for carrying out the assumed analyses is to extend a numerical tool comprising a flow and a structural program and a space grid deformation model for a system allowing to take into consideration the non-linearity of the structure. The point of reference for testing the suggested approaches are the existing solutions of the aeroelastic linear problems. Results of the recent research might be applied for the construction of increasingly common unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Modern structure is a key element that affects the basic parameters as mass or range of these vehicles. Until now the research and development of the aeroelastic calculation algorithm for commonly used materials in the framework of linear geometry and linear-elastic material behavior was used. The current developments of materials for light-weight design common use of 3D printing technology causes the increasingly widespread use of new alternative materials in the aviation industry. This is particularly true for the design and construction of UAV, where the basic requirements are the lightness of the structure and the maximum range. Unfortunately, the fulfillment of the above criteria means that the materials used are often loaded not only in a elastic range but also more often above this limit. In case of analyzing aeroelastic phenomena for a loaded structure we should take a closer look at the behavior of the material outside the elastic range in which the damage occurs. The process of destroying in the face of such dangerous phenomena as flutter in aircraft constructions requires a deeper analysis of the mechanics of materials, in particular for new materials and their manufacturing techniques. As part of joint experiments and numerical simulations, detailed research was carried out to describe the behavior of printed materials, which will be increasingly used in the design of aircraft structures. Extending the postdoctoral dissertation with the research carried out at BTU will allow further development of the existing FSI algorithm, taking into account the structural behavior more accurately and the possibility of predicting damage processes.
The geometric accuracy of an incrementally formed part is dependent on the underlying deformation mechanism and the residual stresses induced in the material during forming. This thesis presents new insights into the deformation mechanism and residual stresses of the Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) variant of the ISF process. In addition, strategies to control, suppress and adjust the deformation mechanism and residual stresses to increase the geometric accuracy and improve part properties are presented.
The deformation mechanism of the ISF process is investigated. A novel methodology is developed to split the plastic energy dissipation during the SPIF process as a contributions of energies from dominant deformation modes. It is found that the dominant deformation mode can be bending, shear or membrane stretching, depending on the selected values of the process parameters. By controlling the contribution of each deformation mechanism, the outcome of the SPIF process can be designed for maximum geometric accuracy within the constraints of process time and formability.
The build-up of the residual stresses in the SPIF process is investigated and a relation between the geometric accuracy and the residual stresses under changing process parameters is developed. The wall angle parameter has the highest influence on residual stresses. Moreover, the intensity and the magnitude of the residual stresses can be controlled by adjusting the process parameters.
A direct approach based on post-forming Stress Relief Annealing (SRA) is developed to suppress residual stresses and increase geometric accuracy. In this regard, a modular tooling set-up is designed to perform the SRA under partial constraint. For maximum efficiency, optimal SRA parameters are determined. Two parts with practical significance are incrementally formed and subsequently stress relief annealed. A considerable increase in the geometric accuracy is observed with SRA in comparison to the parts without SRA.
In the last part of this thesis, the very first approach is presented to generate a target distribution of high magnitude residual stresses in the ISF process for improving the mechanical properties. The desired residual stresses are generated in the conventionally formed disc springs in the surface treatment approach. In an integrated forming approach, the forming of the disc springs and the desired residual stresses are generated in a single step. Mechanical properties of the disc springs are better for both approaches in comparison to conventional disc springs. Hence, a targeted generation and distribution of the residual stresses to improve the mechanical properties is possible.
Safety evaluation of truss structures depends upon the determination of the axial forces and corresponding stresses in axially loaded members. Due to presence of damages, change in intended use, increase in service loads or accidental actions, structural assessment of existing truss structures is necessary. Precise identification of the stresses plays a crucial role for the preservation of historic truss structures. The assessment measures require non-destructiveness, minimum intervention and practical applicability.
Motivated by the preservation of existing truss−type constructions composed of axially loaded slender members, the present work aims to develop a non-destructive methodology to identify the axial forces or corresponding stress states in iron and steel truss structures. The approach is based on vibration measurements and the finite element method combined with optimization techniques.
After a state of the art review, numerical and experimental studies were carried out in the research work on different partial systems of truss-type structures. The examined aspects included the effects of structural loading on the dynamic performance of truss structures, modelling of joint connections, mode pairing criteria, selection of updating parameters and definition of an objective function, as well as the use of different optimization techniques.
A methodology consisted of a two-stage model updating procedure using optimization techniques was proposed for the determination of multiple member axial forces and estimation of the joint flexibility of truss-type constructions. In the first stage optimization, the validation criterion is based on the experimentally identified global natural frequencies and mode shapes of the truss. Additionally, the axial forces in selected individual members of the truss are used. They are estimated from the natural frequencies and five amplitudes of the corresponding local mode shapes of the members using an analytically−based algorithm. Based on the results of the identified axial forces in the first stage, a second optimization procedure for the joint stiffness is performed. In this stage, the modal parameters of the global natural frequencies and mode shapes are used as validation criterion.
From the results of the investigated systems, the identified axial forces by the proposed methodology agree well with the experimentally measured axial forces. Furthermore, recommendations are given in the work for a guideline of measuring concepts and assessment strategies applied to existing iron and steel truss-type structures.
