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Conventional crimp joints show high sensitivity to process conditions which makes it difficult to ensure joint quality. Low sensitivity of a joint to process conditions increases the structural integrity and performance of the product, yielding a more reliable structure. In this work, we address this problem and propose a new type of crimp joint. First the sensitivity of the joint to the crimping process parameters is investigated numerically, i.e. the crimping tool stroke, friction conditions, and the range of tolerances. The results provide a mechanical interpretation for the scatter of burst pressure at conventional crimp joints and that the sensitivity of the proposed joint to process parameters is practically negligible. The numerical model of the proposed joint is validated experimentally and good agreement between the numerical and experimental measurements is observed.

We present a novel constitutive model capable of describing non-linear anisotropic fibre-reinforced materials with different responses in tension and compression under a general stress state. The model is based on the original one-dimensional Ramberg–Osgood model, which is generalized to a multiaxial stress state and anisotropic material behaviour under thermodynamic requirements. To account for tension–compression asymmetry under a multiaxial stress state, the model is extended by the use of the stress triaxiality invariant as an indicator of stress state type, e.g. shear, uniaxial or biaxial tension, compression, etc. The model is implemented in ABAQUS/Explicit via the VUMAT subroutine and verified on two material datasets, which are an S2-glass/E773-epoxy and a reinforced polyester composite material. In comparison with other models, the proposed model provides an elegant formulation for the description of all the aforementioned phenomena, resulting in a simple calibration procedure based on uniaxial tensile and compressive tests.

In the paper, an alignment methodology of finite element and full-field measurement data of planar specimens is presented. The alignment procedure represents an essential part of modern material response characterisation using heterogeneous strain-field specimens. The methodology addresses both the specimen recognition from a measurement’s image and the alignment procedure and is designed to be applied on a single measurement system. This is essential for its practical application because both processes, shape recognition and alignment, must be performed only after the specimen is fully prepared for the digital image correlation (DIC) measurements (white background and black speckles) and placed into a testing machine. The specimen can be observed with a single camera or with a multi-camera system. The robustness of the alignment method is presented on a treatment of a specimen with a metamaterial-like structure and compared with the well-known iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm. The performance of the methodology is also demonstrated on a real DIC application.

In this paper, a new class of Runge&ndash, Kutta-type collocation methods for the numerical integration of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is presented. Its derivation is based on the integral form of the differential equation. The approach enables enhancing the accuracy of the established collocation Runge&ndash, Kutta methods while retaining the same number of stages. We demonstrate that, with the proposed approach, the Gauss&ndash, Legendre and Lobatto IIIA methods can be derived and that their accuracy can be improved for the same number of method coefficients. We expressed the methods in the form of tables similar to Butcher tableaus. The performance of the new methods is investigated on some well-known stiff, oscillatory, and nonlinear ODEs from the literature.

In this work, a novel class of collocation methods for numerical integration of ODEs is presented. Methods are derived from the weighted integral form of ODEs by assuming that a polynomial function at individual time increment approximates the solution of the ODE. A distinct feature of the approach, which we demonstrated in this work, is that it allows the increase of accuracy of a method while retaining the number of method coefficients. This is achieved by applying different quadrature rule to the approximation function and the ODE, resulting in different behaviour of a method. Quadrature rules that we examined in this work are the Gauss–Legendre and Lobatto quadrature where several other quadrature rules could further be explored. The approach has also the potential for enhancing the accuracy of the established Runge–Kutta-type methods. We formulated the methods in the form of Butcher tables for convenient implementation. The performance of the new methods is investigated on some well-known stiff, oscillatory and non-linear ODEs from the literature.

During winter conditions, water intake structures represent one of many critical parts of hydraulic structures. Frazil ice deposits, accumulates and adhere to trash racks that can, in severe circumstances, completely prevent the water from entering the intake structure. One of the possible ways to cope with frazil ice blockage is by using waste heat of the discharge water, where a portion of the pumped water is recirculated back via a feedback loop to the intake structure. The recirculated water, serving as a heat source, can then somewhat warm the intake water and indirectly the air in the intake structure. In this work, an equation is derived that predicts the temperature of pumped water as a function of the recirculated-to-pumped water ratio and a case study on treating a water intake structure in a nuclear power plant is presented. The example demonstrates that, with a proper ratio between the pumped and recirculated flow rate, the formation of frazil ice and atmospheric icing could both be prevented.

This paper aims to compare different heterogeneous test designs from the perspective of the confidence interval quantification of inversely identified parameters, where the influence of a DIC optical system systematic and random error are taken into account. Because the errors in optical measurement can arise from many reasons and sources, our methodology relies on the system's errors determined from initial sets of pictures acquired at the load-free state for hundreds of specimens (over 850 tests over the past three years). In this way, a prior probability distribution of systematic and random error, arisen from the system initial settings and testing procedures are determined. Further, by conducting an inverse identification procedure of linear orthotropic elastic material parameters, the influence of the error distributions is studied for different types of heterogeneous specimens. The presented methodology determines the DIC bias and random error propagation through the inverse identification procedure to individual parameters. For each specimen design, confidence intervals of identified material parameters were determined. The results show the appropriateness of a specimen design for the identification of particular material parameters.

Ovaj rad obrađuje problem predviđanja mehaničkog odziva dijela zajedničke arterije glave (ZAG). Zaostala naprezanja u arteriji uzeta su u obzir uporabom termo-mehaničke analogije (TMA), koja se primjenjuje u ovom radu za potrebe modeliranja mehaničkog odziva dvoslojne strukture stijenke arterije. Obično se modeliranju zaostalih naprezanja u arteriji pristupi s uzdužno otvorenim modelom arterije, tzv. cut-open section, koji u slučaju bolesnikove arterije nije poznat. S TMA pristupom, umjesto uporabe uzdužno prerezane stijenke arterije, koja doduše osigurava početno stanje bez zaostalih naprezanja, u termo-mehaničkom modelu zajedničke arterije glave također je postignuto početno stanje bez zaostalih naprezanja ali na modelu stvarne, in vivo arterije. Tim pristupom, zaostalo naprezanje u ZAG aproksimirano je podvrgavanjem ZAG modela obujamskom deformacijom, t.j. primjenom odgovarajućih termičkih dilatacija. Takav pristup potvrđen je na modelu arterije kružnog presjeka i postizanjem stanja bez naprezanja u slučaju uzdužnog rezanja stijenke., This work deals with the prediction of the mechanical response of a section of a human common carotid artery (CCA). The arterial residual stress state is accounted for using the thermomechanical analogy (TMA) approach, which is applied in this work to model the mechanical response of a two-layered arterial structure. The starting point to model the arterial residual stress state is normally the cut-open section, which is in the case of patient-specific artery not known. With TMA approach, however, instead of using the arterial zero-stress cut-open configuration to predict the arterial residual stress state, a thermomechanical model of the CCA is considered with its zero-stress geometry defined based on the actual CCA in vivo configuration. The approximation to the CCA residual stress state is then obtained by exposing the auxiliary CCA model to a volumetric deformation, enforced via adequate thermal dilatations. The approach is validated on a circular arterial model and by predicting the CCA cut-open zero-stress state.

In this work, the residual stress state of a human common carotid artery is predicted using the so-called thermomechanical analogy approach. The purpose of the approach is to enable consistent mapping of residual stresses and the respective configuration from a circular arterial segment to a patient-specific arterial geometry. This is achieved by applying proper volumetric dilatations to the actual arterial stress-free in vivo geometry, which makes use of the analogy that states that the bending stresses can be obtained on an equivalent manner by applying proper thermal dilatations. The common carotid artery data are obtained in vivo from a healthy 28-year-old man using non-invasive methods. The predicted residual stresses of the common carotid artery are in good quantitative agreement with the data from prior work in this field. The approach is validated by predicting the common carotid artery zero-stress state configuration, where a sector-like (cut-open) state is obtained. With this approach, it is thus possible to predict the residual stresses as well as the configuration of patient-specific arterial geometry without the need to model its cut-open zero-stress configuration.

The purpose of this work is to predict the effect of impaired red blood cells (RBCs) deformability on blood flow conditions in human carotid artery bifurcation. First, a blood viscosity model is developed that predicts the steady-state blood viscosity as a function of shear rate, plasma viscosity, and mechanical (and geometrical) properties of RBC's. Viscosity model is developed by modifying the well-known Krieger and Dougherty equation for monodisperse suspensions by using the dimensional analysis approach. With the approach, we manage to account for the microscopic properties of RBC's, such as their deformability, in the macroscopic behavior of blood via blood viscosity. In the second part of the paper, the deduced viscosity model is used to numerically predict blood flow conditions in human carotid artery bifurcation. Simulations are performed for different values of RBC's deformability and analyzed by investigating parameters, such as the temporal mean wall shear stress (WSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), and mean temporal gradient of WSS. The analyses show that the decrease of RBC's deformability decrease the regions of low WSS (i.e., sites known to be prevalent at atherosclerosis-prone regions); increase, in average, the value of WSS along the artery; and decrease the areas of high OSI. These observations provide an insight into the influence of blood's microscopic properties, such as the deformability of RBC's, on hemodynamics in larger arteries and their influence on parameters that are known to play a role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis.

The prediction of the arterial zero-stress state is as of yet an unresolved problem in the field of modelling the mechanical response of patientspecific arteries. This is because the configuration associated with arterial zero-stress state is impossible to obtain experimentally. However, the zero-stress configuration (or, equivalently, the residual stresses related to this configuration) represents the crucial data of any numerical analysis. In this study, the mechanical response of a pre-stressed, pressurised, hyperelastic tube (representing the artery) is determined without knowing the initial zero-stress configuration of the artery. Instead, to predict the arterial residual (bending and stretching) stresses, a corresponding thermomechanical analogy is used. As shown in the paper, the arterial residual stress state can equally be obtained by thermally loading a properly defined closed tube. Thus, based on the loaded state of the corresponding thermomechanical model, the arterial residual stress sate is constructed, from where the arterial loaded state can be obtained. The initial configuration of the thermomechanical model is defined on the basis of the arterial loaded configuration. The methodology is validated by predicting the zero-stress state of the artery. The predicted equilibrium state of the artery, when cut longitudinally and transversally, has the form of an opened-up tube with a relatively low stress state in comparison to the arterial residual stresses. The results thus demonstrate that arterial residual stresses that are predicted with the corresponding thermomechanical model exhibited the bending distribution, which proves the methodology to be adequate. Določitev breznapetostnega stanja arterij predstavlja še vedno nerazrešen problem na področju numeričnega modeliranja mehanskega odziva realnih arterij. Breznapetostno stanje arterije, ki ima v splošnem obliko krožnega sektorja, je namreč eksperimentalno nemogoče določiti. Oblika breznapetostnega stanja (oziroma temu pripadajoče zaostalo napetostno stanje) pa je pomembno zato, ker predstavlja začetno stanje in tako ključen podatek sleherne numerične analize. Arterije se za karakterizacijo njihovega mehanskega odziva običajno obravnava kot idealno krožne cevi, to pomeni idealno krožne in ravne. Takšna poenostavitev omogoča določitev zaostalih napetosti arterije brez poznavanja njihovega breznapetostnega stanja. Prisotnost zaostalih napetosti je posledica homogenizacije odziva arterij in vivo. Napetostno stanje arterije in vivo bi bilo namreč izrazito nehomogeno z velikim transmuralnim gradientom brez upoštevanja zaostalih napetosti. Zaradi njihove porazdelitve skozi debelino žilne stene se jih običajno asociira z upogibnimi napetostmi. Na notranji površini kolobarja so zaostale napetosti tlačne, medtem ko so na zunanji površini natezne.