Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, the development of a controller for autonomous lateral alignment of fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with runway centerline in landing phase is presented. Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) is used in order to enable the vehicle to mimic the decision making procedure that a pilot follow in the same situation. Also, for longitudinal motion controller design for the UAV to follow a pre-defined trajectory, the pole-placement technique is used. It is assumed that the runway relative position and orientation are provided by a built in vision system and its associated image processing unit. The performance of the controller in the presence of the Gaussian noises is investigated by... 

This paper proposes a high performance voltage tracking and current sharing among parallel connected inverters by applying optimal control and minimizing the cost function. The control system forces the voltage of load to track the voltage reference, and the current of all inverters becomes equal. Therefore, both current sharing and voltage tracking are obtained. In addition, the smallest input energy and simplicity in control circuit are the other advantages of the suggested method. To show the performance of the proposed control scheme, the simulations with two-modular practical systems are performed and the results are provided. The results indicate that the control objectives are... 

Recorded ground accelerations at various locations of Karun III Dam during November 20, 2007, were recorded by an array of accelerometers located on the dam. In terms of amplitude and phase, these accelerations show non-uniformities in different elevations. In this paper, the effect of these non-uniform ground motions on the seismic response of the dam taking dam-reservoir-foundation interaction into account is investigated. The EACD-3D-2008 finite element program and ABAQUS Software are used for carrying out the seismic analyses. For this purpose, time histories of the earthquake accelerations are interpolated at nodal points located on the dam foundation interface. The analysis has been... 

Thermal analysis of Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dams is generally carried out considering identical ambient boundary conditions at upstream and downstream faces. For the case of Shahri-Kor Dam (an RCC dam with a height of 57 m), recorded thermal data depicts a considerable difference between upstream and downstream ambient temperatures, especially during cold months. This paper investigates how taking this difference into account can affect the thermal response of the dam. For this purpose, two thermal analyses are carried out with and without consideration of these different ambient boundary conditions (DABC). Consequently, the computed temperatures at representative points are compared... 

An analytical-numerical method to determine the dynamic response of beams with various boundary conditions subjected to a moving mass under a pulsating force is explained. Governing partial differential equations of the system are changed to a convenience type of ordinary differential equations to be solved through a Runge-Kutta scheme. Pulsating force specifications influenced the dynamic response of the beam depending on the moving mass properties. Results showed the significant effect of the boundary conditions on the dynamic response of the beam, which was considered rarely in the past. Stiffening the constraints reduces the maximum stresses in the beams. Results for identical... 

In this paper, the steady-state stresses in a homogeneous isotropic half-space under a moving wheel-type load with constant subsonic speed, prescribed on a finite patch on the boundary, are investigated. Navier's equations of motion in 2D case were modified via Stokes-Helmholtz resolution to a system of partial differential equations. A double Fourier-Laplace transformation procedure was employed to solve the system of partial differential equations in a new moving reference system, regarding the boundary conditions. The effects of force transmission from the contact patch to the half-space have been considered in the boundary conditions. Utilizing a property of Laplace transformation leads... 

A traveling mass due to its mass inertia has significant effects on the dynamic response of the structures. According to recent developments in structural materials and constructional technologies, the structures are likely to be affected by sudden changes of masses and substructure elements, in which the inertia effect of a moving mass is not negligible. The transverse inertia effects have been a topic of interest in bridge dynamics, design of railway tracks, guide way systems and other engineering applications such as modern high-speed precision machinery process. In this study an analytical-numerical method is presented which can be used to determine the dynamic response of beams carrying... 

The dynamic response of a homogeneous, isotropic elastic half-space under a moving time-varying inertial load with subsonic speed is investigated. The surface of the half-space, which is under the action of the moving load, is a thin frictionless layer. In order to study the influences of the inertia of loads, the problem was first solved for a moving load and, then, the procedure was extended to include the inertial effects. The Navier equations of motion for the two-dimensional half-space were transformed to a system of wave-type partial differential equations using the Stokes-Helmholtz resolution. A new moving coordinate system was used and a modified system of equation was derived. The... 

An analytical approach is employed to investigate the transient and steady-state stresses in an isotropic, homogeneous half-space subjected to moving concentrated loads with subsonic speeds. Applying the Stokes-Helmholtz resolution to the Navier's equation of motion for the half-space results in a system of wavetype partial differential equations. Based on the new moving coordinate system, a modified system of partial differential equations is obtained. Applying a concurrent two-sided and one-sided Laplace transformation, this system is modified to a system of ordinary differential equations, the solutions of which are obtained with respect to boundary conditions. The transformed transient... 

Nanotechnology is used in different engineering fields such as mechanical, aerospace, and civil. One of the most interesting structures which recently have come to the center of attention is the Graphene Sheet (GS). Graphene is a material with high potential of usage in civil structures like structural rehabilitation. In the present paper a finite element based structural analysis program is employed to study the mechanical properties of GS. The advantage of using this method is its simplicity and efficiency in different types of loading. The models considered here are based on a structural mechanics approach by using finite beam elements. Variations of Young's moduli of GS versus different... 

In this paper, we exploit a fuzzy controller on a flexible bevel-tip needle to manipulate the needle's base in order to steer its tip in a preset obstacle-free and target-tracking path. Although the needle tends to follow a curvature path, spinning the needle with an extremely high rotational velocity makes it symmetric with respect to the tissue to follow a straight path. The fuzzy controller determines an appropriate spinning to generate the planned trajectory and, the closed-loop system tries to match the needle body with that trajectory. The swine's brain tissue model, extracted from an in-vitro experimental setup, is a non-homogenous, uncertain and fast-updatable network to model real... 

In many medical applications, it is necessary to precisely control a robot to achieve exact positioning. In such cases, some components of robot which had been considered rigid should be modeled with visco-elastic elements to present more exact model of robot, and hence controllers designed under the assumption of rigidity may not accurately control them, especially when time-delay and disturbances have been appeared in the closed-loop system. In this study, we present a new control approach to force such robots to have rigid and exact motions, while they have visco-elastic components. Time-delay in the feedback path defects transient state response, while disturbances change the steady... 

Recent research works demonstrated that the interaction between the loads and the carrying structure's boundary which is related to the inertia of the load is an influential factor on the dynamic response of the structure. Although effects of the inertia in moving loads were considered in many works, very few papers can be found on the inertial effects of the stationary loads on structures. In this paper, an elastodynamic formulation was employed to investigate the dynamic response of a homogeneous isotropic elastic half-space under an inertial strip foundation subjected to a time-harmonic force. Fourier integral transformation was used to solve the system of Poisson-type partial... 

Cement kiln dust (CKD) is one of the most important waste materials in the cement industry. The large amount of this material, has encouraged researchers to propose new ways to recycle and reuse it. In this paper, effects of adding cement kiln dust to the ordinary Portland cement, on the physical and mechanical properties of ordinary and lightweight concrete were investigated. Results showed that concrete containing CKD, presents lower workability and modulus of elasticity; however, improvements in strength was observed by adding particular amounts of CKD. Eventually, it was found that adding 10% of cement weight CKD is the appropriate percentage for utilizing in manufacturing ordinary and...