Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

Over the past several decades, a noticeable amount of research efforts has been directed to minimising injuries and death to people inside a structure that is subjected to an impact loading. Thin-walled (TW) tubular components have been widely employed in energy absorbing structures to alleviate the detrimental effects of an impact loading during a collision event and thus enhance the crashworthiness performance of a structure. Comprehensive knowledge of the material properties and the structural behaviour of various TW components under various loading conditions is essential for designing an effective energy absorbing system. In this paper, based on a broad survey of the literature, a comprehensive overview of the recent developments in the area of crashworthiness performance of TW tubes is given with a special focus on the topics that emerged in the last ten years such as crashworthiness optimisation design and energy absorbing responses of unconventional TW components including multi-cells tubes, functionally graded thickness tubes and functionally graded foam filled tubes. Due to the huge number of studies that analysed and assessed the energy absorption behaviour of various TW components, this paper presents only a review of the crashworthiness behaviour of the components that can be used in vehicles structures including hollow and foam-filled TW tubes under lateral, axial, oblique and bending loading.

https://myresearchspace.uws.ac.uk/ws/files/1765038/Paper_2.pdf

On the crashworthiness performance of thin-walled energy absorbers: Recent advances and future developments

Thermal energy storage: "How previous findings determine current research priorities"

This paper describes a computationally aided design process of a thin wall structure subject to dynamic compression in both axial and oblique directions. Several different cross sectional shapes of thin walled structures subjected to direct and oblique loads were compared initially to obtain the cross section that fulfills the performance criteria. The selection was based on multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) process. The performance parameters used are the absorbed crash energy, crush force efficiency, ease of manufacture and cost. Once the cross section was selected, the design was further enhanced for better crash performances by investigating the effect of foam filling, increasing the wall thickness and by introducing a trigger mechanism. The outcome of the design process was very encouraging as the new design was able to improve the crash performance by an average of 10%.

Design of thin wall structures for energy absorption applications: Enhancement of crashworthiness due to axial and oblique impact forces

Foam-filled thin-walled structure and multi-cell thin-walled structure both have recently gained attentions for their excellent energy absorption capacity. As an integrator of the above two kinds of thin-walled structures, foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structure (FMTS) may have extremely excellent energy absorption capacity. This paper firstly investigates the energy absorption characteristics of FMTSs by nonlinear finite element analysis through LS-DYNA. Based on the numerical results, it can be found that the FMTS with nine cells has the most excellent crashworthiness characteristics in our considered cases. Thus, the FMTSs with cell number n=9 are then optimized by adopting a multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm to achieve maximum specific energy absorption (SEA) capacity and minimum peak crushing force (PCF). During the process of multi-objective optimization design (MOD), four kinds of commonly used metamodels, namely polynomial response surface (PRS), radial basis function (RBF), Kriging (KRG) and support vector regression (SVR) for SEA and PCF, are established to reduce the computational cost of crash simulations by the finite element method. In order to choose the best metamodel for optimization, the accuracies of these four kinds of metamodels are compared by employing the error evaluation indicators of the relative error (RE) and the root mean square error (RMSE). The optimal design of FMTSs with nine cells is an extremely excellent energy absorber and can be used in the future vehicle body.

Crashworthiness optimization design for foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structures

Mesoscale finite element prediction of concrete failure

In this paper, a new type of metallic yielding damper called comb-teeth damper, CTD, is introduced. CTD is made of steel plates and includes a number of teeth that dissipate energy through in-plane flexural yielding. An optimum geometry of teeth is suggested, which assures uniform distribution of stress along them and prevents strain localization. Finite element modeling is used to verify the design of proposed damper and to study nonlinear behavior of the damper subjected to monotonic as well as cyclic loading. Three full scale specimens have also been made and tested under cyclic loading. In order to restrict out-ofplane buckling of damper teeth, a special clamp has been designed. A numerical study has elaborated the effects of these clamps in comparison to increasing the thickness of individual tooth. The tested samples have tolerated considerable cumulative displacement in their hysteresis cycles without any significant loss of strength.

Numerical and experimental study of comb-teeth metallic yielding dampers

Numerical modelling of dynamically loaded metal foam-filled square columns

Finite element simulation of ultra low cycle fatigue cracking in steel structures

Comb-teeth damper (CTD), is a new type of metallic yielding damper, which is made of steel plates and includes a number of teeth that dissipate energy through in-plane flexural yielding. The behavior of individual samples of CTD have been previously studied numerically and experimentally and it has been shown that this damper has excellent energy dissipating capacity and large ductility ratio. In this paper, application of this type of damper to steel frames is studied. Sample steel frames are constructed and equipped with CTDs and tested under cyclic loading. The results show that these dampers can serve their intended duties and dissipate considerable amount of energy. Numerical modelling of the frames confirms the experimental results and shows that by correct proportioning of the members, frame members i.e. beams, columns and braces remain elastic during lateral loading. This allows using the CTDs as a replaceable energy dissipating device. Finally CTDs are included in a reference frame and their effects on reducing seismic demand are studied using non-linear time history analysis. The results show that by using a smaller volume of steel in CTD dampers compared to traditional TADAS, the same level of response reduction may be achieved, while utilizing economic advantage of this type of damper.

Sharif Shahbeyk

Papers

Mesoscale finite element prediction of concrete failure

Numerical and experimental study of comb-teeth metallic yielding dampers

Numerical modelling of dynamically loaded metal foam-filled square columns

Finite element simulation of ultra low cycle fatigue cracking in steel structures

Seismic Behavior of Steel Frames Equipped with Comb-Teeth Metallic Yielding Dampers