Measurement-driven Gauss-Hermite particle filter with soft spatiotemporal constraints for multi-optical theodolites target tracking

Multi-Optical Theodolite Tracking systems (MOTTs) can stealthily extract the target’s status information from bearings only through non-contact measurement. The constrained MOTTs are partially compatible, yet many existing research works and results are based on the known model, ignoring its discrimination with the target maneuvering behavior pattern. To compensate for these mismatches, this paper develops a Measurement-driven Gauss-Hermite Particle Filter (MGHPF), which elegantly fuses the spatiotemporal constraints and its soft form to perform MOTT missions. Specifically, the target dynamic model and tracking algorithm are based on the target behavior pattern with the adaptive turn rate, fully exploiting the spatial epipolar geometry characteristics for each intersection measurement by a minimax strategy. Then, the center of the feasible area is approximated via the analytic coordinate transformation, and the latent samples are updated via the deterministic Gauss-Hermite integral method with the target’s predictive turn rate. Simultaneously, the effects of truncation correction and compensation feedback from the current measurement and historical estimation data are adaptively incorporated into the PF’s importance distribution to cover the mixture likelihood. Besides, an effective causality-invariant updating rule is provided to estimate the parameters of these soft spatiotemporal constrained MOTTs with convergence guarantees. Simulated and measured results show good agreement; compared with the state-of-the-art Multi-Model Rao-Blackwell Particle Filter (MMRBPF), the proposed MGHPF improves the filtering accuracy by 7.4%-34.7% and significantly reduces the computational load.     

Study on the Deformation Behavior of Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Mn Wrought Magnesium Alloys by Visco-plastic Self-consistent Modeling

The plastic deformation behavior of new Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Mn magnesium alloys gains great necessity to clarify and understand the mechanism deeply. In the present work， the tensile mechanical property test and visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) model are used to investigate the activities of deformation modes of VW84M and VW94M magnesium alloys during the tensile deformation. The results show that the mechanical properties of the above extruded alloys are similar but VW94M has higher strength than VW84M after the same aging process. Compared with the extruded alloys， the as-aged alloys have significantly higher activation of pyramidal slip at the later stage of plastic deformation. In addition， the as-aged VW94M alloy with higher strength has the largest activity of pyramidal slip. In summary， the addition of Gd increases the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) in each slip system of VW94M， while the increase in the strength and the decrease in the elongation of as-aged alloys are associated with the significant activation of pyramidal slip.     

Biaxial tensile behavior of Ti-6Al-4V under proportional loading

The biaxial tensile behavior of isotropic Ti-6Al-4 V is characterized in this paper. A novel cruciform specimen was designed and optimized to achieve uniform stress and strain distribution within the gauge area. Biaxial tensile tests were conducted at three different loading ratios by the biaxial testing machine. The Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique was applied to determine strain distribution, and a high-speed camera was employed to record the fracture process. An Inverse Analysis (IA) approach with a combined experimental and numerical method was proposed to determine the true stresses at the gauge section of the specimen during biaxial tensile tests. The results indicate that the initial yield locus can be described by the Cazacu criterion accurately, whereas the Mises criterion can predict better the strengthening behavior of Ti-6Al-4 V in the first quadrant in the principal stress space.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of mechanical behavior of plain woven CFRP composites subjected to three-point bending

The mechanical behavior of plain woven Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites under Three-Point Bending (TPB) is investigated via experimental and numerical approaches. Multiscale models, including microscale, mesoscale and macroscale models, have been developed to characterize the TPB strength and damages. Thereinto, Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) of the microscale and mesoscale structures are established to determine the effective properties of carbon-fiber yarn and CFRP composites, respectively. Aimed at accurately and efficiently predicting the TPB behavior, an Equivalent Cross-Ply Laminate (ECPL) cell is proposed to simplify the inherent woven architecture, and the effective properties of the subcell are computed using a local homogenization approach. The macroscale model of the TPB specimen is constructed by a topology structure of ECPL cells to predict the mechanical behavior. The TPB experiments have been performed to validate the multiscale models. Both the experimental and numerical results reveal that delamination mainly appears in the top and bottom interfaces of the CFRP laminates. And matrix cracking and delamination are identified as the significant damage modes during the TPB process. Finally, the quasi-static and dynamic behaviors of plain woven composites are discussed by comparing the results of Low-Velocity Impact (LVI) and TPB simulations.     

Local empirical model of ionospheric variability

The paper presents an analysis of the ionospheric variability as a function of local time, month, and geomagnetic activity level. The 2003–2020 dataset of peak electron densities (NmF2) from the Irkutsk DPS-4 Digisonde (52.3°N, 104.3°E) was converted into the dataset of the NmF2 disturbances (ΔNmF2) representing the relative (percentage) deviations of the NmF2 from the 27-day running median. The ΔNmF2 dataset was used to calculate root mean square values of ΔNmF2 (σNmF2) by 27-day running averaging. These σNmF2 values were considered as a measure of ionospheric variability. The σNmF2 as function of local time, day of year, and year was the input for building the local empirical model of ionospheric variability based on the linear regression of σNmF2 on the 27-day average daily Ap-index of geomagnetic activity. The paper demonstrates the diurnal-seasonal variations in σNmF2 under low geomagnetic activity (linear regression intercept) as well as the rate of increase/decrease in σNmF2 with increasing Ap (linear regression slope). The obtained diurnal, seasonal, and geomagnetic activity behavior of σNmF2 is compared with previous studies of ionospheric variability.