Yueqi Bi

To address the challenges to driving stability caused by large-curvature steering of wire-controlled mining vehicles in narrow tunnels, a fused four-wheel steering (4WS) control strategy based on real-time estimation of vehicle state parameters is proposed. A comprehensive longitudinal–lateral–yaw dynamics model for 4WS is established, and a comparative study is conducted on three control methods: proportional feedforward control, yaw rate feedback control, and fused control. Expressions for steady-state yaw rate gain under different control modes are derived, and the stability differences in 4WS characteristics among these strategies are thoroughly analyzed. To overcome the difficulty in directly acquiring state information for chassis steering control, a vehicle state parameter estimator based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is designed. To enhance the robustness to noise and computational real-time performance of vehicle state estimation in complex environments, a method for real-time estimation of noise covariance matrices using innovative sequences is adopted, improving the estimation accuracy of the algorithm. To validate the effectiveness of the control strategies, a co-simulation platform integrating Carsim and Matlab/Simulink is developed to simulate the performance of the three 4WS control methods under step steering and sinusoidal steering input conditions. The results show that, under low-speed conditions, 4WS strategies increase the yaw rate by approximately 50% and reduce the turning radius by over 45%, significantly enhancing steering maneuverability. Under medium-high speed conditions, 4WS strategies decrease the yaw rate by up to 68% and increase the turning radius by 17–29%, effectively suppressing oversteering tendencies to comprehensively improve stability, with the integrated control strategy demonstrating the best performance. Under both test conditions, the fused feedforward and feedback control strategy reduces the steady-state yaw rate by approximately 12.7% and 48.7%, respectively, compared to other control strategies, demonstrating superior stability.

In response to the current situation of backward automation levels, heavy labor intensities, and high accident rates in the underground coal mine auxiliary transportation system, the mining trackless auxiliary transportation robot (MTATBOT) is presented in this paper. The MTATBOT is specially designed for long-range, space-constrained, and explosion-proof underground coal mine environments. With an onboard perception and autopilot system, the MTATBOT can perform automated and unmanned subterranean material transportation. This paper proposes an integrated odometry-based method to improve position estimation and mitigate location ambiguities for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in large-scale, GNSS-denied, and perceptually degraded subterranean transport roadway scenarios. Additionally, this paper analyzes the robot dynamic model and presents a nonlinear control strategy for the robot to autonomously track a planned trajectory based on the path-following error dynamic model. Finally, the proposed algorithm and control strategy are tested and validated both in a virtual transport roadway environment and in an active underground coal mine. The test results indicate that the proposed algorithm can obtain more accurate and robust robot odometry and better large-scale underground roadway mapping results compared with other SLAM solutions.

Because the road surfaces of the underground roadways in coal mines are slippery, uneven, with dust and water mist, and the noise and light illumination effects are significant, global positioning system (GPS) signals cannot be received, which seriously affects the ability of the odometer, optical camera and ultrasonic camera to collect data. Therefore, the underground positioning of coal mines is a difficult issue that restricts the intellectualization of underground transportation, especially for automatic robots and automatic driving vehicles. Ultra-wide band (UWB) positioning technology has low power consumption, high performance and good positioning effects in non-visual environments. It is widely used in coal mine underground equipment positioning and information transmission. In view of the above problems, this research uses the WLR-5A mining unmanned wheeled chassis experimental platform; uses two UWB receivers to infer the position and yaw information of the vehicle in the underground roadway through the method of differential mapping; and tests the vehicle on the double shift line and quarter turn line in the GAZEBO simulation environment and on the ground simulation roadway to simulate the vehicle meeting conditions and quarter turning conditions in the underground roadway. The positioning ability of the method in these two cases is tested. The simulation and test results show that the vehicle position and attitude information deduced by two UWB receivers through the differential mapping method can basically meet the requirements of underground environments when the vehicle is traveling at low speeds.

The unevenly distributed mechanical properties of welded joints are one of the important factors, which affect welded joints’ safety seriously. The user-defined field (USDFLD) subroutine in ABAQUS finite element software can introduce variable-dependent material properties. This method can define inhomogeneous materials whose mechanical parameters depend on spatial coordinates and can be used to characterize the uneven mechanical properties of heat-affected zone and fusion zone. By establishing the static crack finite element model of welded joint with continuous change in yield strength, the sudden change in mechanical field in the numerical simulation process of sandwich structure model is eliminated. Compared with the existing numerical simulation methods of local mechanical heterogeneity of welded joints, this method provides a method to realize the structural integrity evaluation of welded joints.

The mechanical properties of dissimilar metal-welded joint materials are heterogeneous, which is an obstacle to the safety evaluation of key welded structures. The variation of stress–strain conditions at the crack tip caused by mismatch of material mechanical properties in dissimilar metal-welded joints is an important factor affecting crack propagation behavior. To understand the influence of uneven distribution of ultimate strength of the base metal and the welded metal on the crack propagation path, fracture toughness, as well as the mechanical field at the crack tip in the small-scale yield range, the user-defined field variable subroutine method is used to express continuous variation characteristics of welded joint ultimate strength in finite element software. In addition, the J-integral during crack propagation is calculated, and the effect of the ultimate strength on the J-integral and the stress field at the crack tip are analyzed. The results show that as the crack propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction of ultimate strength, the gradient of ultimate strength increases from |G_y|= 50 to |G_y|= 100 MPa/mm, the crack deflection angle increases by 0.018%, and the crack length increases by 1.46%. The fracture toughness of the material decreased slightly during crack propagation. Under the condition that the crack propagation direction is the same as the direction of ultimate strength, the crack propagation path is a straight line. As the gradient of ultimate strength increases from G_x = 50 to G_x = 100 MPa/mm, the crack propagation length decreases by 5.17%, and the slope of fracture toughness curve increases by 51.63%. On the contrary, as the crack propagates to the low ultimate strength side, the crack propagation resistance decreases, the ultimate strength gradient increases from G_x = −100 to G_x = −50 MPa/mm, and the slope of the fracture toughness curve decreases by 51.01%. It is suggested to consider the relationship between crack growth behavior and ultimate strength when designing and evaluating the structural integrity of cracks at the material interface of dissimilar metal-welded joints.

Due to the particularity of welding processes, the mechanical properties of welded joint materials, especially the yield strength, are unevenly distributed, and there are also a large number of micro cracks, which seriously affects the safety performance of welded joints. In this study, to analyze the effect of the uneven distribution of yield strength on the crack propagation path of welded joints, other mechanical properties and residual stresses of welded joints are ignored. In the ABAQUS 6.14 finite element software, the user-defined field (USDFLD) subroutine is used to define the unevenly distributed yield strength, and extended finite element (XFEM) is used to simulate crack propagation. In addition, the static crack finite element model of the welded joint model is established according to the crack propagation path, which is given the static crack model constant stress intensity factor load, and the influence of an uneven yield strength distribution on mechanical field is analyzed. The results show that the crack length of welded joints as well as the plastic deformation range of the crack tip in high stress areas can be reduced with the increase of yield strength along the crack propagation direction. Moreover, the crack deflects to the low yield strength side. This study provides an analytical reference for the crack path prediction of welded joints.

The structural integrity analysis of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is an essential procedure since the age of NPPs is increasing constantly while the number of new NPPs is still limited. Low‐cyclic fatigue (LCF) and stress corrosion cracking (SSC) are the two main causes of failure in light‐water reactors (LWRs). In the last few decades, many types of research studies have been conducted on these two phenomena separately, but the joint effect of these two mechanisms on the same crack has not been discussed yet though these two loads exist simultaneously in the LWRs. SCC is mainly a combination of the loading, the corrosive medium, and the susceptibility of materials while the LCF depends upon the elements such as compression, moisture, contact, and weld. As it is an attempt to combine SCC and LCF, this research focuses on the joint effect of SCC and LCF loading on crack propagation. The simulations are carried out using extended finite element method (XFEM) separately, for the SCC and LCF, on an identical crack. In the case of SCC, da/dt(mm/sec) is converted into da/dN_Scc (mm/cycle), and results are combined at the end. It has been observed that the separately calculated results for SCC (da/dN_Scc) and LCF (da/dN_m) of crack growth rate are different from those of joint/overall effect, . By applying different SCC loads, the overall crack growth is measured as SCC load becomes the main cause of failure in LWRs in some cases particularly in the presence of residual stresses.

For the problem of mechanical properties of heterogeneous dissimilar metal welded joints, when analyzed by the finite element method, it is usually simplified into a “sandwich” material structure model. However, the mechanical properties of materials in different regions of the “sandwich” material mechanics model are different, and there will be mutations at the material interface. In order to accurately describe the mechanical properties of welded joints, the constitutive equations of dissimilar metal welded joint materials were compiled, and the constitutive equations of inhomogeneous materials whose material mechanical properties were continuously changed with space coordinates were established. The ABAQUS software was used to establish the “sandwich” model and the continuous transition model. The model is used to compare and analyze the crack tip stress distribution of different yield strength mismatch coefficients. The results show that the continuous transition material model eliminates the mutation of the “sandwich” model at the material interface and achieves the continuous change of the mechanical properties of the material. For the longitudinal crack, under the influence of different mismatch coefficients, the crack tip stress field of the transitional material model is deflected toward the low yield strength side. The compilation of constitutive equations for continuous transition materials of dissimilar metal welded joints provides a basis for the safety evaluation of dissimilar metal welded joints.