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Summary Reliability analysis with both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties is investigated in this paper. The aleatory uncertainties are described with random variables, and epistemic uncertainties are tackled with evidence theory. To estimate the bounds of failure probability, several methods have been proposed. However, the existing methods suffer the dimensionality challenge of epistemic variables. To get rid of this challenge, a so‐called random‐set based Monte Carlo simulation (RS‐MCS) method derived from the theory of random sets is offered. Nevertheless, RS‐MCS is also computational expensive. So an active learning Kriging (ALK) model that only rightly predicts the sign of performance function is introduced and closely integrated with RS‐MCS. The proposed method is termed as ALK‐RS‐MCS. ALK‐RS‐MCS accurately predicts the bounds of failure probability using as few function calls as possible. Moreover, in ALK‐RS‐MCS, an optimization method based on Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions is proposed to make the estimation of failure probability interval more efficient based on the Kriging model. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach are demonstrated with four examples. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Load balancing, which redistributes dynamic workloads across computing nodes within cloud to improve resource utilization, is one of the main challenges in cloud computing system. Most existing rule-based load balancing algorithms failed to effectively fuse load data of multi-class system resources. The strategies they used for balancing loads were far from optimum since these methods were essentially performed in a combined way according to load state. In this work, a fuzzy clustering method with feature weight preferences is presented to overcome the load balancing problem for multi-class system resources and it can achieve an optimal balancing solution by load data fusion. Feature weight preferences are put forward to establish the relationship between prior knowledge of specific cloud scenario and load balancing procedure. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively balance loads consisting of multi-class system resources.

An innovative physics-guided learning algorithm for predicting the mechanical response of materials and structures is proposed in this paper. The key concept of the proposed study is based on the fact that physics models are governed by Partial Differential Equation (PDE), and its loading/ response mapping can be solved using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Based on this, a special type of deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) is proposed that takes advantage of our prior knowledge in physics to build data-driven models whose architectures are of physics meaning. This type of network is named as FEA-Net and is used to solve the mechanical response under external loading. Thus, the identification of a mechanical system parameters and the computation of its responses are treated as the learning and inference of FEA-Net, respectively. Case studies on multi-physics (e.g., coupled mechanical-thermal analysis) and multi-phase problems (e.g., composite materials with random micro-structures) are used to demonstrate and verify the theoretical and computational advantages of the proposed method.

Ceramic particle reinforced iron matrix composites are one of the most promising wear resistant materials for tough conditions. Up to now, varieties of methods have been developed to fabricate this material, e.g. the infiltration casting process, which is especially beneficial to prepare the surface composite. Based on this method, a honeycomb structure of surface composite has been designed aiming to increase its toughness and interface strength. Moreover, zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) is a perfect choice of reinforcement for wear resistant composite under high impact. The wettability between ZTA particle and iron matrix is a key factor to determine the performance of composite; the wettability can be improved by introducing active elements into their interface.

In the process of the attitude measurement for a steering drilling system, the measurement of the attitude parameters may be uncertain and unpredictable due to the influence of server vibration on bits. In order to eliminate the interference caused by vibration on the measurement and quickly obtain the accurate attitude parameters of the steering drilling tool, a new method for multi-sensor dynamic attitude combined measurement is presented. Firstly, by using a triaxial accelerometer and triaxial magnetometer measurement system, the nonlinear model based on the quaternion is established. Then, an improved adaptive fading square root unscented Kalman filter is proposed for eliminating the vibration disturbance signal. In this algorithm, the square root of the state covariance matrix is used to replace the covariance matrix in the classical unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to avoid the filter divergence caused by the negative definite state covariance matrix. The fading factor is introduced into UKF to adjust the filter gain in real-time and improve the adaptive ability of the algorithm to mutation state. Finally, the computational method of the fading factor is optimized to ensure the self-adaptability of the algorithm and reduce the computational complexity. The results of the laboratory test and the field-drilling data show that the proposed method can filter out the interference noise in the attitude measurement sensor effectively, improve the solution accuracy of attitude parameters of drilling tools in the case of abrupt changes in the measuring environment, and thus ensuring the dynamic stability of the well trajectory.

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Nd alloy was prepared by casting and hot extrusion. The microstructure and mechanical properties of OM, SEM, XRD, TEM, and tensile tests were investigated with casting and hot extruded alloys. The results demonstrate that in a casting Mg-Y-Nd-Zr alloy, the a-Mg matrix is separated into the cell structure by a discontinuously distributed coarse Mg 24 Y 5 /a-Mg eutectic structure and fine Mg 12 Nd particles. TEM analysis shows that the Mg 12 Nd and Mg 24 Y 5 phases have the orientation of [ ] //[ ] 001 0221