Glass fibre is the most widely used material for reinforcing thermoplastic matrices presently and its use continues to grow. A significant disadvantage of glass fibre, however, is its impact on the environment, in particular, due to the fact that glass fibre-reinforced composite materials are difficult to recycle. Polyamide 6 is an engineering plastic frequently used as a matrix for high-mechanical performance composites. Producing polyamide monomer requires the use of a large amount of energy and can also pose harmful environmental impacts. Consequently, glass fibre-reinforced Polyamide 6 composites cannot be considered environmentally friendly. In this work, we assessed the performance of a road cycling pedal body consisting of a composite of natural Polyamide 11 reinforced with lignocellulosic fibres from stone-ground wood, as an alternative to the conventional glass fibre-reinforced Polyamide 6 composite (the most common material used for recreational purposes). We developed a 3D model of a pedal with a geometry based on a combination of two existing commercial choices and used it to perform three finite-element tests in order to assess its strength under highly demanding static and cyclic conditions. A supplementary life cycle analysis of the pedal was also performed to determine the ecological impact. Based on the results of the simulation tests, the pedal is considered to be mechanically viable and has a significantly lower environmental impact than fully synthetic composites.

In order to achieve better part quality in sheet metal forming the rate of the material flow into the die cavity must be efficiently controlled. This control is obtained using a restraining force supplied either by the blankholder tool, drawbeads or both. When the restraining force required is too high, the use of drawbeads is necessary, although excessive blank deformation may be produced. Some other disadvantages such as adjustment difficulties during die try-outs to determine the actual Drawbead Restraining Force (DBRF) may also be encountered. One way to solve these problems and to reduce the number of die try-outs - which are very much time consuming - is to introduce/define accurate enough drawbead concepts. The present study will make use of a method that has been developed using the similitude approach in order to understand the influence of the most important parameters on DBRF and to establish a pre-estimate DBRF theory. Data bases have been developed throughout Explicit Dynamic Finite Element Method (EDFEM) based simulations. The results are compared with experimental data bases provided by Nine (1978) and with the analytical model of Stoughton (1988) results. The average of absolute error with respect to experimental data bases was around 6% and, for the studied cases, the maximum discrepancy was found to be below 11%. For the analytical and experimental cases, the average of absolute error was approximately 5% and, for the studied cases, the maximum error was below 7%. In terms of precision, the predictions derived from this approach are adequate when compared with analytical and experimental results. For this reason, the approach has been validated and accepted as a contribution to STAMPACK®, a commercial explicit dynamic finite element based system for forming processes numerical simulation

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the nonlinear static response of steel concentrically braced frames (CBFs) by considering the response of embedded footings in granular soils using the Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) approach. To model the vertical stress-displacement behaviour of footings, it is possible to define a backbone curve capable of reproducing the total response by adding in series the behaviour of the compression zone with that of the tension zone. When uplift of the soil–foundation system is allowed, it has been demonstrated that it is necessary to consider the horizontal stresses of the native soil on site and the degree of compaction of the soil mass above the footing to avoid significant deviations between the analysis results and the real response. The tension zone in the backbone curves was calibrated while considering these parameters, and given the difficulty associated with their calibration, an estimation is reported that could also be used in the case of practical applications. The implementation of the model has been validated through various pushover analyses on an archetype steel CBF originally tested on a fixed base condition, and predictions were made for the flexible base condition, considering different types of soil and different embedment depths. The results suggest that there is a relationship between the nonlinear static response of steel CBF structures and the uplift mechanism of embedded footings that is influenced by the embedment depth of the footings and the shape of the tension-displacement zone of the backbone curves considered in the modelling process. The proposed model can be used to simulate the flexible base condition of CBF structures on embedded footings using nonlinear springs when carrying out performance-based design procedures.