Combinational Mechanics and Stable Loading

研究人员将开发在移动和存储设备（如飞机、卡车、船舶、货架和托盘）上装载货物的算法，以便货物安全平衡和稳定。这样的问题有这样的一般形式：给定一个结构和一组力和力矩，这些力和力矩应该应用到结构的哪里？这补充了机械工程的传统设计问题：给定一组最坏情况下的力和力矩，设计一个结构来承受它们。研究人员创造了“组合力学”这个术语来描述要研究的问题。这些问题涉及到力学，因为涉及到重心、变形、固有频率等。这些问题是组合性的，因为这些力通常是由要储存的物品的重量引起的，所以结构上的合力取决于物品的排列方式。这项研究的方法代表了传统负荷规划方法的创新。组合力学领域的发展可以为这种性质的物流问题的新解释打开大门。

The investigators will develop algorithms for stowing cargo on movement-and-storage devices such as airplanes, trucks, ships, shelves, and pallets so that the load is safely balanced and stable. Such problems have this general form: Given a structure and a set of forces and moments, where should those forces and moments be applied to the structure? This complements the traditional design questions of mechanical engineering: Given a set of worst-case forces and moments, design a structure to bear them. The investigators have coined the term "combinatorial mechanics" to describe the issues to be studied. The problems involve mechanics because of the concern for the center-of-gravity, deformation, natural frequency, and so on. The problems are combinatorial because the forces generally arise from the weight of items to be stored, and so the resultant forces on the structure depend on how the items are arranged. The approach to this research represents an innovative departure from traditional load planning approaches. The development of a field of combinatorial mechanics could open the door to novel interpretations of logistics problems of this nature.