Modeling of soft clays response for seismic triggering of submarine slides

Submarine landslides pose considerable hazards to coastal communities and offshore structures. The difficulty and cost of obtaining undisturbed samples of offshore soils for determining material properties required for slope stability analyses contribute to the complexity of the problem. There are significant advantages in using a simplified model for the seismic response of submarine slopes, compatible with the limited amount of information that can be realistically gathered, but still able to capture the key elements of clay behavior. This paper illustrates the process of parameter determination and calibration of the SIMPLE DSS model, developed for the study of seismic triggering of submarine slope instabilities. The selection of parameters and predictions of monotonic and cyclic simple shear response are carried out for Boston Blue Clay, a marine clay extensively studied and with a large experimental database available in the literature. The results show that the simplified model is able to reproduce the important trends in the response of the soil, especially in accounting for the effect of the slope.

An integrated 2-D model of a lithium ion battery: The effect of material parameters and morphology on storage particle stress

An integrated 2-D model of a lithium ion battery is developed to study the mechanical stress in storage particles as a function of material properties. A previously developed coupled stress-diffusion model for storage particles is implemented in 2-D and integrated into a complete battery system. The effect of morphology on the stress and lithium concentration is studied for the case of extraction of lithium in terms of previously developed non-dimensional parameters. These non-dimensional parameters include the material properties of the storage particles in the system, among other variables. We examine particles functioning in isolation as well as in closely-packed systems. Our results show that the particle distance from the separator, in combination with the material properties of the particle, is critical in predicting the stress generated within the particle. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Measuring the compressive viscoelastic mechanical properties of human cervical tissue using indentation.

The human cervix is an important mechanical barrier in pregnancy which must withstand the compressive and tensile forces generated from the growing fetus. Premature cervical shortening resulting from premature cervical remodeling and alterations of cervical material properties are known to increase a woman׳s risk of preterm birth (PTB). To understand the mechanical role of the cervix during pregnancy and to potentially develop indentation techniques for in vivo diagnostics to identify women who are at risk for premature cervical remodeling and thus preterm birth, we developed a spherical indentation technique to measure the time-dependent material properties of human cervical tissue taken from patients undergoing hysterectomy. In this study we present an inverse finite element analysis (IFEA) that optimizes material parameters of a viscoelastic material model to fit the stress-relaxation response of excised tissue slices to spherical indentation. Here we detail our IFEA methodology, report compressive viscoelastic material parameters for cervical tissue slices from nonpregnant (NP) and pregnant (PG) hysterectomy patients, and report slice-by-slice data for whole cervical tissue specimens. The material parameters reported here for human cervical tissue can be used to model the compressive time-dependent behavior of the tissue within a small strain regime of 25%.

Contractile and mechanical properties of epithelia with perturbed actomyosin dynamics.

Mechanics has an important role during morphogenesis, both in the generation of forces driving cell shape changes and in determining the effective material properties of cells and tissues. Drosophila dorsal closure has emerged as a reference model system for investigating the interplay between tissue mechanics and cellular activity. During dorsal closure, the amnioserosa generates one of the major forces that drive closure through the apical contraction of its constituent cells. We combined quantitation of live data, genetic and mechanical perturbation and cell biology, to investigate how mechanical properties and contraction rate emerge from cytoskeletal activity. We found that a decrease in Myosin phosphorylation induces a fluidization of amnioserosa cells which become more compliant. Conversely, an increase in Myosin phosphorylation and an increase in actin linear polymerization induce a solidification of cells. Contrary to expectation, these two perturbations have an opposite effect on the strain rate of cells during DC. While an increase in actin polymerization increases the contraction rate of amnioserosa cells, an increase in Myosin phosphorylation gives rise to cells that contract very slowly. The quantification of how the perturbation induced by laser ablation decays throughout the tissue revealed that the tissue in these two mutant backgrounds reacts very differently. We suggest that the differences in the strain rate of cells in situations where Myosin activity or actin polymerization is increased arise from changes in how the contractile forces are transmitted and coordinated across the tissue through ECadherin-mediated adhesion. Altogether, our results show that there is an optimal level of Myosin activity to generate efficient contraction and suggest that the architecture of the actin cytoskeleton and the dynamics of adhesion complexes are important parameters for the emergence of coordinated activity throughout the tissue.

Creep response of sandwich beams with a metallic foam core

The creep response of metallic foam sandwich beams in 3-point bend is investigated numerically for the case of a metallic foam core and two steel faces. The face sheets are treated as elastic, while the foam core is modeled by a viscoplastic extension of the Deshpande-Fleck yield surface. This power-law creeping constitutive law has been implemented within the commercial finite element code ABAQUS. It is found that the beams creep by a variety of competing mechanisms, depending upon the choice of material properties and the geometric parameters. A failure map is constructed and effect of rate dependence on the load-deflection curves is quantified, and compared against the available experimental data.

Plastic collapse of sandwich beams with a metallic foam core

Plastic collapse modes of sandwich beams have been investigated experimentally and theoretically for the case of an aluminum alloy foam with cold-worked aluminum face sheets. Plastic collapse is by three competing mechanisms: face yield, indentation and core shear, with the active mechanism depending upon the choice of geometry and material properties. The collapse loads, as predicted by simple upper bound solutions for a rigid, ideally plastic beam, and by more refined finite element calculations are generally in good agreement with the measured strengths. However, a thickness effect of the foam core on the collapse strength is observed for collapse by core shear: the shear strength of the core increases with diminishing core thickness in relation to the cell size. Limit load solutions are used to construct collapse maps, with the beam geometrical parameters as axes. Upon displaying the collapse load for each collapse mechanism, the regimes of dominance of each mechanism and the associate mass of the beam are determined. The map is then used in optimal design by minimizing the beam weight for a given structural load index.

The effect of inclined soil layers on surface vibration from underground railways using a semi-analytical approach

Ground vibration due to underground railways is a significant source of disturbance for people living or working near the subways. The numerical models used to predict vibration levels have inherent uncertainty which must be understood to give confidence in the predictions. A semi-analytical approach is developed herein to investigate the effect of soil layering on the surface vibration of a halfspace where both soil properties and layer inclination angles are varied. The study suggests that both material properties and inclination angle of the layers have significant effect ( ± 10dB) on the surface vibration response. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Quantitative approaches for characterising fibrillar protein nanostructures

Polypeptide sequences have an inherent tendency to self-assemble into filamentous nanostructures commonly known as amyloid fibrils. Such self-assembly is used in nature to generate a variety of functional materials ranging from protective coatings in bacteria to catalytic scaffolds in mammals. The aberrant self-assembly of misfolded peptides and proteins is also, however, implicated in a range of disease states including neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. It is increasingly evident that the intrinsic material properties of these structures are crucial for understanding the thermodynamics and kinetics of the pathological deposition of proteins, particularly as the mechanical fragmentation of aggregates enhances the rate of protein deposition by exposing new fibril ends which can promote further growth. We discuss here recent advances in physical techniques that are able to characterise the hierarchical self-assembly of misfolded protein molecnles and define their properties. © 2010 Materials Research Society.

HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS SILICON THIN-FILM DEPOSITION BY DIRECT PHOTO-ENHANCED DECOMPOSITION OF SILANE USING AN INTERNAL HYDROGEN DISCHARGE LAMP.

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films have been deposited from silane using a novel photo-enhanced decomposition technique. The system comprises a hydrogen discharge lamp contained within the reaction vessel; this unified approach allows high energy photon excitation of the silane molecules without absorption by window materials or the need for mercury sensitisation. The film growth rates (exceeding 4 Angstrom/s) and material properties obtained are comparable to those of films produced by plasma-enhanced CVD techniques. The reduction of energetic charged particles in the film growth region should enable the fabrication of cleaner semiconductor/insulator interfaces in thin-film transistors.

The generation of wear surfaces

Abrasive wear is likely to occur whenever a hard asperity or a trapped hard particle is dragged across a softer surface, and it has been estimated that this form of wear contributes to as many as half of the wear problems that are met in industry. Such damaging hard particles may be external contaminants, products of corrosion or even the debris from previous wear events. During the life of a component, damage caused by individual asperity or particle interactions builds up and, at each stage of its life, the worn surface is the result of many such superimposed wear events. The practical, quantitative prediction of wear rates depends on having both a satisfactory understanding of individual interactions and a suitable procedure for combining these when subsequent contacts are made on a surface whose topography and material properties may have been much changed Irom their initial states. The paper includes some details of an analytical model for the interaction of a representative asperity and the worn surface which can both predict the frictional force and the balance between ploughing, when material is displaced but not lost from the surface, and micromachining or cutting, when actual detachment occurs. Experiments tö !rvvéSuQ8Î8 the validity of the model have been carried out on a novel wear rig which provides very precise control over the position of the asperity and the counterface. This facility, together with that of on-board profilometry, means that it is possible to carry out wear experiments on areas of the surface whose previous deformation history is well known; in this way it is possible to follow the development of a worn surface in a controlled manner as the damage from individual wear events accumulates. Experimental data on the development of such a surface, produced by repeated parallel abrasion, are compared with the predictions of the model. © 1992 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Fracture and energy partitioning in uncooked and cooked noodles

Humans perform fascinating science experiments at home on a daily basis when they undertake the modification of natural and naturally-derived materials by a cooking process prior to consumption. The material properties of such foods are of interest to food scientists (texture is often fundamental to food acceptability), oral biologists (foods modulate feeding behavior), anthropologists (cooking is probably as old as the genus Homo and distinguishes us from all other creatures) and dentists (foods interact with tooth and tooth replacement materials). Materials scientists may be interested in the drastic changes in food properties observed over relatively short cooking times. In the current study, the mechanical properties of one of the most common (and oldest at 4,000+ years) foods on earth, the noodle, were examined as a function of cooking time. Two types of noodles were studied, each made from natural materials (wheat flour, salt, alkali and water) by kneading dough and passing them through a pasta-making machine. These were boiled for between 2-14 min and tested at regular intervals from raw to an overcooked state. Cyclic tensile tests at small strain levels were used to examine energy dissipation characteristics. Energy dissipation was >50% per cycle in uncooked noodles, but decreased by an order of magnitude with cooking. Fractional dissipation values remained approximately constant at cooking times greater than 7 min. Overall, a greater effect of cooking was on viscoplastic dissipation characteristics rather than on fracture resistance. The results of the current study plot the evolution of a viscoplastic mixture into an essentially elastic material in the space of 7 minutes and have broad implications for understanding what cooking does to food materials. In particular, they suggest that textural assessment by consumers of the optimally cooked state of food has a definite physical definition. © 2007 Materials Research Society.

Poroelastic indentation analysis for hydrated biological tissues

Indentation techniques are employed for the measurement of mechanical properties of a wide range of materials. In particular, techniques focused at small length-scales, such as nanoindentation and AFM indentation, allow for local characterization of material properties in heterogeneous materials including natural tissues and biomimetic materials. Typical elastic analysis for spherical indentation is applicable in the absence of time-dependent deformation, but is inappropriate for materials with time-dependent responses. Recent analyses for the viscoelastic indentation problem, based on elastic-viscoelastic correspondence, have begun to address the issue of time-dependent deformation during an indentation test. The viscoelastic analysis has been shown to fit experimental indentation data well, and has been demonstrated as useful for characterization of viscoelasticity in polymeric materials and in hydrated mineralized tissues. However, a viscoelastic analysis is not necessarily sufficient for multi-phase materials with fluid flow. In the current work, a poroelastic analysis-based on fluid motion through a porous elastic network-is used to examine spherical indentation creep responses of hydrated biological materials. Both analytical and finite element approaches are considered for the poroelastic Hertzian indentation problem. Modeling results are compared with experimental data from nanoindentation of hydrated bone immersed in water and polar solvents (ethanol, methanol, acetone). Baseline (water-immersed) bone responses are characterized using the poroelastic model and numerical results are compared with altered hydration states due to polar solvents. © 2007 Materials Research Society.

Do we know the strength of the chorioamnion? A critical review and analysis

The chorioamnion is the membrane that surrounds the fetus during gestation. Normally, it must remain intact for the duration of pregnancy, 37-42 weeks, and only rupture during or just before labour and delivery of the fetus. In a significant number (3%) of all births, this does not happen, and membranes rupture before term, resulting in preterm birth and significant perinatal morbidity. It is known that the material properties of chorioamnion may play a major role in mechanical rupture; a number of studies have been undertaken to characterise the physical nature of chorioamnion and examine factors that may predispose to rupture. However, the existing literature is inconsistent in its choice of both physical testing methods and data analysis techniques, motivating the current review. Experimental data from a large number of chorioamnion mechanical studies were collated, and data were converted to standard engineering quantities. The failure strength of the chorioamnion membrane was found consistently to value approximately 0.9 MPa. It is hoped that past and future studies of membrane mechanics can provide insight into the role of chorioamnion in labour and delivery. In addition, biomechanical approaches can help elucidate the potential causes of early rupture, and suggest future protocols or treatments that could both diagnose and prevent its occurrence. © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

New approaches to materials education for students of engineering

A novel approach to the teaching of materials to engineering students is outlined. It starts from the overview of the "world" of materials made possible by material property charts, and develops both an understanding of material properties and skills in selecting materials and processes to meet design specifications. It is supported by extensive computer-based methods and tools, and is well adapted both for elementary and for advanced courses.

Load-displacement behavior during sharp indentation of viscous-elastic-plastic materials

A constitutive equation is developed for geometrically-similar sharp indentation of a material capable of elastic, viscous, and plastic deformation. The equation is based on a series of elements consisting of a quadratic (reversible) spring, a quadratic (time-dependent, reversible) dashpot, and a quadratic (time-independent, irreversible) slider-essentially modifying a model for an elastic-perfectly plastic material by incorporating a creeping component. Load-displacement solutions to the constitutive equation are obtained for load-controlled indentation during constant loading-rate testing. A characteristic of the responses is the appearance of a forward-displacing "nose" during unloading of load-controlled systems (e.g., magnetic-coil-driven "nanoindentation" systems). Even in the absence of this nose, and the associated initial negative unloading tangent, load-displacement traces (and hence inferred modulus and hardness values) are significantly perturbed on the addition of the viscous component. The viscous-elastic-plastic (VEP) model shows promise for obtaining material properties (elastic modulus, hardness, time-dependence) of time-dependent materials during indentation experiments.