Tensionless Contact Of A Finite Beam Resting On Reissner Foundation

A more generalized model of a beam resting on a tensionless Reissner foundation is presented. Compared with the Winkler foundation model, the Reissner foundation model is a much improved one. In the Winkler foundation model, there is no shear stress inside the foundation layer and the foundation is assumed to consist of closely spaced, independent springs. The presence of shear stress inside Reissner foundation makes the springs no longer independent and the foundation to deform as a whole. Mathematically, the governing equation of a beam on Reissner foundation is sixth order differential equation compared with fourth order of Winkler one. Because of this order change of the governing equation, new boundary conditions are needed and related discussion is presented. The presence of the shear stress inside the tensionless Reissner foundation together with the unknown feature of contact area/length makes the problem much more difficult than that of Winkler foundation. In the model presented here, the effects of beam dimension, gap distance, loading asymmetry and foundation shear stress on the contact length are all incorporated and studied. As the beam length increases, the results of a finite beam with zero gap distance converge asymptotically to those obtained by the previous model for an infinitely long beam. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anisotropic Deformation Of Polystyrene Particles By Mev Au Ion Irradiation

MeV An irradiation leads to a shape change of polystyrene (PS) and SiO2 particles from spherical to ellipsoidal, with an aspect ratio that can be precisely controlled by the ion fluence. Sub-micrometer PS and SiO2 particles were deposited on copper substrates and irradiated with Au ions at 230 K, using an ion energy and fluence ranging from 2 to 10 MeV and 1 x 10(14) ions/cm(2) to 1 x 10(15) ions/cm(2). The mechanisms of anisotropic deformation of PS and SiO2 particles are different because of their distinct physical and chemical properties. At the start of irradiation, the volume of PS particles decrease, then the aspect ratio increases with fluence, whereas for SiO2 particles the volume remains constant. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonlinear Mechanical Modeling Of Cell Adhesion

Cell adhesion, which is mediated by the receptor-ligand bonds, plays an essential role in various biological processes. Previous studies often described the force-extension relationship of receptor-ligand bond with linear assumption. However, the force-extension relationship of the bond is intrinsically nonlinear, which should have significant influence on the mechanical behavior of cell adhesion. In this work, a nonlinear mechanical model for cell adhesion is developed, and the adhesive strength was studied at various bond distributions. We find that the nonlinear mechanical behavior of the receptor-ligand bonds is crucial to the adhesive strength and stability. This nonlinear behavior allows more bonds to achieve large bond force simultaneously, and therefore the adhesive strength becomes less sensitive to the change of bond density at the outmost periphery of the adhesive area. In this way, the strength and stability of cell adhesion are soundly enhanced. The nonlinear model describes the cell detachment behavior better than the linear model. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence Of Different Amount Of Au On The Wetting Behavior Of Pdms Membrane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been widely used as a base material for bio-MEMS/NEMS devices. It is difficult for PDMS to transfer and spread aqueous solution as a kind of highly hydrophobic material. Therefore, surface modification is necessary for PDMS to make it hydrophilic. In this paper, a method of hydrophilization of PDMS surface is proposed. Gold is sputtered to the PDMS substrate by sputter coater in different average thicknesses. Relationship between the average thickness of gold on the PDMS substrate and the contact angle of the surface was studied. It was found that even gold of average thickness less than 1 nm can result in about 25 degrees change of contact angle. AFM is also used to get topographic information of PDMS surface coated with gold. Three cases are classified with different amount of Au: (1) Heterogeneous zone; (2) Transition zone; (3) Film zone. For heterogeneous zone, a simple model about heterogeneous phase wetting is put forward to interpret this phenomenon.

Long-range automaton models of earthquakes: Power-law accelerations, correlation evolution, and mode-switching

We introduce a conceptual model for the in-plane physics of an earthquake fault. The model employs cellular automaton techniques to simulate tectonic loading, earthquake rupture, and strain redistribution. The impact of a hypothetical crustal elastodynamic Green's function is approximated by a long-range strain redistribution law with a r(-p) dependance. We investigate the influence of the effective elastodynamic interaction range upon the dynamical behaviour of the model by conducting experiments with different values of the exponent (p). The results indicate that this model has two distinct, stable modes of behaviour. The first mode produces a characteristic earthquake distribution with moderate to large events preceeded by an interval of time in which the rate of energy release accelerates. A correlation function analysis reveals that accelerating sequences are associated with a systematic, global evolution of strain energy correlations within the system. The second stable mode produces Gutenberg-Richter statistics, with near-linear energy release and no significant global correlation evolution. A model with effectively short-range interactions preferentially displays Gutenberg-Richter behaviour. However, models with long-range interactions appear to switch between the characteristic and GR modes. As the range of elastodynamic interactions is increased, characteristic behaviour begins to dominate GR behaviour. These models demonstrate that evolution of strain energy correlations may occur within systems with a fixed elastodynamic interaction range. Supposing that similar mode-switching dynamical behaviour occurs within earthquake faults then intermediate-term forecasting of large earthquakes may be feasible for some earthquakes but not for others, in alignment with certain empirical seismological observations. Further numerical investigation of dynamical models of this type may lead to advances in earthquake forecasting research and theoretical seismology.

Adsorption of human serum albumin onto gold: a combined electrochemical and ellipsometric study

Human serum albumin adsorption onto gold surfaces was investigated by electrochemical and ellipsometric methods. Albumin adsorption onto gold was confirmed by the change of the open circuit potential of gold and by the ellipsometric parameter variation during albumin immobilization. In both experiments the parameters reached stable values within 10-15 min. The albumin adsorption layer thickness measured with the ellipsometer was about 1.5 nm. The adsorption of albumin Under applied potential was also investigated and it was found that both positive and negative applied potential promote albumin adsorption. Changes in the optical parameters of bare gold and albumin adsorbed onto gold surface under applied potential were investigated with in Situ ellipsometry. The similarity and reversibility of the optical changes showed that adsorbed albumin was stable on the gold surface Under the applied potential range (-200-600 mV). The cyclic voltammograms of K3Fe(CN)(6) on the modified gold surface showed that albumin Could partly block the oxidation and reduction reaction. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An investigation of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasma by shock tube

This paper presents the electromagnetic wave propagation characteristics in plasma and the attenuation coefficients of the microwave in terms of the parameters n(e), v, w, L, w(b). The phi800 mm high temperature shock tube has been used to produce a uniform plasma. In order to get the attenuation of the electromagnetic wave through the plasma behind a shock wave, the microwave transmission has been used to measure the relative change of the wave power. The working frequency is f = (2 similar to 35) GHz (w = 2pif, wave length lambda = 15 cm similar to 8 mm). The electron density in the plasma is n(e) = (3 x 10(10) similar to 1 x 10(14)) cm(-3). The collision frequency v = (1 x 10(8) similar to 6 x 10(10)) Hz. The thickness of the plasma layer L = (2 similar to 80) cm. The electron circular frequency w(b) = eB(0)/m(e), magnetic flux density B-0 = (0 similar to 0.84) T. The experimental results show that when the plasma layer is thick (such as L/lambda greater than or equal to 10), the correlation between the attenuation coefficients of the electromagnetic waves and the parameters n(e), v, w, L determined from the measurements are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions of electromagnetic wave propagations in the uniform infinite plasma. When the plasma layer is thin (such as when both L and lambda are of the same order), the theoretical results are only in a qualitative agreement with the experimental observations in the present parameter range, but the formula of the electromagnetic wave propagation theory in an uniform infinite plasma can not be used for quantitative computations of the correlation between the attenuation coefficients and the parameters n(e), v, w, L. In fact, if w < w(p), v(2) much less than w(2), the power attenuations K of the electromagnetic waves obtained from the measurements in the thin-layer plasma are much smaller than those of the theoretical predictions. On the other hand, if w > w(p), v(2) much less than w(2) (just v approximate to f), the measurements are much larger than the theoretical results. Also, we have measured the electromagnetic wave power attenuation value under the magnetic field and without a magnetic field. The result indicates that the value measured under the magnetic field shows a distinct improvement.

Influence of buoyancy on floating-zone convection of small bond number

Gravity may influence the velocity and temperature distributions, bouyancy may induce Rayleigh instability and the instability may be excited due to the change of free surface shape associating with gravity in the thermocapillary convection. These effects have been studied in the present paper. The results show that gravity may have an important effect in thermocapillary oscillatory convection even for the cases of small Bond number experiments either on the ground or in space.

Domain decomposition hybrid method for numerical simulation of bluff body flows:theoretical model and application

The discrete vortex method is not capable of precisely predicting the bluff body flow separation and the fine structure of flow field in the vicinity of the body surface. In order to make a theoretical improvement over the method and to reduce the difficulty in finite-difference solution of N-S equations at high Reynolds number, in the present paper, we suggest a new numerical simulation model and a theoretical method for domain decomposition hybrid combination of finite-difference method and vortex method. Specifically, the full flow. field is decomposed into two domains. In the region of O(R) near the body surface (R is the characteristic dimension of body), we use the finite-difference method to solve the N-S equations and in the exterior domain, we take the Lagrange-Euler vortex method. The connection and coupling conditions for flow in the two domains are established. The specific numerical scheme of this theoretical model is given. As a preliminary application, some numerical simulations for flows at Re=100 and Re-1000 about a circular cylinder are made, and compared with the finite-difference solution of N-S equations for full flow field and experimental results, and the stability of the solution against the change of the interface between the two domains is examined. The results show that the method of the present paper has the advantage of finite-difference solution for N-S equations in precisely predicting the fine structure of flow field, as well as the advantage of vortex method in efficiently computing the global characteristics of the separated flow. It saves computer time and reduces the amount of computation, as compared with pure N-S equation solution. The present method can be used for numerical simulation of bluff body flow at high Reynolds number and would exhibit even greater merit in that case.

Design of a Self-Adaptive Down-Hole Layered Steam Injector and Its Application

Layered steam injection, widely used in Liaohe Oilfield at Present, is an effective recovery technique to heavy oil reserves. Which makes the steam front-peak push forward uniformly, the amount of steam injection be assigned rationally, and the effect of injection steam be obtained as expected. To maintain a fixed ratio of layered steam injection and solve the problem of nonadjustable hole diameter with the change of layer pressure in the existing injectors, a new method is proposed in this paper to design layered steam injectors based on the dynamic balance theory. According to gas-liquid two-phase flow theory and beat transfer theory, the energy equation and the heat conduction equation in boreholes are developed. By analyzing the energy equilibrium of water-steam passing through the injector hole, we find an expression to describe the relation between the cross-sectional area of injector hole and the layer pressure. With this expression, we provide a new set of calculation methods and write the corresponding computer program to design and calculate the main parameters of a steam injector. The actual measurement data show that the theoretically calculated results are accurate, the software runs reliably, and they provide the design of self-adjustable layered steam injectors with the theoretical foundation.

Undercooling and Rapid Solidification of Nb-Si Eutectic Alloys Studied by Long Drop Tube

Niobium-silicide alloys have great potential for high temperature turbine applications. The two-phase Nb/Nb5Si3 in situ composites exhibit a good balance in mechanical properties. Using the 52 in drop tube, the effect of undercooling and rapid solidification on the solidification process and micro-structural characterization of Nb-Si eutectic alloy was studied. The microstructures of the Nb-Si composites were investigated by optics microscope (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). Up to 480 K, deep undercooling of the Nb-Si eutectic samples was successfully obtained, which corresponds to 25% of the liquidus temperature. Contrasting to the conventional microstructure usually found in the Nb-Si eutectic alloy, the microstructure of the undercooled sample is divided into the fine and coarse regions. The most commonly observed microstructure is Nb+Nb5Si3, and the Nb3Si phase is not be found. The change of coarseness of microstructure is due to different cooling rates during and after recalescence. The large undercooling is sufficient to completely bypass the high temperature phase field.

Design of a Self-Adaptive Down-Hole Layered Steam Injector and Its Application

Layered steam injection, widely used in Liaohe Oilfield at present, is an effective recovery technique to heavy oil reserves. Which makes the steam front-peak push forward uniformly, the amount of steam injection be assigned rationally, and the effect of injection steam be obtained as expected. To maintain a fixed ratio of layered steam injection and solve the problem of nonadjustable hole diameter with the change of layer pressure in the existing injectors, a new method is proposed in this paper to design layered steam injectors based on the dynamic balance theory According to gas-liquid two-phase flow theory and heat transfer theory, the energy equation and the heat conduction equation in boreholes are developed. By analyzing the energy equilibrium of water-steam passing through the injector hole, we find an expression to describe the relation between the cross-sectional area of injector hole and the layer pressure. With this expression, we provide a new set of calculation methods and write the corresponding computer program to design and calculate the main parameters of a steam injector. The actual measurement data show that the theoretically calculated results are accurate, the software runs reliably, and they provide the design of self-adjustable layered steam injectors with the theoretical foundation.

Numerical Analyses of Transonic Fluid/Structure interaction in Aircraft Engineering

Through the coupling between aerodynamic and structural governing equations, a fully implicit multiblock aeroelastic solver was developed for transonic fluid/stricture interaction. The Navier-Stokes fluid equations are solved based on LU-SGS (lower-upper symmetric Gauss-Seidel) Time-marching subiteration scheme and HLLEW (Harten-Lax-van Leer-Einfeldt-Wada) spacing discretization scheme and the same subiteration formulation is applied directly to the structural equations of motion in generalized coordinates. Transfinite interpolation (TFI) is used for the grid deformation of blocks neighboring the flexible surfaces. The infinite plate spline (IPS) and the principal of virtual work are utilized for the data transformation between fluid and structure. The developed code was fort validated through the comparison of experimental and computational results for the AGARD 445.6 standard aeroelastic wing. In the subsonic and transonic range, the calculated flutter speeds and frequencies agree well with experimental data, however, in the supersonic range, the present calculation overpredicts the experimental flutter points similar to other computations. Then the flutter character of a complete aircraft configuration is analyzed through the calculation of the change of structural stiffness. Finally, the phenomenon of aileron buzz is simulated for the weakened model of a supersonic transport wing/body model at Mach numbers of 0.98 and l.05. The calculated unsteady flow shows, on the upper surface, the shock wave becomes stronger as the aileron deflects downward, and the flow behaves just contrary on the lower surface of the wing. Corresponding to general theoretical analysis, the flow instability referred to as aileron buzz is induced by a stronger shock alternately moving on the upper and lower surfaces of wing. For the rigid structural model, the flow is stable at all calculated Mach numbers as observed in experiment

Ab Initio Study Of Zno-Based Gas-Sensing Mechanisms: Surface Reconstruction And Charge Transfer

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to explore the gas-sensing mechanisms of zinc oxide (ZnO) with surface reconstruction taken into consideration. Mix-terminated (10 (1) over bar0) ZnO surfaces were examined. By simulating the adsorption process of various gases, i.e., H-2, NH3, CO, and ethanol (C2H5OH) gases, on the ZnO (10 (1) over bar0) surface, the changes of configuration and electronic structure were compared. Based on these calculations, two gas-sensing mechanisms were proposed and revealed that both surface reconstruction and charge transfer result in a change of electronic conductance of ZnO. Also, the calculations were compared with existing experiments.

Effect of interfacial heat transfer on the onset of oscillatory convection in liquid bridge

In present study, effect of interfacial heat transfer with ambient gas on the onset of oscillatory convection in a liquid bridge of large Prandtl number on the ground is systematically investigated by the method of linear stability analyses. With both the constant and linear ambient air temperature distributions, the numerical results show that the interfacial heat transfer modifies the free-surface temperature distribution directly and then induces a steeper temperature gradient on the middle part of the free surface, which may destabilize the convection. On the other hand, the interfacial heat transfer restrains the temperature disturbances on the free surface, which may stabilize the convection. The two coupling effects result in a complex dependence of the stability property on the Biot number. Effects of melt free-surface deformation on the critical conditions of the oscillatory convection were also investigated. Moreover, to better understand the mechanism of the instabilities, rates of kinetic energy change and "thermal" energy change of the critical disturbances were investigated (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.