Dynamic behaviors of mode III interfacial crack under a constant loading rate

In an earlier study on intersonic crack propagation, Gao et al. (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 49: 2113-2132, 2001) described molecular dynamics simulations and continuum analysis of the dynamic behaviors of a mode II dominated crack moving along a weak plane under a constant loading rate. The crack was observed to initiate its motion at a critical time after the onset of loading, at which it is rapidly accelerated to the Rayleigh wave speed and propagates at this speed for a finite time interval until an intersonic daughter crack is nucleated at a peak stress at a finite distance ahead of the original crack tip. The present article aims to analyze this behavior for a mode III crack moving along a bi-material interface subject to a constant loading rate. We begin with a crack in an initially stress-free bi-material subject to a steadily increasing stress. The crack initiates its motion at a critical time governed by the Griffith criterion. After crack initiation, two scenarios of crack propagation are investigated: the first one is that the crack moves at a constant subsonic velocity; the second one is that the crack moves at the lower shear wave speed of the two materials. In the first scenario, the shear stress ahead of the crack tip is singular with exponent -1/2, as expected; in the second scenario, the stress singularity vanishes but a peak stress is found to emerge at a distance ahead of the moving crack tip. In the latter case, a daughter crack supersonic with respect to the softer medium can be expected to emerge ahead of the initial crack once the peak stress reaches the cohesive strength of the interface.

Stabilization of Uncertain Nonholonomic Dynamic Systems with Bounded Inputs

The sliding mode approach and the multi-step control strategy are exploited to propose a stabilizing controller for uncertain nonholonomic dynamic systems with bounded inputs. This controller can stabilize the system to an arbitrarily small neighborhood about its equilibrium in a finite time .Its application to a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot is described. Simulation result shows that the proposed controller is effective

南海北部陆缘深水区构造－热演化与烃源岩成熟度史研究

Abstract In order to provide basic data for evaluation of the petroleum potential in the deep water area of the northern margin of the South China Sea (SCS), present-day thermal regime and basin tectonothermal evolution are reconstructed and the maturation history of the Cenozoic major source rocks in the study area is derived. The present-day geothermal regime in the deep water area of the northern margin of SCS is defined according to the geothermal gradient, thermal properties and heat flow data. Tectonic subsidence history is reconstructed based on borehole and seismic data, and accordingly the stretching episodes are determined from the subsidence pattern. Heat flow history in the deep water area of the northern margin of SCS is estimated on a finite time, laterally non-uniform and multi-episode stretching model. Maturation history of the main source rocks in the study area is estimated through EASYRo% kinetic model and thermal history, and the potential of petroleum in the deep water area of the northern margin of SCS is evaluated based on the data above. The results show that the present-day geothermal regime in the deep water area of the northern margin of SCS is characterized by “hot basin” with high geothermal gradient (39.1±7.4℃/km) and high heat flow (77.5±14.8 mW/m2), and that the Qiongdongnan Basin (QDNB) underwent three stretching episodes and consequently suffered three heating episodes (Eocene, Oligocene and Pliocene time) with highest paleo-heat flow of 65～90 mW/m2 at the end of the Pliocene, that the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) two stretching and two heating episodes (Eocene, Oligocene time) with highest paleo-heat flow of 60～70 mW/m2 at the end of the Oligocene, and that the source rocks matured drastically responding to the heating episodes. There are four hydrocarbon generation kitchens in the deep water area of the northern margin of SCS which are favor of its bright petroleum perspective. Tectonothermal analysis indicates that the present-day geothermal regime which is characterized with “hot basin” in the deep water area of the PRMB resulted mainly from the Cenozoic stretching as well as faulting and magmatic activities during the Neotectonic period, and that the Pliocene heating episode of the QDNB is coupled with the transition from sinistral to dextral gliding of the Red Rive fault, and that the deep water basins in the northern margin of SCS are typical of multiple rifting which caused multi-episode heating process.

Analysis of modes in a freestanding microsquare resonator by 3-D finite-difference time-domain

Modes in a microsquare resonator slab with strong vertical waveguide consisting of air/semiconductor/air are analyzed by three-dimensional (3-D) finite-difference time-domain simulation, and compared with that of two-dimensional (2-D) simulation under effective index approximation. Mode frequencies and field distributions inside the resonator obtained by the 3-D simulation are in good agreement with those of the 2-D approximation. However, field distributions at the boundary of the resonator obtained by 3-D simulation are different from that of the 2-D simulation, especially the vertical field distribution near the boundary is great different from that of the slab waveguide, which is used in the effective index approximation. Furthermore the quality factors obtained by 3-D simulation are much larger. than that by 2-D simulation for the square resonator slab with the strong vertical waveguide.

Finite-difference time-domain analysis of deformed square cavity filters with a traveling-wave-like filtering response by mode coupling

An add-drop filter based on a perfect square resonator can realize a maximum of only 25% power dropping because the confined modes are standing-wave modes. By means of mode coupling between two modes with inverse symmetry properties, a traveling-wave-like filtering response is obtained in a two-dimensional single square cavity filter with cut or circular corners by finite-difference time-domain simulation. The optimized deformation parameters for an add-drop filter can be accurately predicted as the overlapping point of the two coupling modes in an isolated deformed square cavity. More than 80% power dropping can be obtained in a deformed square cavity filter with a side length of 3.01 mu m. The free spectral region is decided by the mode spacing between modes, with the sum of the mode indices differing by 1. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Investigation of mode characteristics for a square cavity with a pedestal by a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique

Mode characteristics of a strongly confined square cavity suspended in air via a pedestal on the substrate are investigated by a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique. The mode wavelengths and mode quality factors (Q factors) are calculated as the functions of the size of the pedestal and the slope angle 0 of the sidewalls of the square slab, respectively For the square slab with side length of 2 mu m, thickness of 0.2 mu m, and refractive index of 3.4, on a square pedestal with refractive index of 3.17, the Q factor of the whispering-gallery (WG)-like mode transverse-electric TE(3.5)o first increases with the side length b of the square pedestal and then quickly decreases as b > 0.4 mu m, but the Q factor of the WG-like mode TE(4.6)o drops down quickly as b > 0.2 mu m, owing to their different symmetries. The results indicate that the pedestal can also result in mode selection in the WG-like modes. In addition, the numerical results show that the Q factors decrease 50% as the slope angle of the sidewalls varies from 90 degrees to 80 degrees. The mode characteristics of WG-like modes in the square cavity with a rectangular pedestal are also discussed. The results show that the nonsquare pedestal largely degrades the WG-like modes. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America

Investigation of mode characteristics for microdisk resonators by S-matrix and three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique

The mode characteristics of a three-dimensional (3D) microdisk with a vertical refractive index distribution of n(2)/3.4/n(2) are investigated by the S-matrix method and 3D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. For the microdisk with a thickness of 0.2 mu m. and a radius of 1 mu m, the mode wavelengths and quality factors for the HE7,1 mode obtained by 3D FDTD simulation and the S-matrix method are in good agreement as n(2) increases from 1.0 to 2.6. But the Q factor obtained by the 3D FDTD rapidly decreases from 1.12 X 10(4) to 379 as n2 increases from 2.65 to 2.8 owing to the vertical radiation losses, which cannot be predicted by the proposed S-matrix method. The comparisons also show that quality factors obtained from the analytical solution of two-dimensional microdisks under the effective index approximation are five to seven times smaller than those of the 3D FDTD as n(2) = 1 and R = 1 mu m. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Mode-coupling analysis of three-dimensional microdisk resonators by the finite-difference time-domain technique

Quality factor enhancement due to mode coupling is observed in a three-dimensional microdisk resonator. The microdisk, which is vertically sandwiched between air and a substrate, with a radius of 1 mu m, a thickness of 0.2 mu m, and a refractive index of 3.4, is considered in a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulation. The mode quality factor of the fundamental mode HE71 decreases with an increase of the refractive index of the substrate, n(sub), from 2.0 to 3.17. However, the mode quality factor of the first-order mode HE72 reaches a peak value at n(sub) = 2.7 because of the mode coupling between the fundamental and the first-order modes. The variation of mode field distributions due to the mode coupling is also observed. This mechanism may be used to realize high-quality-factor modes in microdisks with high-refractive-index substrates. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Effects of annealing time and Si cap layer thickness on the Si/SiGe/Si heterostructures thermal stability

The effects of annealing time and Si cap layer thickness: on the thermal stability of the Si/SiGe/Si heterostructures deposited by disilane and solid-Ge molecule beam epitaxy were investigated. It is found that in the same strain state of the SiGe layers the annealing time decreases with increasing Si cap layer thickness. This effect is analyzed by a force-balance theory and an equation has been obtained to characterize the relation between the annealing time and the Si cap layer thickness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of annealing time and Si cap layer thickness on the Si/SiGe/Si heterostructures thermal stability

The effects of annealing time and Si cap layer thickness: on the thermal stability of the Si/SiGe/Si heterostructures deposited by disilane and solid-Ge molecule beam epitaxy were investigated. It is found that in the same strain state of the SiGe layers the annealing time decreases with increasing Si cap layer thickness. This effect is analyzed by a force-balance theory and an equation has been obtained to characterize the relation between the annealing time and the Si cap layer thickness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The time delay in electrochemical measurements of a finite-volume system

For a sphere electrode enclosed in finite-volume electrolyte, the measured current will deviate from the result predicted by the semi-infinite diffusion theory after some time. By random-walk simulation, we compared this time to the one needed for diffusion layer to reach electrolyte boundary, and revealed a clear signal delay of electrochemical current. Further we presented a quantitative description of this delay time. The simulation results suggested that the semi-infinite diffusion theory can even be applied when the theoretical diffusion layer grows to 1.28 electrolyte thicknesses, with an accuracy better than 0.5%. We attributed this time delay to the molecules' finite propagation velocity. Finally, we discussed how this delay can influence and facilitate the following electrochemical detection towards the nanometer and single-cell scale.

Wave-soil-pipe coupling effect on submarine pipeline on-bottom stability

Wave-soil-pipe coupling effect on the untrenched pipeline stability on sands is for the first time investigated experimentally. Tests are conducted in the U-shaped water tunnel, which generates an oscillatory how, simulating the water particle movements with periodically changing direction under the wave action. Characteristic times and phases during the instability process are revealed. Linear relationship between Froude number and non-dimensional pipe weight is obtained. Effects of initial embedment and loading history are observed. Test results between the wavesoil-pipe interaction and pipe-soil interaction under cyclic mechanical loading are compared. The mechanism is briefly discussed. For applying in the practical design, more extensive and systematic investigations are needed.

Stability of ZrTiCuNiBe Bulk Metallic Glass Upon Isothermal Annealing Near the Glass Transition Temperature

The stability of Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass (BMG) upon isothermal annealing near the glass transition temperature has been investigated by using x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and the pulse echo overlap method. The density, elastic constants, and thermodynamic parameters as well as their annealing time dependence have been determined. The microstructural and properties changes of the annealed BMG were checked by acoustic measurement. Obvious structural and property changes were observed with prolonged annealing of the BMG near the glass transition temperature.

Morphological Stability of Epitaxial Thin Elastic Films by Van Der Waals Force

The morphological stability of epitaxial thin elastic films on a substrate by van der Waals force is discussed. It is found that only van der Waals force with negative Hamaker constant (A < 0) tends to stabilize the film, and the lower bound for the Hamaker constant is also obtained for the stability of thin film. The critical value of the undulation wavelength is found to be a function of both film thickness and external stress. The charateristic time-scale for surface mass diffusion scales to the fourth power to the wavelength of the perturbation.

Iterative method using consistent mass matrix in axisymmetrical finite element analysis of hypervelocity impact

We present in this paper an iterative method using consistent mass matrix in axisymmetrical finite element analysis of hypervelocity impact. To retain the advantage of integration on an element-by-element basis which is at the heart of modern hydrocodes, we suggest that the first step should be to solve for accelerations at an advanced time step by using the lumped mass approach, then iterate using a consistent mass matrix to improve the estimate. Examples are given to show the improved resolution with the new method.