Control of flexural waves on a beam using distributed vibration neutralisers

This paper is concerned with the use of distributed vibration neutralisers to control the transmission of flexural waves on a beam. Of particular interest is an array of beam-like neutralisers and a continuous plate-like neutraliser. General expressions for wave transmission and reflection metrics either side of the distributed neutralisers are derived. Based on transmission efficiency, the characteristics of multiple neutralisers are investigated in terms of the minimum transmission efficiency, the normalised bandwidth and the shape factor, allowing optimisation of their performance. Analytical results show that the band-stop property of the neutraliser array depends on various factors, including the neutraliser damping, mass, separation distance in the array and the moment arm of each neutraliser. Moreover, it is found that the particular attachment configuration of an uncoupled forcemoment-type neutraliser can be used to improve their overall performance. It is also shown that in the limit of many neutralisers in the array, the performance tends to that of a continuous neutraliser. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

(Table 1) Argon dating of ash layers from DSDP Hole 18-178

Ash layers from Deep Sea Drilling Project site 178 in the northeast Pacific Ocean have been dated by the 40Ar-39Ar stepwise heating technique to resolve published discrepancies concerning the length of time explosive volcanism has affected the eastern Aleutian arc and Alaskan Peninsula. The results of the investigation indicate that the record of ash-fall deposition at site 178 extends back at least 6.5 m.y. Assuming that 6.5 m.y. ago marks the onset of renewed calc-alkalic volcanism of the volcanic arc, proposed models of continuous and discontinuous motion between the Pacific and North American lithospheric plates can be evaluated. If appreciable time elapsed between the onset of subduction and the onset of arc volcanism, the 6.5-m.y. record of ash-fall deposition in the north-east Pacific is most compatible with models of continuous plate motion throughout late Cenozoic time.

A computer formulation for the analysis on continuous non prismatic folded plate structures of arbitrary cross-section

A computer solution to analyze nonprismatic folded plate structures is shown. Arbitrary cross-sections (simple and multiple), continuity over intermediate supports and general loading and longitudinal boundary conditions are dealt with. The folded plates are assumed to be straight and long (beam like structures) and some simplifications are introduced in order to reduce the computational effort. The formulation here presented may be very suitable to be used in the bridge deck analysis.

Computational strategies for surface fitting using thin plate spline finite element methods

Thin plate spline finite element methods are used to fit a surface to an irregularly scattered dataset [S. Roberts, M. Hegland, and I. Altas. Approximation of a Thin Plate Spline Smoother using Continuous Piecewise Polynomial Functions. SIAM, 1:208--234, 2003]. The computational bottleneck for this algorithm is the solution of large, ill-conditioned systems of linear equations at each step of a generalised cross validation algorithm. Preconditioning techniques are investigated to accelerate the convergence of the solution of these systems using Krylov subspace methods. The preconditioners under consideration are block diagonal, block triangular and constraint preconditioners [M. Benzi, G. H. Golub, and J. Liesen. Numerical solution of saddle point problems. Acta Numer., 14:1--137, 2005]. The effectiveness of each of these preconditioners is examined on a sample dataset taken from a known surface. From our numerical investigation, constraint preconditioners appear to provide improved convergence for this surface fitting problem compared to block preconditioners.

Influence of melt pouring temperature and plate inclination on solidification and microstructure of A356 aluminum alloy produced using oblique plate

The preparation of semisolid slurry of A356 aluminum alloy using an oblique plate was investigated. A356 alloy melt undergoes partial solidification when it flows down on an oblique plate cooled from underneath by counter flowing water. It results in continuous formation of columnar dendrites on plate wall. Due to forced convection, these dendrites are sheared off into equiaxed/fragmented grains and then washed away continuously to produce semisolid slurry at plate exit. Melt pouring temperature provides required condition of solidification whereas plate inclination enables necessary shear for producing semisolid slurry of desired quality. Slurry obtained was solidified in metal mould to produce semisolid-cast billets of desired microstructure. Furthermore, semisolid-cast billets were heat treated to improve surface quality. Microstructures of both semisolid-cast and heat-treated billets were analyzed. Effects of melt pouring temperature and plate inclination on solidification and microstructure of billets produced using oblique plate were described. The investigations involved four different melt pouring temperatures (620, 625, 630 and 635 degrees C) associated with four different plate inclinations (30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 75 degrees). Melt pouring temperature of 625 degrees C with plate inclination of 60 degrees shows fine and globular microstructures and it is the optimum.

Numerical study of solidification of A356 aluminum alloy flowing on an oblique plate with experimental validation

Molten A356 aluminum alloy flowing on an oblique plate is water cooled from underneath. The melt partially solidifies on plate wall with continuous formation of columnar dendrites. These dendrites are continuously sheared off into equiaxed/fragmented grains and carried away with the melt by producing semisolid slurry collected at plate exit. Melt pouring temperature provides required solidification whereas plate inclination enables necessary shear for producing slurry of desired solid fraction. A numerical model concerning transport equations of mass, momentum, energy and species is developed for predicting velocity, temperature, macrosegregation and solid fraction. The model uses FVM with phase change algorithm, VOF and variable viscosity. The model introduces solid phase movement with gravity effect as well. Effects of melt pouring temperature and plate inclination on hydrodynamic and thermo-solutal behaviors are studied subsequently. Slurry solid fractions at plate exit are 27%, 22%, 16%, and 10% for pouring temperatures of 620 degrees C, 625 degrees C, 630 degrees C, and 635 degrees C, respectively. And, are 27%, 25%, 22%, and 18% for plate inclinations of 30, 45, 60, and 75, respectively. Melt pouring temperature of 625 degrees C with plate inclination of 60 generates appropriate quality of slurry and is the optimum. Both numerical and experimental results are in good agreement with each other. (C) 2015 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structure optimization of field-plate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on 6H-SiC with varying field-plate length and gate-drain spacing were fabricated and analyzed. The classical small signal FET model and the well-known ColdFET method were used to extract the small signal parameters of the devices. Though the devices with field plates exhibited lower better f(T) characteristic, they did demonstrate better f(max), MSG and power density performances than the conventional devices without field plate. Besides, no independence of DC characteristic on field-plate length was observed. With the increase of the field-plate length and the gate-drain spacing, the characteristic of f(T) and f(max), degraded due to the large parasitic effects. Loadpull method was used to measure the microwave power performance of the devices. Under the condition of continuous wave at 5.4 GHz, an output power density of 4.69 W/mm was obtained for device with field-plate length of 0.5 mu m and gate-drain length of 2 mu m. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

3D Analysis of Heat Transfer Intensification by Re-Entrance Flow Pin-Fins Microstructures with a Highly Thermal-Conductive Plate

Joule heat-induced hot-spot formation sets severe limits in the operation of continuous annular electrochromatography (CAEC), a new concept for preparative separation as an analog to analytical capillary electrochromatography (CEC). This may lead to eluent flow perturbance, even to boiling, which would massively weaken separation efficiency and may even hamper the stationary phase used for separation. For reasons of system integration and high-efficiency heat transfer, micro flow heat exchangers are considered with a separate coolant flow. A 3D numerical analysis of the heat transfer of water single-phase laminar flow in a square microchannel and different arrays of micro pin-fins was carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics. Several advanced materials with low electric conductivity and at the same time with high heat conductivity were put forward to be used in the CAEC system. As essential design point, it is proposed to constitute the micro heat exchanger from two different parts of the CAEC system, namely a microstructured pin-fins plate and a so-called conductive plate.

Managing Profound Suffering at the End-of-Life: Should expanding access to continuous deep sedation be the priority?

Commentaire / Commentary

Determination of the impact of continuous defoliation of Lolium perenne and Trifolium repens on bacterial and fungal community structure in rhizosphere soil

To determine the effects of defoliation on microbial community structure, rhizosphere soil samples were taken pre-, and post-defoliation from the root tip and mature root regions of Trifolium repens L. and Lolium perenne L. Microbial DNA isolated from samples was used to generate polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis molecular profiles of bacterial and fungal communities. Bacterial plate counts were also obtained. Neither plant species nor defoliation affected the bacterial and fungal community structures in both the root tip and mature root regions, but there were significant differences in the bacterial and fungal community profiles between the two root regions for each plant. Prior to defoliation, there was no difference between plants for bacterial plate counts of soils from the root tip regions; however, counts were greater in the mature root region of L. perenne than T. repens. Bacterial plate counts for T. repens were higher in the root tip than the mature root region. After defoliation, there was no effect of plant type, position along the root or defoliation status on bacterial plate counts, although there were significant increases in bacterial plate counts with time. The results indicate that a general effect existed during maturation in the root regions of each plant, which had a greater impact on microbial community structure than either plant type or the effect of defoliation. In addition there were no generic consequences with regard to microbial populations in the rhizosphere as a response to plant defoliation.

Acoustic scattering by an inhomogeneous layer on a rigid plate

The problem of scattering of time-harmonic acoustic waves by an inhomogeneous fluid layer on a rigid plate in R2 is considered. The density is assumed to be unity in the media: within the layer the sound speed is assumed to be an arbitrary bounded measurable function. The problem is modelled by the reduced wave equation with variable wavenumber in the layer and a Neumann condition on the plate. To formulate the problem and prove uniqueness of solution a radiation condition appropriate for scattering by infinite rough surfaces is introduced, a generalization of the Rayleigh expansion condition for diffraction gratings. With the help of the radiation condition the problem is reformulated as a system of two second kind integral equations over the layer and the plate. Under additional assumptions on the wavenumber in the layer, uniqueness of solution is proved and the nonexistence of guided wave solutions of the homogeneous problem established. General results on the solvability of systems of integral equations on unbounded domains are used to establish existence and continuous dependence in a weighted norm of the solution on the given data.

Computational thermal analysis of a continuous flow micro Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) chip

The first continuous flow micro PCR introduced in 1998 has attracted considerable attention for the past several years because of its ability to amplify DNA at much faster rate than the conventional PCR and micro chamber PCR method. The amplification is obtained by moving the sample through 3 different fixed temperature zones. In this paper, the thermal behavior of a continuous flow PCR chip is studied using commercially available finite element software. We study the temperature uniformity and temperature gradient on the chip’s top surface, the cover plate and the interface of the two layers. The material for the chip body and cover plate is glass. The duration for the PCR chip to achieve equilibrium temperature is also studied.

Continuous pasteurization of egg yolk: Thermophysical properties and process simulation

This article presents empirical correlations to predict the density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and rheological power-law parameters of liquid egg yolk over a temperature range compatible with its industrial thermal processing (0-61 C). Moreover, a mathematical model for a pasteurizer that takes into account the spatial variation of the overall heat transfer coefficient throughout the plate heat exchanger is presented, as are two of its simplified forms. The obtained correlations of thermophysical properties are applied for the simulation of the egg yolk pasteurization, and the obtained temperature profiles are used for evaluating the extent of thermal inactivation. A detailed simulation example shows that there is a considerable deviation between the designed level of heat treatment and that this is predicted through process simulation. It is shown that a reliable mathematical model, combined with specialized thermophysical property correlations, provide a more accurate design of the pasteurization equipment that ensures effective inactivation, while preserving nutritional and sensorial characteristics.

Non-newtonian heat transfer on a plate heat exchanger with generalized configurations

For the configuration optimization of plate heat exchangers (PHEs), the mathematical models for heat transfer and pressure drop must be valid for a wide range of operational conditions of all configurations of the exchanger or the design results may be compromised. In this investigation, the thermal model of a PHE is adjusted to fit experimental data obtained from non-Newtonian heat transfer for eight different configurations, using carboxymethylcellulose solutions (CMC) as test fluid. Although it is possible to successfully adjust the model parameters, Newtonian and non-Newtonian heat transfer cannot be represented by a single generalized correlation. In addition, the specific heat, thermal conductivity and power-law rheological parameters of CMC solutions were correlated with temperature, over a range compatible with a continuous pasteurization process.

O uso de Thin-Plate Splines na transformação de coordenadas com modelagem de distorções entre realizações de referenciais geodésicos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)