On the neutralization of bacterial spores in post-detonation flows

In multiple operational scenarios, explosive charges are used to neutralize confined or unconfined stores of bacterial spores. The spore destruction is achieved by post-detonation combustion and mixing of hot detonation product gases with the ambient flow and spore clouds. In this work, blast wave interaction with bacterial spore clouds and the effect of post-detonation combustion on spore neutralization are investigated using numerical simulations. Spherical explosive charges (radius, \(R_\mathrm{C}\) = 5.9 cm) comprising of nitromethane are modeled in the vicinity of a spore cloud, and the spore kill in the post-detonation flow is quantified. The effect of the mass of the spores and the initial distance, \(d^0\) , of the spore cloud from the explosive charge on the percentage of spores neutralized is investigated. When the spores are initially placed within a distance of 3.0 \(R_\mathrm{C}\) , within 0.1 ms after detonation of the charge, all the spores are neutralized by the blast wave and the hot detonation product gases. In contrast, almost all the spores survived the explosion when \(d^0\) is greater than 8.0 \(R_\mathrm{C}\) . The percentage of intact spores varied from 0 to 100 for 3.0 \(R_\mathrm{C}\) \( 8.0 \(R_\mathrm{C}\) with spore neutralization dependent on time spent by the spores in the post-detonation mixing/combustion zone.     

Inverse Approach in Ordinary Differential Equations: Applications to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics

This paper is on the so called inverse problem of ordinary differential equations, i.e. the problem of determining the differential system satisfying a set of given properties. More precisely we characterize under very general assumptions the ordinary differential equations in \(\mathbb {R}^N\) which have a given set of either \(M\) partial integrals, or \(M first integral, or \(M partial and first integrals. Moreover, for such systems we determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of \(N-1\) independent first integrals. We give two relevant applications of the solutions of these inverse problem to constrained Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems respectively. Additionally we provide the general solution of the inverse problem in dynamics.     

Expansivity and Cone-fields in Metric Spaces

Due to the results of Lewowicz and Tolosa expansivity can be characterized with the aid of Lyapunov function. In this paper we study a similar problem for uniform expansivity and show that it can be described using generalized cone-fields on metric spaces. We say that a function \(f:X\rightarrow X\) is uniformly expansive on a set \(\varLambda \subset X\) if there exist \(\varepsilon >0\) and \(\alpha \in (0,1)\) such that for any two orbits \(\hbox {x}:\{-N,\ldots ,N\} \rightarrow \varLambda \) , \(\hbox {v}:\{-N,\ldots ,N\} \rightarrow X\) of \(f\) we have $$\begin{aligned} \sup _{-N\le n\le N}d(\hbox {x}_n,\hbox {v}_n) \le \varepsilon \implies d(\hbox {x}_0,\hbox {v}_0) \le \alpha \sup _{-N\le n\le N}d(\hbox {x}_n,\hbox {v}_n). \end{aligned}$$ It occurs that a function is uniformly expansive iff there exists a generalized cone-field on \(X\) such that \(f\) is cone-hyperbolic.     

A fast algorithm to calculate the critical coupling strength for synchronization in a chain of Kuramoto oscillators

Synchronization in a one-dimensional chain of Kuramoto oscillators with periodic boundary conditions is studied. An algorithm to rapidly calculate the critical coupling strength \(K_c\) for complete frequency synchronization is presented according to the mathematical constraint conditions and the periodic boundary conditions. By this new algorithm, we have checked the relation between \(\langle K_c\rangle \) and \(N\) , which is \(\langle K_c\rangle \sim \sqrt{N}\) , not only for small \(N\) , but also for large \(N\) . We also investigate the heavy-tailed distribution of \(K_c\) for random intrinsic frequencies, which is obtained by showing that the synchronization problem is equivalent to a discretization of Brownian motion. This theoretical result was checked by generating a large sample of \(K_c\) for large \(N\) from our algorithm to get the empirical density of \(K_c\) . Finally, we derive the permutation for the maximum coupling strength and its exact expression, which grows linearly with \(N\) and would provide the theoretical support for engineering applications.     

Stable disarrangement phases of elastic aggregates: a setting for the emergence of no-tension materials with non-linear response in compression

A recent field theory of elastic bodies undergoing non-smooth submacroscopic geometrical changes (disarrangements) provides a setting in which, for a given homogeneous macroscopic deformation \(F\) of the body, there are typically a number of different states \(G\) of smooth, submacroscopic deformation (disarrangement phases) available to the body. A tensorial consistency relation and the inequality \(\det G\le \det F\) that guarantees that \(F\) accommodates \(G\) determine the totality of disarrangement phases \(G\) corresponding to \(F\) , and it is natural to seek for a given \(F\) those disarrangement phases that minimize the Helmholtz free energy (stable disarrangement phases). We introduce these concepts in the particular context of continuous bodies comprised of many small elastic bodies (elastic aggregates) and in the context where disarrangements do not contribute to the Helmholtz free energy (purely dissipative disarrangements). In this setting, the Helmholtz free energy response \(G\longmapsto \varPsi (G)\) of the pieces of the aggregate determines the totality of disarrangement phases corresponding to \(F\) , which necessarily includes the phase \(G=F\) (compact phase) in which every piece of the aggregate undergoes the given macroscopic deformation \(F\) . When the response function \(\varPsi \) is isotropic and smooth, and when \(\varPsi \) possesses standard semiconvexity and growth properties, the body also admits phases of the form \(G=\zeta _{\min }R\) (loose phases) with \(R\) an arbitrary rotation, provided that \(\zeta _{\min }R \) satisfies the accommodation inequality \(\zeta _{\min }^{3}\le \det F\) . Loose phases, when available, achieve the global minimum \(\varPsi (\zeta _{\min }R)\) of the free energy and consequently are stable and stress-free. When \( \varPsi (G)\) has the specific form \(\varPsi _{\alpha \beta }(G)=(\alpha /2)(\det G)^{-2}+(\beta /2)tr(GG^{T})\) , with \(\alpha \) , \(\beta \) given elastic constants, we determine all of the disarrangement phases corresponding to \(F\) . These include not only the compact and loose phases, but also disarrangement phases \(G\) in which the stress \(D\varPsi (G)\) is uniaxial or planar. Our main result (“stability implies no-tension”) is the assertion that every stable disarrangement phase for \(\varPsi _{\alpha \beta }\) cannot support tensile tractions, and our treatment of elastic aggregates thus provides a natural setting for the emergence of no-tension materials whose response in compression is non-linear. Existing treatments of no-tension materials assume at the outset that the body cannot support tension and that the response in compression is linear.     

Some Aspects of Stability for Semigroup Actions and Control Systems

The present paper introduces both the notions of Lagrange and Poisson stabilities for semigroup actions. Let \(S\) be a semigroup acting on a topological space \(X\) with mapping \(\sigma :S\times X\rightarrow X\) , and let \(\mathcal {F}\) be a family of subsets of \(S\) . For \(x\in X\) the motion \(\sigma _{x}:S\rightarrow X\) is said to be forward Lagrange stable if the orbit \(Sx\) has compact closure in \(X\) . The point \(x\) is forward \(\mathcal {F}\) -Poisson stable if and only if it belongs to the limit set \(\omega \left( x,\mathcal {F}\right) \) . The concept of prolongational limit set is also introduced and used to describe nonwandering points. It is shown that a point \(x\) is \( \mathcal {F}\) -nonwandering if and only if \(x\) lies in its forward \(\mathcal {F} \) -prolongational limit set \(J\left( x,\mathcal {F}\right) \) . The paper contains applications to control systems.     

Robust mixed H_2 /H_\infty active control for offshore steel jacket platform

This paper presents a robust mixed \(H_2 /H_\infty \) control method for wave-excited offshore jacket platforms. Its objective was to design a controller that minimizes the upper bound of the \(H_2 \) performance measure on platform dynamics satisfying some \(H_\infty \) norm bound constraint simultaneously. Based on mixed \(H_2 /H_\infty \) control theory and linear matrix inequality techniques, a novel approach to stabilize offshore platform vibration with constrained \(H_2 /H_\infty \) performances is proposed. Uncertainties of the wave excitation are considered in dynamic performance analysis of offshore platforms. A reduced mode offshore platform structure under wave excitation is analyzed, and simulations are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Compared with existing \(H_\infty \) control methods, the proposed approach makes a significant improvement for dynamic performances of offshore platforms under random wave excitation.     

Gas Sorption and the Consequent Volumetric and Permeability Change of Coal I: Experimental

Experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to study adsorption and desorption of pure and multicomponent gas on coal, and the sorption-induced volumetric strain and permeability change of the coal. This paper presents the experimental work. Using CO \(_2\) , N \(_2\) , and CO \(_2\) and N \(_2\) binary mixtures of different composition as injection gases, the measurements were conducted on a cylindrical composite coal core at varying pore pressures and constant effective confining pressure. Sorption was measured using a volumetric method. The initial and equilibrium system pressure and gas phase composition were measured. The total amount of adsorption and the composition of the adsorbed phase (for adsorption of binary gas mixtures) were calculated based on material balance. During the process of sorption, the volume of the core was monitored by recording the volume of the water in the confining pressure vessel. Sorption-induced strain was calculated as the ratio of the sorption-induced volumetric change to the initial volume of the core. After adsorption equilibrium was reached, the permeability of the core was measured based on the Darcy equation for gas flow. Sorption and permeability measurements were conducted for each test gas at first increasing and then decreasing pressures. Volumetric strain was only measured while pore pressure increased. To our knowledge, this is the first study measuring adsorption, volumetric strain, and permeability on the same piece of core with the same apparatus.     

Coupled Water and Salt Transport in Porous Materials: Rapid Determination of a Varying Diffusion Coefficient from Experimental Data

A direct method for an accurate and rapid evaluation of a varying salt diffusion coefficient, \(D\) , from experimental data is proposed for a coupled water and salt transport in porous materials. The evaluation uses data on the moisture and salt concentration profiles and is based on a formula obtained from the Boltzmann-Matano method. The coupled transport is described by the diffusion-advection model of Bear and Bachmat. A simple expression for \(D\) in the center of the concentration interval is deduced from the formula to provide a rapid estimate on \(D\) . Possible extensions of this analytical approach are pointed out, suggesting that it can serve as a convenient general tool in engineering calculations. The theoretical results are applied to a laboratory experiment in which a coupled moisture and chloride transport had been investigated in a lime plaster, and the chloride diffusion coefficient had been obtained numerically in dependence on the chloride concentration. The agreement with the numerical results is shown to be rather good, except at low concentrations where our analytical results should be more reliable. It is also shown that the unusually high value of the calculated chloride diffusion coefficient—about three orders of magnitude higher than for free chloride ions in water—cannot be explained by possible inaccuracies in the measurements and/or numerical calculations. The reason is that changes in the measured profiles’ data could cause a change in \(D\) of just the same order of magnitude. This shows that, besides diffusion and advection, additional mechanisms take part in the considered chloride transport.     

Gas Sorption and the Consequent Volumetric and Permeability Change of Coal II: Numerical Modeling

The permeability of coalbed methane reservoirs may evolve during the recovery of methane and injection of gas, due to the change of effective stress and gas adsorption and desorption. Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the sorption-induced permeability change of coal. This paper presents the numerical modeling part of the work. It was found that adsorption of pure gases on coal was well represented by parametric adsorption isotherm models in the literature. Based on the experimental data of this study, adsorption of pure \(\hbox {N}_2\) was modeled using the Langmuir equation, and adsorption of pure \(\hbox {CO}_2\) was well represented by the N-Layer BET equation. For the modeling of CO \(_2\) & N \(_2\) binary mixture adsorption, the ideal adsorbed solution (IAS) model and the real adsorbed solution (RAS) model were used. The IAS model estimated the total amount of mixture adsorption and the composition of the adsorbed phase based on the pure adsorption isotherms. The estimated total adsorption and adsorbed-phase composition were very different from the experimental results, indicating nonideality of the CO \(_2\) –N \(_2\) –Coal-adsorption system. The measured sorption-induced strain was linearly proportional to the total amount of adsorption despite the species of the adsorbed gas. Permeability reduction followed a linear correlation with the volumetric strain with the adsorption of pure \(\hbox {N}_2\) and the tested CO \(_2\) & N \(_2\) binary mixtures, and an exponential correlation with the adsorption of pure \(\hbox {CO}_2\) .     

Global stabilization of inherently non-linear systems using continuously differentiable controllers

This paper concerns the problem of constructing \(C^1\) (continuously differentiable) controllers to stabilize a class of uncertain non-linear systems whose linearization around the origin may contain uncontrollable modes. Based on a new definition of homogeneity with monotone degrees, a polynomial Lyapunov function and a \(C^1\) global stabilizer are constructed recursively. Moreover, several special cases are investigated to show the advantages of the proposed approaches using the generalized homogeneity compared to the existing approaches using the traditional homogeneity.     

On solutions of two coupled fractional time derivative Hirota equations

We consider the well-known nonlinear Hirota equation (NLH) with fractional time derivative and derive its periodic wave solution and approximate analytic solitary wave solution using the homotopy analysis method (HAM). We also apply HAM to two coupled time fractional NLHs and construct their periodic wave solution and approximate solitary wave solution. We observe that the obtained periodic wave solution in both cases can be written in terms of the Mittag–Leffler function when the convergence control parameter \({c}_0\) equals \(-1\) . Convergence of the obtained solution is discussed. The derived approximate analytic solution and the effect of time-fractional order \(\alpha \) are shown graphically.     

On the Potential of Tomographic Methods when Applied to Compacted Crushed Rock Salt

Compacted crushed rock salt is considered as potential backfill material in repositories for nuclear waste. To evaluate the sealing properties of this material knowledge concerning the nature of the pore space is of eminent interest. Here, the pore microstructures of crushed rock salt samples with different compaction states were investigated by X-ray (XCT) computed tomography and Focused Ion Beam nanotomography (FIB-nt). Based on these methods the pore microstructures were reconstructed and quantitatively analyzed with respect to porosity, connectivity and percolation properties. Regarding pores with radii \(> 4\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) , porosity differs substantially in the two analyzed samples ( \(\phi = 0.01\) and 0.10). The pore microstructures are considered isotropic in connectivity and percolation threshold. Using two finite-scaling schemes we found percolation thresholds with critical porosities \(\phi _{c} > 0.05\) . Based on statistical considerations, the millimeter size samples that can be analyzed by XCT are large enough to provide a meaningful picture of the pore geometry related to macroporosity. The samples contain also a small fraction (i.e. \(< 0.01\) ) of pores with radii \(< 1\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) , which were resolved by FIB-nt. Often these pores can be found along grain boundaries. These pores are granular shaped and are not connected to each other. Typical samples size that can be analyzed by FIB-nt is on the order of tens of microns, which turned out to be too small to provide representative geometric information unless an effort is made that involves several FIB-nt realizations per sample.     

Standard decomposition of expansive ergodically supported dynamics

In this work, we introduce the notion of weak quasigroups, which are quasigroup operations defined almost everywhere on some set. Then, we prove that the topological entropy and the ergodic period of an invertible expansive ergodically supported dynamical system \((X,T)\) with the shadowing property establish a sufficient criterion for the existence of quasigroup operations defined almost everywhere outside of universally null sets and for which \(T\) is an automorphism. Furthermore, we find a decomposition of the dynamics of \(T\) in terms of \(T\) -invariant weak topological subquasigroups.     

Integrability with symbolic computation on the Bogoyavlensky–Konoplechenko model: Bell-polynomial manipulation,bilinear representation,and Wronskian solution

With symbolic computation, this paper investigates some integrable properties of a two-dimensional generalization of the Korteweg-de Vries equation, i.e., the Bogoyavlensky–Konoplechenko model, which can govern the interaction of a Riemann wave propagating along the \(y\) -axis and a long wave propagating along the \(x\) -axis. Within the framework of Bell-polynomial manipulations, Bell-polynomial expressions are firstly given, which then are cast into bilinear forms. The \(N\) -soliton solutions in the form of an \(N\) th-order polynomial in the \(N\) exponentials and in terms of the Wronskian determinant are, respectively, constructed with the Hirota bilinear method and Wronskian technique. Bilinear Bäcklund transformation is also derived with the achievement of a family of explicit solutions.     

Anisotropic Estimates for the Two-Dimensional Kuramoto–Sivashinsky Equation

We address the global solvability of the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation in a rectangular domain \([0,L_1]\times [0,L_2]\) . We give sufficient conditions on the width \(L_2\) of the domain, depending on the length \(L_1\) , so that the obtained solutions are global. Our proofs are based on anisotropic estimates.     

Statistical behavior of post-shock overpressure past grid turbulence

When a shock wave ejected from the exit of a 5.4-mm inner diameter, stainless steel tube propagated through grid turbulence across a distance of 215 mm, which is 5–15 times larger than its integral length scale \(L_{u}\) , and was normally incident onto a flat surface; the peak value of post-shock overpressure, \(\Delta P_{\mathrm{peak}}\) , at a shock Mach number of 1.0009 on the flat surface experienced a standard deviation of up to about 9 % of its ensemble average. This value was more than 40 times larger than the dynamic pressure fluctuation corresponding to the maximum value of the root-mean-square velocity fluctuation, \(u^{\prime }= 1.2~\hbox {m}/\hbox {s}\) . By varying \(u^{\prime }\) and \(L_{u}\) , the statistical behavior of \(\Delta P_{\mathrm{peak}}\) was obtained after at least 500 runs were performed for each condition. The standard deviation of \(\Delta P_{\mathrm{peak}}\) due to the turbulence was almost proportional to \(u^{{\prime }}\) . Although the overpressure modulations at two points 200 mm apart were independent of each other, we observed a weak positive correlation between the peak overpressure difference and the relative arrival time difference.     

First-principles study of full a-dislocations in pure magnesium

Full a-dislocations on the (0001) basal plane, \((10\bar 10)\) prismatic plane, and \((10\bar 11)\) and \((10\bar 12)\) pyramidal planes in pure magnesium are investigated by using the Peierls-Nabarro model combined with generalized stacking fault (GSF) energies from first-principles calculations. The results show that the \(\left( {10\bar 11} \right)\left\langle {11\bar 20} \right\rangle\) and \(\left( {10\bar 12} \right)\left\langle {11\bar 20} \right\rangle\) slip modes have nearly the same GSF energy barriers, which are obviously larger than the GSF energy barriers of the \(\left( {0001} \right)\left\langle {11\bar 20} \right\rangle\) and \(\left( {10\bar 10} \right)\left\langle {11\bar 20} \right\rangle\) slip modes. For both edge and screw full dislocations, the maximum dislocation densities, Peierls energies, and stresses of dislocations on the \((10\bar 10)\) , (0001), \((10\bar 11)\) , and \((10\bar 12)\) planes eventually increase. Moreover, the Peierls energies and the stresses of screw full dislocations are always lower than those of edge full dislocations for all slip systems. Dislocations on the \((10\bar 11)\) and \((10\bar 12)\) pyramidal planes possess smaller core energies, while the \((10\bar 10)\) prismatic plane has the largest ones, implying that the formation of full dislocations on the \((10\bar 10)\) plane is more difficult.     

Effects of nonlinear damping suspension on nonperiodic motions of a flexible rotor in journal bearings

Nonlinear damping suspension is a promising method to be used in a rotor-bearing system for vibration isolation between the bearing and environment. However, the nonlinearity of the suspension may influence the stability of the rotor-bearing system. In this paper, the motions of a flexible rotor in short journal bearings with nonlinear damping suspension are studied. A computational method is used to solve the equations of motion, and the bifurcation diagrams, orbits, Poincaré maps, and amplitude spectra are used to display the motions. The results show that the effect of the nonlinear damping suspension on the motions of the rotor-bearing system depends on the speed of rotor: (a) For low speeds, the rotor- bearing system presents the same motion pattern under the nonlinear damping ( \(p=0.5, 2, 3\) ) suspension as for the linear damping ( \(p=1\) ) suspension; (b) For high speeds, the effect of nonlinear damping depends on a combination of the damping exponent and damping coefficient. The square root damping model ( \(p=0.5\) ) shows a wider stable speed range than the linear damping for large damping coefficients. The quadratic damping ( \(p=2\) ) shows similar results to linear damping with some special damping coefficients. The cubic damping ( \(p=3\) ) shows more stable response than the linear damping in general.     

Output feedback \varvec{\mathcal {H}}_{{\varvec{\infty }}} control of stochastic nonlinear time-delay systems with state and disturbance-dependent noises

This paper is concerned with the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control problem for a class of stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying state delays; the system dynamics is governed by the stochastic time-delay It \(\hat{o}\) -type differential equation with state and disturbance contaminated by white noises. The design of the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control is based on the stochastic dissipative theory. By establishing the stochastic dissipation of the closed-loop system, the delay-dependent and delay-independent approaches are proposed for designing the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) controller. It is shown that the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control problem for the stochastic nonlinear time-delay systems can be solved by two delay-involved Hamilton–Jacobi inequalities. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.