Three-to-one internal resonance in multiple stepped beam systems

In this study, the vibrations of multiple stepped beams with cubic nonlinearities are considered. A three-to-one internal resonance case is investigated for the system. A general approximate solution to the problem is found using the method of multiple scales （a perturbation technique）. The modulation equations of the amplitudes and the phases are derived for two modes. These equations are utilized to determine steady state solutions and their stabilities. It is assumed that the external forcing frequency is close to the lower frequency. For the numeric part of the study, the three-to-one ratio in natural frequencies is investigated. These values are observed to be between the first and second natural frequencies in the cases of the clamped-clamped and clamped-pinned supports, and between the second and third natural frequencies in the case of the pinned-pinned support. Finally, a numeric algorithm is used to solve the three-to-one internal resonance. The first mode is externally excited for the clamped-clamped and clamped-pinned supports, and the second mode is externally excited for the pinned-pinned support. Then, the amplitudes of the first and second modes are investigated when the first mode is externally excited. The amplitudes of the second and third modes are investigated when the second mode is externally excited. The force-response, damping-response, and .frequency- response curves are plotted for the internal resonance modes of vibrations. The stability analysis is carried out for these plots.     

Mechanical characterisation of a viscoplastic material sensitive to hydrostatic pressure

The present paper deals with the characterisation of the static mechanical behaviour of an energetic material all along its lifespan. The material behaviour is viscoplastic, damageable and sensitive to hydrostatic pressure. For such materials, existing models have generally been developed in the framework of transient dynamic behaviour. These models are not suitable for a static study. Therefore a specific experimental protocol and an associated model are developed. Characterisation is derived from both uniaxial compressive, tensile tests and triaxial tests. Plastic behaviour is described by means of a parabolic yield criterion and a new hardening law. Non-associated plastic flow rule and isotropic damage complete the model. The performance of the model is illustrated through the simulation of various loading paths.     

The influence of the periodic disturbance on the local heat transfer in separated and reattached flow

A numerical study based on the large eddy simulation methodology was made of heat transfer in locally disturbed turbulent separated and reattached flow over a backward facing step. The local disturbance was given to the flow by a sinusoidally blowing/suction of the fluid into a separated shear layer. The Reynolds number was fixed at 33,000 and Richardson number at 0.5. The disturbance frequency was varied in the range 0 ≤ St ≤ 2, where St is the Strouhal number of disturbance. The obtained results revealed the existence of an optimum perturbation frequency value, St = 0.25, in terms of the reduced reattachment length. At this frequency the heat transfer is significantly enhanced in the recirculation zone. The influence of the frequency and the amplitude of disturbance, in the maximum heat transfer positions and the maximum local Nusselt number, is analysed.     

Chemistry and Biology of HPAs: A Family of Ceramide Trafficking Inhibitors

In 2001, two years before the disclosure of the CERT‐associated Cer transfer machinery, N‐(3‐hydroxy‐1‐hydroxymethyl‐3‐phenylpropyl)alkanamides (HPAs) were described as the first, and to date unique, family of intracellular Cer trafficking inhibitors. The dodecanamide derivative, HPA‐12, turned out to be a benchmark as a cellular inhibitor of CERT‐mediated de novo sphingomyelin biosynthesis. In only 15 years after its first disclosure, this compound has prompted a growing number of biological and chemical studies. Its initial chemical development closely paralleled the study of the CERT protein. It was only after its structural revision in 2011 that HPA‐12 received broad attention from the synthetic chemistry community, leading to novel analogues with enhanced protein binding. This Minireview aims at presenting an exhaustive report of the syntheses of HPA‐12 and analogues. Biological activities of this CERT inhibitor and structure–activity relationships are also presented to afford a comprehensive overview of the chemistry and biology of the HPA series.     

Reconfigurable computing for Monte Carlo simulations: Results and prospects of the Janus project

We describe Janus, a massively parallel FPGA-based computer optimized for the simulation of spin glasses, theoretical models for the behavior of glassy materials. FPGAs (as compared to GPUs or many-core processors) provide a complementary approach to massively parallel computing. In particular, our model problem is formulated in terms of binary variables, and floating-point operations can be (almost) completely avoided. The FPGA architecture allows us to run many independent threads with almost no latencies in memory access, thus updating up to 1024 spins per cycle. We describe Janus in detail and we summarize the physics results obtained in four years of operation of this machine; we discuss two types of physics applications: long simulations on very large systems (which try to mimic and provide understanding about the experimental non-equilibrium dynamics), and low-temperature equilibrium simulations using an artificial parallel tempering dynamics. The time scale of our non-equilibrium simulations spans eleven orders of magnitude (from picoseconds to a tenth of a second). On the other hand, our equilibrium simulations are unprecedented both because of the low temperatures reached and for the large systems that we have brought to equilibrium. A finite-time scaling ansatz emerges from the detailed comparison of the two sets of simulations. Janus has made it possible to perform spin-glass simulations that would take several decades on more conventional architectures. The paper ends with an assessment of the potential of possible future versions of the Janus architecture, based on state-of-the-art technology.