A material model for cementitious composite materials with an exterior point Eshelby microcrack initiation criterion

A micromechanical model for cementitious composite materials is described in which microcrack initiation, in the interfacial transition zone between aggregate particles and cement matrix, is governed by an exterior-point Eshelby solution. The model assumes a two-phase elastic composite, derived from an Eshelby solution and the Mori–Tanaka homogenization method, to which circular microcracks are added. A multi-component rough crack contact model is employed to simulate normal and shear behaviour of rough microcrack surfaces. The development of the microcrack initiation criterion and the rules adopted for microcrack evolution are a particular focus of the paper. Finally, it is shown, on the basis of several numerical simulations, that the model captures key characteristics of the behaviour of cementitious composites such as concrete.     

A visual proof of a result of Knuth on spanning trees of Aztec diamonds in the case of odd order

The even Aztec diamond AD_n is known to have precisely four times more spanning trees than the odd Aztec diamond OD_n—this was conjectured by Stanley and first proved by Knuth. We present a short combinatorial proof of this fact in the case of odd n. Our proof works also for the more general case of odd-by-odd Aztec rectangles.     

On the classification of complex vector bundles of stable rank

One describes, using a detailed analysis of Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence, the tuples of cohomology classes on a compact, complex manifold, corresponding to the Chern classes of a complex vector bundle of stable rank. This classification becomes more effective on generalized flag manifolds, where the Lie algebra formalism and concrete integrability conditions describe in constructive terms the Chern classes of a vector bundle. Since deceased.     

The number of spanning trees of plane graphs with reflective symmetry

A plane graph is called symmetric if it is invariant under the reflection across some straight line (called symmetry axis). Let G be a symmetric plane graph. We prove that if there is no edge in G intersected by its symmetry axis then the number of spanning trees of G can be expressed in terms of the product of the number of spanning trees of two smaller graphs, each of which has about half the number of vertices of G.     

Studies on thermal degradation of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene copolymer (ABS-Br) containing brominated flame retardant

The thermal degradation of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS-Br; 10 g) containing brominated flame retardant (Br: 9.59 wt.%) was carried out at 450 °C using a semi batch operation using two different temperature programs. The heating rate was found to affect the quality of the degradation oil and yield of products (liquid, gas and residue). Data on the effect of the temperature program on the accumulation of liquid products was presented. It was found that the majority of the bromine was concentrated in the carbon residue and while majority of the nitrogen accumulates in the liquid products irrespective of degradation mode. The use of a one step constant heating rate process (I) produced a higher liquid yield (39%), than a two step process (29%). Differences were also noted in the Br and N contained in the liquids produced by the two processes.     

The vanishing neighbourhood of non-isolated singularities

We study the vanishing neighbourhood of non-isolated singularities of functions on singular spaces by associating a general linear function. We use the carrousel monodromy in order to show how to get a better control over the attaching of thimbles. For one-dimensional singularities, we prove obstructions to integer (co)homology groups and to the eigenspaces of the monodromy via monodromies of nearby sections. Our standpoint allows one to find, in certain cases, the structure of the Milnor fibre up to the homotopy type.     

Milnor numbers and Euler obstruction*

Using a geometric approach, we determine the relations between the local Euler obstruction Eu_f of a holomorphic function f and several generalizations of the Milnor number for functions on singular spaces. *This work was partially supported by CNRS-CONACYT (12409) Cooperation Program. The first and third named authors partially supported by CONACYT grant G36357-E and DGPA (UNAM) grant IN 101 401.     

Matrix Representations for Positive Noncommutative Polynomials

In real semialgebraic geometry it is common to represent a polynomial q which is positive on a region R as a weighted sum of squares. Serious obstructions arise when q is not strictly positive on the region R. Here we are concerned with noncommutative polynomials and obtaining a representation for them which is valid even when strict positivity fails. Specifically, we treat a ``symmetric' polynomial q(x, h) in noncommuting variables, {x<sub>1</sub>, . . . , } and {h<sub>1</sub>, . . . , } for which q(X,H) is positive semidefinite whenever are tuples of selfadjoint matrices with ||X<sub>j</sub>|| ≤ 1 but H<sub>j</sub> unconstrained. The representation we obtain is a Gram representation in the variables h where P<sub>q</sub> is a symmetric matrix whose entries are noncommutative polynomials only in x and V is a ``vector' whose entries are polynomials in both x and h. We show that one can choose P_q such that the matrix P_q(X) is positive semidefinite for all ||X_j|| ≤ 1. The representation covers sum of square results ([Am. Math. (to appear); Linear Algebra Appl. 326 (2001), 193–203; Non commutative Sums of Squares, preprint]) when g_x = 0. Also it allows for arbitrary degree in h, rather than degree two, in the main result of [Matrix Inequalities: A Symbolic Procedure to Determine Convexity Automatically to appear IOET July 2003] when restricted to x-domains of the type ||X_j|| ≤ 1. Partially supported by NSF, DARPA and Ford Motor Co. Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0140112 Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0100367     

A linear assignment approach for the least-squares protein morphing problem

This work addresses the computation of free-energy differences between protein conformations by using morphing (i.e., transformation) of a source conformation into a target conformation. To enhance the morphing procedure, we employ permutations of atoms: we seek to find the permutation σ that minimizes the mean-square distance traveled by the atoms. Instead of performing this combinatorial search in the space of permutations, we show that the best permutation can be found by solving a linear assignment problem. We demonstrate that the use of such optimal permutations significantly improves the efficiency of the free-energy computation.     

Optimal control of systems with discontinuous differential equations

In this paper we discuss the problem of verifying and computing optimal controls of systems whose dynamics is governed by differential systems with a discontinuous right-hand side. In our work, we are motivated by optimal control of mechanical systems with Coulomb friction, which exhibit such a right-hand side. Notwithstanding the impressive development of nonsmooth and set-valued analysis, these systems have not been closely studied either computationally or analytically. We show that even when the solution crosses and does not stay on the discontinuity, differentiating the results of a simulation gives gradients that have errors of a size independent of the stepsize. This means that the strategy of “optimize the discretization” will usually fail for problems of this kind. We approximate the discontinuous right-hand side for the differential equations or inclusions by a smooth right-hand side. For these smoothed approximations, we show that the resulting gradients approach the true gradients provided that the start and end points of the trajectory do not lie on the discontinuity and that Euler’s method is used where the step size is “sufficiently small” in comparison with the smoothing parameter. Numerical results are presented for a crude model of car racing that involves Coulomb friction and slip showing that this approach is practical and can handle problems of moderate complexity.