Vibration induced flow in hoppers: DEM 2D polygon model

A two-dimensional discrete element model (DEM) simulation of cohesive polygonal particles has been developed to assess the benefit of point source vibration to induce flow in wedge-shaped hoppers. The particle-particle interaction model used is based on a multi-contact principle.The first part of the study investigated particle discharge under gravity without vibration to determine the critical orifice size (Be) to just sustain flow as a function of particle shape. It is shown that polygonal-shaped particles need a larger orifice than circular particles. It is also shown that Be decreases as the number of particle vertices increases. Addition of circular particles promotes flow of polygons in a linear manner.The second part of the study showed that vibration could enhance flow, effectively reducing Be. The model demonstrated the importance of vibrator location (height), consistent with previous continuum model results, and vibration amplitude in enhancing flow.     

Some results on 4<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis></Superscript>2<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript> designs with clear two-factor interaction components

Clear effects criterion is one of the important rules for selecting optimal fractional factorial designs, and it has become an active research issue in recent years. Tang et al. derived upper and lower bounds on the maximum number of clear two-factor interactions (2fi’s) in 2 ^n−(n−k) fractional factorial designs of resolutions III and IV by constructing a 2 ^n−(n−k) design for given k, which are only restricted for the symmetrical case. This paper proposes and studies the clear effects problem for the asymmetrical case. It improves the construction method of Tang et al. for 2 ^n−(n−k) designs with resolution III and derives the upper and lower bounds on the maximum number of clear two-factor interaction components (2fic’s) in 4 ^m 2 ⁿ designs with resolutions III and IV. The lower bounds are achieved by constructing specific designs. Comparisons show that the number of clear 2fic’s in the resulting design attains its maximum number in many cases, which reveals that the construction methods are satisfactory when they are used to construct 4 ^m 2 ⁿ designs under the clear effects criterion. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10571093, 10671099 and 10771123), the Research Foundation for Doctor Programme (Grant No. 20050055038) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (Grant No. Q2007A05). Zhang’s research was also supported by the Visiting Scholar Program at Chern Institute of Mathematics.     

Dy~(3+):ThO_2的选择激发光谱和能级结构

本文首次用熔融法生长了Dy3 + :ThO2 晶体 ,详细研究了其光谱特性。通过 12K下格位选择激发下的发射光谱测量 ,利用晶场理论 ,确定了Dy3 + 在ThO2 中的格位对称性为C3v。列表给出了Dy3 + :ThO2 的晶场能级结构。测量和讨论了 4 F9/ 2 能级的寿命。     

Frequency– and Time-domain BEM Analysis of Rigid Track on a Half-Space with Vibration Barriers

The rapid development of high-speed trains like the TGV or the ICE in recent years results in high dynamic loads causing vibrations which propagate from the train-track structure into the ground and further into nearby buildings. In this context it is important to develop rigid tracks with improved dynamic behaviour and to investigate possible means of vibration reduction. The boundary element method in frequency and time domain is used to simulate train-track structures subjected to dynamic loading and the reduction of vibrations which for instance can be achieved via a trench running parallel to the rigid track. In this context the non-causality error, which arises when the time-domain BEM algorithm is applied to mathematically concave domains, is discussed and the substructure method is proposed as a solution to this problem. A two-layered cylindrical elastic structure on a half-space with a trench is added as an example of a possible application.     

Dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver

A mathematical model is developed to study periodic-impact motions and bifurcations in dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver. Dynamics of the small vibro-impact pile driver can be analyzed by means of a three-dimensional map, which describes free flight and sticking solutions of the vibro-impact system, between impacts, supplemented by transition conditions at the instants of impacts. Piecewise property and singularity are found to exist in the Poincaré map. The piecewise property is caused by the transitions of free flight and sticking motions of the driver and the pile immediately after the impact, and the singularity of map is generated via the grazing contact of the driver and the pile immediately before the impact. These properties of the map have been shown to exhibit particular types of sliding and grazing bifurcations of periodic-impact motions under parameter variation. The influence of piecewise property, grazing singularities and parameter variation on the performance of the vibro-impact pile driver is analyzed. The global bifurcation diagrams for the impact velocity of the driver versus the forcing frequency are plotted to predict much of the qualitative behavior of the actual physical system, which enable the practicing engineer to select excitation frequency ranges in which stable period one single-impact response can be expected to occur, and to predict the larger impact velocity and shorter impact period of such response.     

Study of 169Hf at high rotational frequency

High-spin properties of the nucleus ¹⁶⁹Hf have been studied through the fusion evaporation reaction ⁹⁶Zr(⁷⁶Ge,3n)¹⁶⁹Hf at a beam energy of 310 MeV. The known rotational bands have been extended considerably and 6 new bands have been established, four of which form coupled bands with pronounced M1 connections. Quasiparticle assignments are suggested for the new band structures, and it appears that coupling to vibrational degrees of freedom plays a role. Both coupled bands involve the excitation of quasiprotons. In the region of highest spin, a large alignment gain is interpreted in terms of a mixed crossing where an h _9/2 and an h _11/2 quasiproton provide the two signatures of the aligning configuration. Received: 23 March 2001 / Accepted: 20 September 2001     

Effect of Mg2+ co‐doping on the scintillation performance of LuAG:Ce ceramics

Ce‐doped Lu₃Al₅O₁₂ optical ceramics co‐doped with Mg²⁺ are fabricated by solid‐state reaction method and further optimized by an air‐annealing process. Mg²⁺ co‐doping leads to a significant decrease of thermoluminescence intensity above room temperature and an increase of scintillation light yield (LY) value and fast component content even if the overall scintillation efficiency decreases. Scintillation LY of ～21900 ph/MeV has been achieved with a short shaping time of 1 μs, and the ratio of LY values for 1 μs and 10 μs shaping times was as high as 79%. The acceleration of scintillation response induced by Mg²⁺ co‐doping and the role of Ce⁴⁺ ions in the scintillation mechanism are discussed.

     

Ultrawide low frequency band gap of phononic crystal in nacreous composite material

The band structure of a nacreous composite material is studied by two proposed models, where an ultrawide low frequency band gap is observed. The first model (tension-shear chain model) with two phases including brick and mortar is investigated to describe the wave propagation in the nacreous composite material, and the dispersion relation is calculated by transfer matrix method and Bloch theorem. The results show that the frequency ranges of the pass bands are quite narrow, because a special tension-shear chain motion in the nacreous composite material is formed by some very slow modes. Furthermore, the second model (two-dimensional finite element model) is presented to investigate its band gap by a multi-level substructure scheme. Our findings will be of great value to the design and synthesis of vibration isolation materials in a wide and low frequency range. Finally, the transmission characteristics are calculated to verify the results.     

Correction strategy for diffusion-weighted images corrupted with motion: application to the DTI evaluation of infants' white matter

Objective

Diffusion imaging techniques such as DTI and HARDI are difficult to implement in infants because of their sensitivity to subject motion. A short acquisition time is generally preferred, at the expense of spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Before estimating the local diffusion model, most pre-processing techniques only register diffusion-weighted volumes, without correcting for intra-slice artifacts due to motion or technical problems. Here, we propose a fully automated strategy, which takes advantage of a high orientation number and is based on spherical-harmonics decomposition of the diffusion signal.

Material and methods

The correction strategy is based on two successive steps: 1) automated detection and resampling of corrupted slices; 2) correction for eddy current distortions and realignment of misregistered volumes. It was tested on DTI data from adults and non-sedated healthy infants.

Results

The methodology was validated through simulated motions applied to an uncorrupted dataset and through comparisons with an unmoved reference. Second, we showed that the correction applied to an infant group enabled to improve DTI maps and to increase the reliability of DTI quantification in the immature cortico-spinal tract.

Conclusion

This automated strategy performed reliably on DTI datasets and can be applied to spherical single- and multiple-shell diffusion imaging.