Turbulent pipe flow of a drag-reducing rigid “rod-like” polymer solution

Fully developed turbulent pipe flow of an aqueous solution of a rigid “rod-like” polymer, scleroglucan, at concentrations of 0.005% (w/w) and 0.01% (w/w) has been investigated experimentally. Fanning friction factors were determined from pressure-drop measurements for the Newtonian solvent (water) and the polymer solutions and so levels of drag reduction for the latter. Mean axial velocity u and complete Reynolds normal stress data, i.e. u′, v′ and w′, were measured by means of a laser Doppler anemometer at three different Reynolds numbers for each fluid. The measurements indicate that the effectiveness of scleroglucan as a drag-reducing agent is only mildly dependent on Reynolds number. The turbulence structure essentially resembles that of flexible polymer solutions which also lead to low levels of drag reduction.     

Stretch and twist of rotating prismatic beam

A turbine blade is modelled as a uniform isotropic prismatic beam of general cross-section and “setting angle” rotating about one end, and is analysed according to the linear theory of elasticity. A semi-inverse solution is presented which reduces the three-dimensional problem to one of two dimensions, and explicit stress and strain components given for the mathematically amenable elliptic cross-section. As expected, the planar stresses σ_x,σ_y, and τ_xy arising from the two-dimensional problem are found to be small. For the general section, the theory predicts small curvature of the blade centre line, and a twisting moment which tends to reduce the “angle of set”.     

Characterization of material inhomogeneity by stationary values of strain energy density

The strain energy density theory is applied to analyze the fracture instability of a mechanical system whose behavior is governed by the interaction of geometry, load and material inhomogeneity. This is accomplished by obtaining the location of the global and local relative minima of the strain energy density function dW/dV denoted, respectively, by [(dW/dV)_min]_g and [(dW/dV)_min]_¢l. The former refers to a fixed global coordinate system for the entire solid while the latter corresponds to local coordinate systems referred to each material point. An unique length parameter “ℓ” representing the distance between [(dW/dV)_min^max]_g and [(dW/dV)_min^max]_ℓ can thus be found and serves as a measure of the degree of system instability tending toward failure by fracture.Numerical results are obtained and displayed graphically for the case of a solid containing an inclusion of dissimilar material. The changes that take place in material inhomogeneity, loading type and physical dimensions of the solid and inclusion are reflected through ℓ. The method suggests the compatibility of ℓ for each member of a multi-component structure in order to avoid premature failure of a single member.     

On the dynamic behavior of agricultural tires

The dynamic behavior of vehicles which are equipped with pneumatic tires depends, to a degree, on the properties of the tire. Therefore, road handling and comfort are also affected by tire characteristics. When the inflation pressure is reduced one obtains a softer “spring”. The dynamic spring coefficient C_dyn increases with increasing rolling speed. Damping coefficient k is related to the excitation frequency by a power function. This function shows a sharp negative slope for low velocities. These conclusions apply to the tire types and test conditions described in this paper.     

A “quasi-elastic” affine formulation for the homogenised behaviour of nonlinear viscoelastic polycrystals and composites

The derivation of the overall behaviour of nonlinear viscoelastic (or rate-dependent elastoplastic) heterogeneous materials requires a linearisation of the constitutive equations around uniform per phase stress (or strain) histories. The resulting Linear Comparison Material (LCM) has to be linear thermoviscoelastic to fully retain the viscoelastic nature of phase interactions. Instead of the exact treatment of this LCM (i.e., correspondence principle and inverse Laplace transforms) as proposed by the “classical” affine formulation, an approximate treatment is proposed here. First considering Maxwellian behaviour, comparisons for a single phase as well as for two-phase materials (with “parallel” and disordered morphologies) show that the “direct inversion method” of Laplace transforms, initially proposed by Schapery (1962), has to be adapted to fit correctly exact responses to creep loading while a more general method is proposed for other loading paths. When applied to nonlinear viscoelastic heterogeneous materials, this approximate inversion method gives rise to a new formulation which is consistent with the classical affine one for the steady-state regimes. In the transient regime, it leads to a significantly more efficient numerical resolution, the LCM associated to the step by step procedure being no more thermoviscoelastic but thermoelastic. Various comparisons for nonlinear viscoelastic polycrystals responses to creep as well as relaxation loadings show that this “quasi-elastic” formulation yields results very close to classical affine ones, even for high contrasts.     

MOTIONS, FORCES AND MODE TRANSITIONS IN VORTEX-INDUCED VIBRATIONS AT LOW MASS-DAMPING

These experiments, involving the transverse oscillations of an elastically mounted rigid cylinder at very low mass and damping, have shown that there exist two distinct types of response in such systems, depending on whether one has a low combined mass-damping parameter (low m^*ζ), or a high mass-damping (highm^*ζ ). For our low m^*ζ, we find three modes of response, which are denoted as an initial amplitude branch, an upper branch and a lower branch. For the classical Feng-type response, at highm^*ζ , there exist only two response branches, namely the initial and lower branches. The peak amplitude of these vibrating systems is principally dependent on the mass-damping (m^*ζ), whereas the regime of synchronization (measured by the range of velocity U^*) is dependent primarily on the mass ratio, m^*ζ. At low (m^*ζ), the transition between initial and upper response branches involves a hysteresis, which contrasts with the intermittent switching of modes found, using the Hilbert transform, for the transition between upper–lower branches. A 180° jump in phase angle φ is found only when the flow jumps between the upper–lower branches of response. The good collapse of peak-amplitude data, over a wide range of mass ratios (m^*=1–20), when plotted against (m^*+C_A) ζ in the “Griffin” plot, demonstrates that the use of a combined parameter is valid down to at least (m^*+C_A)ζ 0·006. This is two orders of magnitude below the “limit” that had previously been stipulated in the literature, (m^*+C_A) ζ>0·4. Using the actual oscillating frequency (f) rather than the still-water natural frequency (f_N), to form a normalized velocity (U^*/f^*), also called “true” reduced velocity in recent studies, we find an excellent collapse of data for a set of response amplitude plots, over a wide range of mass ratiosm^* . Such a collapse of response plots cannot be predicted a priori, and appears to be the first time such a collapse of data sets has been made in free vibration. The response branches match very well the Williamson–Roshko (Williamson & Roshko 1988) map of vortex wake patterns from forced vibration studies. Visualization of the modes indicates that the initial branch is associated with the 2S mode of vortex formation, while the Lower branch corresponds with the 2P mode. Simultaneous measurements of lift and drag have been made with the displacement, and show a large amplification of maximum, mean and fluctuating forces on the body, which is not unexpected. It is possible to simply estimate the lift force and phase using the displacement amplitude and frequency. This approach is reasonable only for very low m^*.     

The mechanisms of ‘neck-like’ deformation in high-speed melt spinning. 2. Effects of polymer crystallization

As is shown in the first paper of the series, the main factor responsible for concentrated (‘neck-like’) deformation in high-speed melt spinning is the gradient of elongational viscosity along the spinline. In the present paper, stress-induced polymer crystallization is analyzed as a potential source of the rapid viscosity increase.A model of crystallization-controlled solidification is proposed, in which viscosity of the polymer increases with the degree of crystallinity, Θ, as

Full-size image (1K)

, reaching infinity (complete solidification) at Θ = Θ_cr. The critical crystallinity level has been interpreted as one required for ‘crosslinking’ of polymer chains present in the melt.In addition to viscosity increase, crystallization modifies the local temperature in the spinline and reduces viscosity.The analysis of stress effects shows that critical crystallization temperature, T_m, and crystallization rate, K, increase with the square of normal stress difference in the spinline, Δp = p_xx − p_rr. The onset of crystallization can be shifted by 20–40 K towards higher temperatures, and crystallization rate can increase by orders of magnitude when high take-up speeds increase the stress level.A simple model illustrating velocity profiles in crystallizing Newtonian jets is discussed.The analysis strongly supports the hypothesis that the high viscosity gradient resulting from rapid stress-induced crystallization provides the major mechanism of ‘neck-like’ deformation.     

Rigidité à la torsion d'un cylindre présentant une double périodicité

The objective of the present Note is to estimate the equivalent torsion rigidity modulus for a cylinder whose cross-section Σ exhibits a periodical distribution of porous zones Σ_P. Taking into account a second, finer, periodical distribution of pores in Σ_P, we have to use the homogenization method in a biperiodical context. However, the contrast of scales at the interfaces between Σ_P and the compact part Σ_C of Σ, requires some subtle fitting up of this method. Finally, we point out the existence of boundary layers around the interfaces ∂Σ_P and we estimate the weakening of the torque rigidness. To cite this article: M'B. Taghite et al., C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).     

The effect of contact stress intensity factors on fatigue crack propagation

Using the technique of Dimensional Analysis the phenomenon of crack closure is modelled using the concept of a contact stress intensity factor Kc. For constant amplitude loading, a simple expression, Kc_max = g(R) ΔK, is obtained without making idealized assumptions concerning crack tip behaviour. Further, by assuming that crack closure arises from the interaction of residual plasticity in the wake of the crack and crack tip compressive stresses, the function g(R) is shown to be constant for non-workhardening materials. This implies that any dependency of Kc_max on R must be attributed to the workhardening characteristic of the material. With Kc known, an “effective” stress intensity factor Ke may be calculated and incorporated into a crack growth law of the form da/dn = f(ΔKe). From analysis, it can be deduced that for a workhardening material, Kc_max will decrease as R increases and the effective stress intensity factor will increase. This means that the fatigue crack propagation rate will increase with R, in accordance with experimental observations.     

Stochastic functional expansion in elasticity of heterogeneous solids

The Volterra-Wiener functional expansion is employed to the analysis of statistic properties for random heterogeneous solids. For simplicity, the technique is displayed on an elastic suspension of spheres. The basis function in the expansion is chosen as that corresponding to the so-called “perfect disorder” of spheres (PDS), recently introduced by the authors. An infinite hierarchy of equations for the kernels in the expansion is derived whose truncating after the nth equation is shown to yield results for the averaged statistical characteristics which are valid to order cⁿ_f, where c_f is the volume fraction of the spheres. The kernels for the first and the second approximations, n = 1, 2, are found and related to the displacement fields in an infinite elastic body containing, respectively, one and two spherical inhomogeneities. Within the frame of the so-called singular approximation the overall tensor of elastic moduli for a suspension of perfectly disordered spheres is shown to coincide to the order c²_f with a formula, earlier obtained by means of the method of the effective field.     

Micro/macro-crack growth due to creep–fatigue dependency on time–temperature material behavior

The implicit character of micro-structural degradation is determined by specifying the time history of crack growth caused by creep–fatigue interaction at high temperature. A dual scale micro/macro-equivalent crack growth model is used to illustrate the underlying principle of multiscaling which can be applied equally well to nano/micro. A series of dual scale models can be connected to formulate triple or quadruple scale models. Temperature and time-dependent thermo-mechanical material properties are developed to dictate the design time history of creep–fatigue cracking that can serve as the master curve for health monitoring.In contrast to the conventional procedure of problem/solution approach by specifying the time- and temperature-dependent material properties as a priori, the desired solution is then defined for a class of anticipated loadings. A scheme for matching the loading history with the damage evolution is then obtained. The results depend on the initial crack size and the extent of creep in proportion to fatigue damage. The path dependent nature of damage is demonstrated by showing the range of the pertinent parameters that control the final destruction of the material. A possible scenario of 20 yr of life span for the 38Cr2Mo2VA ultra-high strength steel is used to develop the evolution of the micro-structural degradation. Three micro/macro-parameters μ^*, d^* and σ^* are used to exhibit the time-dependent variation of the material, geometry and load effects. They are necessary to reflect the scale transitory behavior of creep–fatigue damage. Once the algorithm is developed, the material can be tailor made to match the behavior. That is a different life span of the same material would alter the time behavior of μ^*, d^* and σ^* and hence the micro-structural degradation history. The one-to-one correspondence of the material micro-structure degradation history with that of damage by cracking is the essence of path dependency. Numerical results and graphs are obtained to demonstrate how the inherently implicit material micro-structure parameters can be evaluated from the uniaxial bulk material properties at the macroscopic scale.The combined behavior of creep and fatigue can be exhibited by specifying the parameter ξ with reference to the initial defect size a₀. Large ξ (0.90 and 0.85) gives critical crack size a_cr = 11–14 mm (at t < 20 yr) for a₀ about 1.3 mm. For small ξ (0.05 and 0.15), there results critical a_cr = 6–7 mm (at t < 20 yr) for a₀ about 0.7–0.8 mm. The initial crack is estimated to increase its length by an order of magnitude before triggering global to the instability. This also applies ξ ≈ 0.5 where creep interacts severely with fatigue. Fine tuning of a_cr and a₀ can be made to meet the condition oft = 20 yr.Trade off among load, material and geometric parameters are quantified such that the optimum conditions can be determined for the desired life qualified by the initial–final defect sizes. The scenario assumed in this work is indicative of the capability of the methodology. The initial–final defect sizes can be varied by re-designing the time–temperature material specifications. To reiterate, the uniqueness of solution requires the end result to match with the initial conditions for a given problem. This basic requirement has been accomplished by the dual scale micro/macro-crack growth model for creep and fatigue.     

Crack size and speed interaction characteristics at micro-, meso- and macro-scale

The motivation to examine physical events at even smaller size scale arises from the development of use-specific materials where information transfer from one micro- or macro-element to another could be pre-assigned. There is the growing belief that the cumulated macroscopic experiences could be related to those at the lower size scales. Otherwise, there serves little purpose to examine material behavior at the different scale levels. Size scale, however, is intimately associated with time, not to mention temperature. As the size and time scales are shifted, different physical events may be identified. Dislocations with the movements of atoms, shear and rotation of clusters of molecules with inhomogeneity of polycrystals; and yielding/fracture with bulk properties of continuum specimens. Piecemeal results at the different scale levels are vulnerable to the possibility that they may be incompatible. The attention should therefore be focused on a single formulation that has the characteristics of multiscaling in size and time. The fact that the task may be overwhelmingly difficult cannot be used as an excuse for ignoring the fundamental aspects of the problem.Local nonlinearity is smeared into a small zone ahead of the crack. A “restrain stress” is introduced to also account for cracking at the meso-scale.The major emphasis is placed on developing a model that could exhibit the evolution characteristics of change in cracking behavior due to size and speed. Material inhomogeneity is assumed to favor self-similar crack growth although this may not always be the case. For relatively high restrain stress, the possible nucleation of micro-, meso- and macro-crack can be distinguished near the crack tip region. This distinction quickly disappears after a small distance after which scaling is no longer possible. This character prevails for Mode I and II cracking at different speeds. Special efforts are made to confine discussions within the framework of assumed conditions. To be kept in mind are the words of Isaac Newton in the Fourth Regula Philosophandi:

“Men are often led into error by the love of simplicity which disposes us to reduce things to few principles, and to conceive a greater simplicity in nature than there really is … We may learn something of the way in which nature operates from fact and observation; but if we conclude that it operates in such a manner, only because to our understanding that operates to be the best and simplest manner, we shall always go wrong.”––Isaac Newton

Effect of solids concentration in dense suspensions of silica-iron(III) oxide and water

The rheological properties of dense suspensions, of silica, iron (III) oxide and water, were studied over a range of solids concentrations using a viscometer, which was modified so as to prevent settling of the solid components. Over the conditions studied, the material behaved according to power—law flow relationships. As the concentrations of silica and iron(III) oxide were increased, an entropy term in the flow equation was identified which had a silica dependent and an iron (III) oxide dependent component. This was attributed to a tendency to order into some form of structural regularity. A, A, B, C pre-exponential functions (K Pa^–n s^–1) - C _ox volume fraction iron (III) oxide - Q activation energy (kJ mol^–1) - R gas constant (kJ mol^–1 K^–1) - R _v silica/water volume ratio - T temperature (K) - n power-law index - H enthalpy (kJ mol^–1) - S entropy change (kJ mol^–1 K^–1) - shear strain rate (s^–1) - shear stress (Pa)     

Numerical computation of turbulent flow through a square-sectioned 90° bend

Finite-volume, semi-elliptic computations are reported of the three-dimensional flow around a 90° square-sectioned bend for which detailed laser-Doppler measurements have been reported by Taylor et al.¹ While the standard k- eddy-viscosity model has been used in the main flow region, in place of the usual “wall functiond”, the mixing-length hypothesis has been employed to resolve the flow in the layer immediately adjacent to the wall. The scheme is successful in predicting the details of the primary and secondary flow fields both within the bend and downstream thereof.     

Influence of mean stress on the fatigue crack growth characreristics of CrlMo steel tube at elevated temperature

The fatigue crack growth characteristics of CrlMo steel have been investigated at 861 K over the R-ratio range 0.1–0.7 utilising a dwell time of 10 min. at maximum load. All tests were conducted under load control in a laboratory air environment. It was established that the R-ratio significantly affected the fatigue crack extension behaviour inasmuch that with increasing R-ratio, the critical ΔK level for the onset of creep fatigue interactive growth, ΔK^IG, decreased from 20 to 7 MPa√m and the threshold stress intensity, ΔK_th, decreased from 9 to about 3 MPa√m. At intermediate ΔK levels, i.e. between ΔK_th and ΔK^IG, the fatigue crack extension rates, for all R-ratio values, resided on or slightly below the CTOD line, which represents the upper bound for contrnuum controlled fatigue crack growth. Creep fatigue interactive growth was typified by crack extension rates that reside above the CTOD line with a ΔK^IG dependence; the attainment of some critical creep condition or crack linkage condition which causes the abrupt change in crack extension behaviour at ΔK^IG; and crack extension occurs almost exclusively in an intergranular manner. The R-ratio and ΔK^IG followed a linear relation. A literature review concerning the effect of temperature on the threshold fatigue crack growth characteristics of low alloy ferritic steels demonstrated powerful effects of temperature; the magnitude of these effects, however, were dependent upon the testing temperature regime and R-ratio level. The effect of R-ratio on ΔK_th was greatest at temperatures >400°C, significant at ambient temperatures and least in the temperature range 90°C to <300°C. The relationship between temperature and ΔK_th, at a given R-ratio, exhibited a through and a minimum ΔK_th value was observed in the temperature range 200–250°C. The magnitude of the temperature effects on ΔK_th decreased with increasing R-ratio. Such effects of temperature and R-ratio on ΔK_th was reasonably explained in terms of crack closure effects. Finally, the present elevated temperature fatigue crack growth data exhibited massive crack extension enhancement values when compared to ambient near-threshold fatigue crack growth data for CrlMo steel. Such large enhancement values were the combined effects of temperature (environment) and frequency.     

Influence of stress triaxiality and temperature on void growth and ductile/brittle transition behavior of 40 Cr steel

Examined experimentally are the influence of stress triaxiality and temperature on the growth of microvoids and the ductile/brittle transition (DBT) macrobehavior of 40 Cr steel subjected to two different heat treatments. This is accomplished by testing more than 300 smooth and notched specimens over a temperature range of 20°C to −196°C. Changes in the microstructure morphology are examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and identified with fracture data on a surface constructed from the uniaxial strain ε_c at fracture, the stress triaxiality R_σ and the temperature T. While stress triaxiality has a significant influence on the DBT temperature T_c, it does not affect the ratio of the average radius of voids R_o to that of inclusions R_i. The ratio R_o/R_i is found to increase with temperature and remains constant in specimens with different notch radii regardless of the temperature. Empirical relations between T_c and R_σ⁻ and R_o/R_i and T are proposed to better understand how macrofracture parameters are influenced by microstructure entities.     

Physical aging and time–temperature behavior concerning fracture performance of polycarbonate

The effects of physical aging on fracture and yielding behavior are polycarbonate are considered. Two groups of Bisphenol A-based polycarbonate, consisted of extruded PC sheets (thickness of 0.25 mm) and injection molded PC bars (thickness of 3.18 mm) are used. These samples were annealed at various temperatures ranging from 60 to 120 °C, for different times varying up to 240 h. For PC sheets the essential work of fracture (EWF) method was used to analyze fracture behavior. The results are compared to the strain energy density with aging time and aging temperature in the ranges investigated. This effect is confirmed by the change in fracture toughness, as measured by three-point bending tests. The concept of fictive temperature (T_f) was used to characterize the degree of aging in the sample. T_f of a glass in an aged state at a time t is defined as the temperature at which the volume would be equal to the equilibrium volume at T_f if the sample were instantaneously removed to that temperature. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine T_f. The variations of T_f with aging time and aging temperature are in agreement with both the strain energy density measurement and the three-point bending tests. These results contradict the effects of aging on fracture toughness observed by the essential work of fracture approach. The latter showed anomalous regions of increasing fracture toughness with aging, leading to spurious conclusions. The brittle–ductile transition in fracture behavior is analyzed by an activation energy approach. Aging increases the brittle–ductile transition temperature and the effect is more pronounced for the lower molecular-weight sample. Fracture tests also showed a decrease in the entropy with aging, confirming the results observed previously from tension and compression tests.     

On perfectly plastic flow in porous material

Experimental observations suggest that for perfectly-plastic materials containing pores, the (small) strain at which significant macroscopic yielding occurs is relatively insensitive to porosity, for volume fractions below approximately 15–20% (although the yield stress drops significantly with increasing porosity). Another observation is that, at these porosity levels, the stress–strain curve remains approximately linear almost up to the yield point. Based on these observations, Sevostianov and Kachanov constructed yield surfaces that explicitly reflect the shapes of the pores and their orientation. The underlying microscale mechanism is that local plastic “pockets” near pores blunt the stress concentrations; as a result, they remain limited in size and well contained in the elastic field until they connect and almost the entire matrix plasticizes within a narrow interval of stresses that can be idealized as the yield point. The present paper provides direct insight into the micromechanics of poroplasticity through direct microscale numerical simulation. Besides confirming the basic microscale mechanism, these simulations reveal that the reduction of the macroscopic poroplastic yield stress is approximated quite closely by 1−v₂ times the dense nonporous yield stress, where v₂ is the volume fraction of the pores.     

Mechanisms of brittle-ductile transition in toughened thermoplastics

The objective of this work was to investigate the mechanism of brittle-ductile transition in toughened polymers. Two systems, namely, a rubber-toughened nylon 66 (Zytel ST-801) and a high impact polystyrene (HIPS), were chosen for this study. The samples were prepared by injection molding and were tested in three-point bending under various loading rates and temperatures. The brittle-ductile transition temperature (T_b–d) was determined from the observed fracture behavior as a function of temperature. Molecular relaxation temperatures of the polymers were measured by mechanical spectroscopy at various frequencies. The correlation between temperature and loading rate was estimated using the Arrhenius equation. The results show that T_b–d of Zytel ST-801 is only slightly affected by the loading rate, whereas T_b–d of HIPS strongly increases with deformation rate. It is found that for the former, within the experimental errors, an increase in T_b–d with loading rate corresponds to the shift in the secondary relaxation temperature T_b of the nylon 66 matrix. For the latter however, the increase in T_b–d is related to the glass/rubber relaxation of the polystyrene matrix. It seems that the type of molecular relaxation controlling the brittle-ductile transition corresponds to that with lower activation energy.