Extensibility Effects on Euler Elastica’s Stability

Based on the conjugate point theory in calculus of variations, the extensibility effects on the stability of Euler elasticas with one clamped end and the other clamped in rotation in the post-buckling are investigated. For a slender rod, it is shown that: (1) the buckling load is a little bigger than Euler critical load, (2) the addition of extensibility to the elastica does not affect its stability in the post-buckling, in the sense that those Euler elasticas with one inflexion point are stable while those Euler elasticas with more than one inflexion point are unstable.     

Methodology to Assess the Effects of Rice Cultivation Under Flooded Conditions on van Genuchten’s Model Parameters and Pore Size Distribution

The effects of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation under flooded conditions on soil’s physical-hydraulic properties were studied in this article, using a new methodology based on a combined analysis on soil water retention curve (WRC) and pore size distribution (PSD). WRC analysis was carried out through the changes of van Genuchten’s model parameters, the characteristics of WRC at the inflection point, and the specific water capacity curve. Analysis of PSD was performed on the volume changes of porosity fractions through a detailed pore size classification, while different pore size classifications based on their hydraulic and structural characteristics were also used. The methodology was applied using a small dataset obtained from fine-textured Entisol soils which were subjected to rice cultivation under flooded conditions in Axios River plain (Northern Greece). Measurements of WRC were obtained at four depths of the soil profile from two fields, before and after the growing season of rice. The analysis indicated that the van Genuchten’s model parameters (θ _s, a, and n) and the WRC characteristics at the inflection point (pressure head h _i , pore equivalent diameter D _i , and slope S _i ) significantly changed after the growing season following similar patterns, along the soil profile in both fields. The parameters θ _s, a, D _i , and S _i were decreased, while n and h _i were increased. The h _i and a were the most sensitive parameters, while the values of (h _i and 1/a) in each layer before and after the growing season for each field were linearly correlated and shifted to higher values because of compaction, indicating that it could be applied as a tool to evaluate the degree of soil compaction to similarly textured soils. The peaks of the specific water capacity curves were compressed (lower values of slope S _i ) and shifted to lower water potentials (h _i ) that corresponded to pores of equivalent diameter D _i between 2 and 6 μm. The soils had few structural pores (>9 μm) and low air-filled porosity (>30 μm) before the growing season, which presented accessory reduction after the growing season in both fields. Total porosity was reduced at the expense of structural porosity along the soil profile, while the pore size class of 5–3 μm was identified as the threshold where the smaller pores’ volume started to increase in all layers of both fields. The results indicated that the changes in the WRC and the PSD follow specific trends, which can be used in future studies to model temporal variability of soil’s physical-hydraulic properties.     

A generalization of Prandtl’s and Spencer’s solutions on axisymmetric viscous flow

New analytical solutions for axisymmetric deformation of a viscous hollow circular cylinder on a rigid fibre are given. One of the solutions generalizes the famous Prandtl’s solution for compression of a rigid perfectly plastic layer between two rough, parallel plates and the other is a modification of Spencer’s solution for compression of an axisymmetric rigid perfectly plastic layer on a rigid fibre. All equations are satisfied exactly whereas some boundary conditions are approximated in a standard manner. Special attention is devoted to frictional interface conditions since these conditions result in additional limitations of the applicability of the solution when compared to that based on a rigid perfectly plastic models. In particular, difficulties with the convergence of numerical solutions under certain conditions can be explained with the use of results obtained. Therefore, the solutions can serve as benchmark problems for verifying numerical codes. The solutions are also adopted to predict the brittle fracture of fibres by means of an approach used in previous studies and confirmed by experiment.     

The Navier–Stokes Equations Under a Unilateral Boundary Condition of Signorini’s Type

We propose a new outflow boundary condition, a unilateral condition of Signorini’s type, for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The condition is a generalization of the standard free-traction condition. Its variational formulation is given by a variational inequality. We also consider a penalty approximation, a kind of the Robin condition, to deduce a suitable formulation for numerical computations. Under those conditions, we can obtain energy inequalities that are key features for numerical computations. The main contribution of this paper is to establish the well-posedness of the Navier–Stokes equations under those boundary conditions. Particularly, we prove the unique existence of strong solutions of Ladyzhenskaya’s class using the standard Galerkin’s method. For the proof of the existence of pressures, however, we offer a new method of analysis.     

Computational analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses based on the Kolmogorov’s complexity and Shannon’s information theories

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper tackles the information of 133 RNA viruses available in public databases under the light of several mathematical and computational tools. First, the formal concepts...     

Impact of lattice’s self-anticipative density on traffic stability of lattice model on two lanes

Nonlinear Dynamics - The self-anticipative density (SAD) term is embedded to traffic modeling for two-lane freeway in this paper. In view of linear stability analysis, SAD effect on two lanes is...     

Paradox of a particle’s trajectory moving on a string

This paper deals with the paradoxical properties of the solution of string vibration under a moving mass. The solutions published to date are not simple enough and cannot be applied to investigations in the entire range of mass speeds, including the overcritical range. We propose a formulation of the problem that allows us to reduce the problem to a second-order matrix differential equation. Its solution is characteristic of all features of the critical, subcritical, and overcritical motion. Results exhibit discontinuity of the mass trajectory at the end support point, which has not been previously reported in the literature. The closed solution in the case of a massless string is analyzed and the discontinuity is proved. Numerical results obtained for an inertial string demonstrate similar features. Small vibrations are analyzed, which is why the effect discussed in the paper is of purely mathematical interest. However, the phenomenon results in complexity in discrete solutions.     

A new type of stone dome based on Abeille’s bond

We deal with a new kind of stone spherical vaults, bonded adapting Joseph Abeille’s 1699 patent for flat vaults. After the presentation of a parametric design procedure, we put forward a numerical model and propose a method to seek the optimal parameters. We conclude giving tools to process the information and produce fabrication outputs.Most of the issues related to the stereotomy of the quoted system are solved; the automatic design of such vaults is made accessible starting from the choice of a topology and a few geometric parameters. A finite element model of the structure is put forward, sufficiently rich to nourish with numerical results the seek of optimality. A graphic representation of such results is proposed to characterize synthetically each structure’s performances and compare tentatives to select the optimum.Examples are given of optimal choices of the design parameters.     

Minimum-time optimal control of robotic manipulators based on Hamel’s integrators

Meccanica - In this paper, we develop a framework of time optimization path planning for robotic manipulators surrounded by static obstacles. Our approach is based on the recursive dynamics method...     

The Effects of Brine Species on the Formation of Residual Water in a \hbox {CO}_{2}–Brine System

Geological storage of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) in deep saline aquifers is achieved by injecting \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) into the aquifers and displacing the brine. Although most of the brine is displaced, some residual groundwater remains in the rock pores. We conducted experiments to investigate factors that influence how much of this residual water remains after \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) is injected. A rock sample was saturated with brines of two different salts. Supercritical \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) was injected into the samples at aquifer temperature and pressure, and the displaced water and water–gas mixtures were collected and measured. The results show that deionized water drains more completely than either of the two brines, and NaCl brine drains more completely than \(\hbox {CaCl}_{2}\) brine. The ranking of the irreducible water saturation at the end of the experiment is deionized \(\hbox {water}<\hbox {NaCl brine } <\hbox {CaCl}_{2}\) brine. The process of drainage can be divided into three stages according to the drainage flow rates; the Pushing Drainage, Portable Drainage, and Dissolved Drainage stages. This paper proposed a capillary model which is used to interpret the mechanisms that characterize these three stages.     

Percolation Effects of Grain Contacts in Partially Saturated Sandstones: Deviations from Archie’s Law

We study the resistivity index of Fontainebleau and Bentheimer sandstones at ambient conditions down to low water saturations both experimentally and numerically. Numerical simulations are in good agreement with experimental measurements of capillary drainage resistivity index by the porous plate method down to water saturations as low as S _w = 10 %. Fontainebleau sandstone exhibits a percolating network of grain contacts, while the higher porosity Bentheimer sandstone does not. We show that this difference in the topological connection of conductive films at low water saturations is responsible for the non-Archie behaviour of Fontainebleau sandstone. Furthermore, it is necessary to attribute a grain contact conductivity to the grain contacts in Fontainebleau sandstone to reconcile experiment and numerical simulation. Conductive films organised as pendular rings around grain contacts are not able to explain this result.     

Periodicity detection on the parameter-space of a forced Chua’s circuit

We report a Periodicity-Detection algorithm, implemented in a LabVIEW routine for real-time data analysis on experimental chaos, to evaluate the periodicity P of experimental time series. The Periodicity-Detector (PD) algorithm was applied to the forced Chua’s circuit with the aim to build the Periodicity-parameter-space (P-parameter-space). As results of the P-parameter-space, we could observe very complex dynamical behaviors, as regions of periodic structures, a new sequence of accumulation boundary, and the periodic structures organizing themselves in a period-adding bifurcation cascade. Those results agree with the maximal Lyapunov exponent and the bifurcation diagram analysis, presented in a previous work.     

Evaluation of the effective elastic moduli of tetragonal fiber-reinforced composites based on Maxwell’s concept of equivalent inhomogeneity

Maxwell’s concept of an equivalent inhomogeneity is employed for evaluating the effective elastic properties of tetragonal, fiber-reinforced, unidirectional composites with isotropic phases. The microstructure induced anisotropic effective elastic properties of the material are obtained by comparing the far-field solutions for the problem of a finite cluster of isotropic, circular cylindrical fibers embedded in an infinite isotropic matrix with that for the problem of a single, tetragonal, circular cylindrical equivalent inhomogeneity embedded in the same isotropic matrix. The former solutions precisely account for the interactions between all fibers in the cluster and for their geometrical arrangement. The solutions to several example problems that involve periodic (square arrays) composites demonstrate that the approach adequately captures microstructure induced anisotropy of the materials and provides reasonably accurate estimates of their effective elastic properties.     

Calculation of Hugoniot properties for shocked nitromethane based on the improved Tsien’s EOS

We have calculated the Hugoniot properties of shocked nitromethane based on the improved Tsien＇s equa- tion of state （EOS） that optimized by ＂exact＂ numerical molecular dynamic data at high temperatures and pressures. Comparison of the calculated results of the improved Tsien＇s EOS with the existed experimental data and the direct simu- lations show that the behavior of the improved Tsien＇s EOS is very good in many aspects. Because of its simple analytical form, the improved Tsien＇s EOS can be prospectively used to study the condensed explosive detonation coupling with chemical reaction.     

An inductor-free realization of the Chua’s circuit based on electronic analogy

Although literature presents several alternatives, an approach based on the electronic analogy was still not considered for the implementation of an inductor-free realization of the double scroll Chua’s circuit. This paper presents a new inductor-free configuration of the Chua’s circuit based on the electronic analogy. This proposal results in a versatile and functional inductorless implementation of the Chua’s circuit that offers new and interesting features for several applications. The analogous circuit is implemented and used to perform an experimental mapping of a large variety of attractors.     

Quasi-Green’s function method for free vibration of clamped thin plates on Winkler foundation

The quasi-Green’s function method is used to solve the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation. Quasi-Green’s function is established by the fundamental solution and the boundary equation of the problem. The function satisfies the homogeneous boundary condition of the problem. The mode-shape differential equation of the free vibration problem of clamped thin plates on the Winkler foundation is reduced to the Fredholm integral equation of the second kind by Green’s formula. The irregularity of the kernel of the integral equation is overcome by choosing a suitable form of the normalized boundary equation. The numerical results show the high accuracy of the proposed method.