Pattern Formation of Dunes

Dunes are aerodynamic instabilities of a mobile ground. Only recently, the equations of motion of a free granular surface born by air and gravity have been established. I will present the equations and analyze their stability. A numerical solution gives very good quantitative agreement with field measurements. As function of wind velocity and the amount of sand, various patterns are reproduced. I will discuss in particular barchan dunes that under certain conditions behave like solitons and can in other cases breed offspring. Also practical applications like protection against desertification will be discussed.     

A one-dimensional model for incoherent phase changes

We present here a simplified version of the model of incoherent solid-solid transitions with mass diffusion developed by Gurtin and Cermelli in [3]. An incoherent phase change is always associated with some kind of defect production at the interface: we consider here a one-dimensional continuum, so that the resulting equations allow study to be made of the influence of volume (vacancy) production on the evolution of the system.

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Sommario In questo lavoro viene presentato un adattamento del modello di transizione di fase incoerente sviluppato da Gurtin e Cermelli in [3]. Una transizione incoerente è sempre associata alla produzione di un qualche tipo di difetto all'interfaccia: consideriamo qui un modello semplificato di continuo unidimensionale, in modo da poter studiare l'effetto dei difetti di volume (lacune) sull'evoluzione del sistema.

     

The Effect of Growth and Curvature on Pattern Formation

Based on first principles, we derive a general model to describe the spatio-temporal dynamics of two morphogens. The diffusive part of the model incorporates the dynamics, growth and curvature of one- and two-dimensional domains embedded in ³. Our generalized diffusion process includes spatio-temporal varying diffusion coefficients, advection, and dilution terms. We present specific examples by analyzing a third order activator--inhibitor mechanism for the kinetic part. We carry out illustrative numerical simulations on two-dimensional growing domains having different geometries. Comparisons with former results on fixed domains show the crucial role of growth and curvature of pattern selection. Evidence is given that both effects might be biologically relevant in explaining the selection of some observed patterns and in changing or enhancing their stability.Dedicated to Professor Shui-Nee Chow on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Non-linear dynamics and pattern formation in a vertical fluid layer heated from the side

We study both experimentally and numerically the convective flow in a tall vertical slot with differently heated walls. The flow is investigated for the fluid with the Prandtl number Pr=26, which is large enough to ensure the traveling waves as primary instability and small enough to prevent boundary layer convection. The flow evolution is determined on the base of the visual observations, power spectra and amplitude analysis. In the numerical simulations of two- and three-dimensional flows, we accept an assumption of an infinite fluid layer. The satisfactory agreement with experiment is observed, and the sequence of convection states is discovered. It starts with a plane-parallel flow as primary solution, which becomes unstable to two counter-propagating waves. It is followed by a tertiary three-dimensional flow in the form of wavy traveling waves. As the Grashof number is increased even further, a chaotically oscillating cellular pattern consisting of the pieces of broken waves arises. The formation of a structure in the form of the vertical rolls chaotically modulated along axes concludes this complicated picture.     

A lower bound for a variational model for pattern formation in shape-memory alloys

The Kohn-Müller model for the formation of domain patterns in martensitic shape-memory alloys consists in minimizing the sum of elastic, surface and boundary energy in a simplified scalar setting, with a nonconvex constraint representing the presence of different variants. Precisely, one minimizes

Étude des temps de chauffage et de refroidissement des alliages à mémoire de forme (AMF)Heating and cooling time studies of shape memory alloys (SMA)

The knowledge of response times of active material is essential for their efficient use as actuators. In this paper the heating and cooling times of a shape memory alloy wire (NiTi) under a constant load are predicted by the integration of the corresponding heat equation. The comparison with a ‘fictitious’ material with the same material characteristics but without phase transformation shows that the response times are longer for the SMA (around 2.7 times for heating and 1.5 times for cooling). To cite this article: N. Chaillet et al., C. R. Mecanique 332 (2004).     

Molecular-dynamics of a 2D Model of the Shape Memory Effect

This work investigates the thermodynamic properties of a qualitative atomistic model for austenite–martensite transitions. The model, still in 2D, employs Lennard-Jones potentials for the determination of the atomic interactions. By use of two atom species it is possible to identify three stable lattice structures in 2D, interpreted as austenite and two variants of martensite. The model is described in the first part of the work [6] in detail. The present work studies the thermodynamic properties of the model concerning a small, 2-dimensional test assembly consisting of 41 atoms. The phase stability is investigated by exploitation of the condition of minimal free energy. The free energy is calculated from the thermal equation of state, which is measured in numerical tensile tests. In the second part of this work a chain of eleven 41-atom assemblies is investigated. The chain is interpreted as an idealized larger body, where the individual crystallites represent crystallographic layers allowing for the creation of micro structure. By use of tensile tests at various temperature conditions we sketch how such chain may exhibit quasi-plasticity, pseudo-elasticity and the shape memory effect.     

Utilisation de la phase stationnaire pour localiser la provenance du bruit sur l'axe d'une structure élastique à symétrie de révolutionUse of the stationary phase method to localize the source of noise on the axis of an axisymmetric elastic structure

Consider the problem numbered (1) in the text. Along the axis, the pressure may be expressed as a combination of axisymmetric modes only. For high wave numbers, the method of stationary phase may be used to show that the pressure on the axis comes only from the vicinities of a few parallels. Generally, only the parallel constituting the points nearest to this axis point is to be considered. For low circumferential mode numbers (especially $n=0$), the curvature greatly influences the wavelength of the modes of the structure in vacuo: thus, the method of stationary phase can be applied, for most aeronautical airborne structures, even from the first axisymmetric mode and not only above the coincidence frequency. Using an expression established earlier, we can give an expression for the pressure on the axis of an axisymmetric enclosure. To cite this article: D. Brenot, C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).     

Une modélisation thermomécanique unidimensionnelle de la propagation d'un front de changement de phase dans un monocristal d'AMFA one-dimensional thermomechanical modeling of phase change front propagation in a SMA monocrystal

We propose a behavioral modeling that takes into account the thermomechanical couplings accompanying the phase transition in single-crystal CuZnAl samples. The goal of this model is to put forward the significant role played by the heat diffusion in the propagation mode of the phase change fronts. Numerical simulations showed the existence of such a phase change front and predicted the calorimetric and kinematic effects accompanying its propagation. In particular, an inversion of the propagation way during a creep test and caused by an increase of the room temperature was correctly simulated by the model. To cite this article: A. Chrysochoos et al., C. R. Mecanique 331 (2003).     

A time-integration scheme for thermomechanical evolutions of shape-memory alloysUn algorithme d'intégration en temps pour l'évolution thermomécanique des alliages à mémoire de forme

This Note presents a time-integration strategy for computing the evolution of structures embedding shape-memory alloys in a thermomechanical setting. A variational formulation is associated with the scheme proposed, which allows one to study the existence and unicity of solutions depending on the material model considered. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the method and discuss the influence of the thermomechanical coupling. To cite this article: M. Peigney, C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).