Multiscale clustering in granular surface flows

We investigate steady granular surface flows in a rotating drum and demonstrate the existence of rigid clusters of grains embedded in the flowing layer. These clusters appear to be fractal and their size is power law distributed from the grain size scale up to the thickness of the flowing layer. The implications of the absence of a characteristic length scale on available theoretical models of dense granular flows are discussed. Finally, we suggest a possible explanation of the difference between velocity profiles observed in surface flows and in flows down a rough inclined plane.     

Micromechanical model of deformation-induced surface roughening in polycrystalline materials

A micromechanical model has been developed to describe deformation-induced surface roughening in polycrystalline materials. The three-dimensional polycrystalline structure is taken into account in an explicit form with regard to the crystallographic orientation of grains to simulate the micro- and mesoscale deformation processes. Constitutive relations for describing the grain response are derived on the basis of crystal plasticity theory that accounts for the anisotropy of elastic-plastic properties governed by the crystal lattice structure. The micromechanical model is used to numerically study surface roughening in microvolumes of polycrystalline aluminum and titanium under uniaxial tensile deformation. Two characteristic roughness scales are distinguished in the both cases. At the microscale, normal displacements relative to the free surface are caused by the formation of dislocation steps in grains emerging on the surface and by the displacement of neighboring grains relative to each other. Microscale roughness is more pronounced in titanium, which is due to the high level of elastic-plastic anisotropy typical of hcp crystals. The mesoscale roughness includes undulations and cluster structures formed with the involvement of groups of grains. The roughness is quantitatively evaluated using a dimensionless parameter, called the degree of roughness, which reflects the degree of surface shape deviation from a plane. An exponential dependence of the roughness degree on the strain degree is obtained.     

Labyrinth patterns in confined granular-fluid systems

A random, labyrinthine pattern emerges during slow drainage of a granular-fluid system in two-dimensional confinement. Compacted grains are pushed ahead of the fluid-air interface, which becomes unstable due to a competition between capillary forces and the frictional stress mobilized by grain-grain contact networks. We reproduce the pattern formation process in numerical simulations and present an analytical treatment that predicts the characteristic length scale of the labyrinth structure. The pattern length scale decreases with increasing volume fraction of grains in the system and increases with the system thickness.     

Local plasticity of Al thin films as revealed by x-ray microdiffraction

Grain-to-grain interactions dominate the plasticity of Al thin films and establish effective length scales smaller than the grain size. We have measured large strain distributions and their changes under plastic strain in 1.5-microm-thick Al 0.5% Cu films using a 0.8-microm-diameter white x-ray probe at the Advanced Light Source. Strain distributions arise not only from the distribution of grain sizes and orientation, but also from the differences in grain shape and from stress environment. Multiple active glide plane domains have been found within single grains. Large grains behave like multiple smaller grains even before a dislocation substructure can evolve.     

Electrical conductivity and superconductivity of ordered indium-opal nanocomposites

The electrical conductivity is measured experimentally and the parameters of the superconducting transition are determined in a regular spatial network of multiply connected submicron-sized indium grains embedded in voids of an ordered opal dielectric matrix. The In-opal nanocomposite was prepared by pressure injection of the molten metal into voids of opal samples. Arrays of In grains of different sizes were produced by properly varying the characteristic geometric sizes of the opal voids, which offered the possibility of observing quantitative and qualitative changes in the temperature dependence of electrical resistance and studying the size effects on the critical temperature and critical magnetic field in the In-opal nanocomposites. It was found that, as the coherence length becomes comparable to the size of the superconducting grains, the parameters of the superconducting transition in the nanocomposite increase sharply.     

汶川地震断裂带岩脉矿物拉曼谱峰特征

对汶川地震断裂带深溪沟出露的基岩错动面两侧岩脉中的石英矿物进行了拉曼谱峰测定,并根据所测石英的464 cm-1拉曼谱峰向高波数的偏移量估算了断裂带中的压应力分布。测试结果表明,错动面附近岩脉中石英的464 cm-1拉曼谱峰向高波数偏移量为3.29 cm-1,相应的压应力值为368.63 MPa,明显低于错动面两侧应力积累,这可能是由于错动面的多次活动导致了应力不断得到释放。断裂南东盘(下盘)远离错动面,岩脉中石英的464 cm-1拉曼谱峰向高波数偏移量具有增加的趋势,相应的应力积累也逐渐增强,距错动面21 m处的石英样品的464 cm-1拉曼谱峰向高波数偏移4.40 cm-1,相应压应力可达到494.77 MPa。剖面北西盘(上盘)在距错动面10 m处,样品464 cm-1拉曼谱峰的偏移量达到最大值,相应的应力积累为519.87 MPa,其后远离错动面应力积累开始减弱,在北西盘17 m处,应力积累骤然下降至400.37 MPa。在西北盘距错动面27 m处,岩脉石英的464 cm-1拉曼谱峰向高波数偏移量下降至3.21 cm-1,应力已经减弱到359.59 MPa,这可能是由于该处位于断裂带的边缘,远离错动面,受到了较小的断层活动的影响。因此,汶川地震断裂带内的应力虽然得到部分释放,但剩余的应力分布并不均匀,而且在局部还存在较高的应力积累,这反应了断裂带中岩石的力学性质在空间上具有不均匀性。     

Longitudinal vibration and instabilities of carbon nanotubes conveying fluid considering size effects of nanoflow and nanostructure

In this study, the effects of small-scale of the both nanoflow and nanostructure on the vibrational response of fluid flowing single-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated. To this purpose, two various flowing fluids, the air-nano-flow and the water nano-flow using Knudsen number, and two different continuum theories, the nonlocal theory and the strain-inertia gradient theory are studied. Nano-rod model is used to model the fluid-structure interaction, and Galerkin method of weighted residual is utilizing to solve and discretize the governing obtained equations. It is found that the critical flow velocity decreases as the wave number increases, excluding the first mode divergence that it has the least value among of the other instabilities if the strain-inertia gradient theory is employed. Moreover, it is observed that Kn effect has considerable impact on the reduction of critical velocities especially for the air-flow flowing through the CNT. In addition, by increasing a nonlocal parameter and Knudsen number the critical flow velocity decreases but it increases as the characteristic length related to the strain-inertia gradient theory increases.     

非均匀磁场尘埃等离子体中颗粒的复杂运动

本文研究了在非均匀磁场尘埃等离子体中不规则尘埃颗粒的复杂运动, 包括圆滚运动、尖头圆滚运动、圆周运动以及波浪运动等. 放置在电极上的圆柱形磁铁的主要作用是改变鞘层的径向分布, 进而对颗粒产生径向约束, 使尘埃颗粒悬浮于圆柱形磁铁周围, 其磁场并不足以磁化颗粒使其做圆滚运动. 通过与球形尘埃颗粒的对比实验发现, 圆滚运动是不规则尘埃颗粒在等离子体中特有的一种运动. 我们提出了一种新的机理: 由于不规则颗粒的自旋而引起的横向反Magnus力对颗粒的圆滚运动起了重要的作用. 文中通过受力分析定性地对实验中观察到的非球形颗粒的各种运动给出了合理的解释.     

The energy and structure of (0 0 1) twist grain boundary in noble metals

The relaxed energy and structure of (0 0 1) twist grain boundary (GB) in noble metals Au, Ag and Cu are simulated by the MAEAM. In-boundary translation between two adjacent grains results in a periodic energy variation and the period is a square with the side length L_Σ/Σ. The lowest energy appears when the two grains are translated relatively to either corner or center of the periodic square. The relaxed GB energy increases smoothly for low-angle boundaries and levels off for larger-angle boundaries except a cusp appeared at θ = 36.87° (Σ = 5). After relaxation, the symmetry of the GB structure is not changed but the displacement of the atoms parallel to the GB plane decreases with increasing the distance of the atoms from the GB plane.     

Chaotic granular mixing

Several models for convective mixing of coarse, freely flowing in granular tumblers have been proposed over the past decade. Powders of practical interest, by contrast, are frequently fine and cohesive, and cannot be analyzed with these models. Moreover, even in the freely flowing regime, mixing transverse to the dominant, convective, direction is typically slow and inefficient. In this paper, we examine two chaotic mixing mechanisms, the first of which can be intentionally applied to increase transverse mixing rates severalfold, with new prospects for further improvements in three-dimensional mixing through judicious process design. The second mechanism occurs spontaneously in fine grains, resulting in mixing rates overwhelmingly exceeding what would be possible in freely flowing grains. Finally, we show that the same chaotic mixing mechanisms seen in simple drum mixers are also found to be at work in more complex blender configurations widely used in batch industrial operations. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.     

Flowing Sand—A Possible Physical Realization of Directed Percolation

A simple model for flowing sand on an inclined plane is introduced. The model is related to recent experiments by Douady and Daerr and reproduces some of the experimentally observed features. Avalanches of intermediate size appear to be compact, placing the critical behavior of the model into the universality class of compact directed percolation. On very large scales, however, the avalanches break up into several branches, leading to a crossover from compact to ordinary directed percolation. Thus, systems of flowing granular matter on an inclined plane could serve as a first physical realization of directed percolation.     

Effect of annealing in an external magnetic field on the microstructure and magnetic properties of the Fe/FePt/Pt multilayer system

The effect of annealing in an external magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane of the film on the kinetics of Ll ₀ phase transformation of the microstructure and the magnetic properties of the Fe(2 nm)/FePt(20 nm)/Pt(2 nm) multilayer system has been investigated. The relations between the hysteresis loop shape, magnetic correlation length, and structural disorders, which are characteristic of magnetic information carriers, have been analyzed. It has been found that the annealing of the Fe(2 nm)/FePt(20 nm)/Pt(2 nm) multilayer system at a temperature of 470°C in an external magnetic field of 3500 Oe, which is applied perpendicular to the film plane, leads to the formation of a face-centered tetragonal structure of the Ll ₀ phase in the FePt film, which is characterized by the high coercivity H _c , the (001) preferred texture, the magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to the film plane, small sizes of FePt grains in the film, and weak exchange coupling between the particles. The energy of the external magnetic field encourages the process of transformation of the FePt film into the Ll ₀ phase. Thus, a method has been developed for fabricating multilayer films based on the FePt Ll ₀ phase with the parameters necessary for information carrier materials with perpendicular-type magnetic recording.     

Spontaneous separation of charged grains

In 1867, Lord Kelvin described an experiment in which two streams of water droplets were connected so that each stream amplified the charge on the second stream [W. Thomson, Proc. R. Soc. London 16, 67 (1867)]. We present here a complementary effect in flowing grains that spontaneously separates similar and well-mixed grains into two charged streams of demixed grains. This effect has important consequences for industrial and natural processes.     

Quantitative study of magnetization reversal by spin-polarized current in magnetic multilayer nanopillars

We have studied magnetic switching by spin-polarized currents and also the magnetoresistance in sub-100-nm-diam thin-film Co/Cu/Co nanostructures, with the current flowing perpendicular to the plane of the films. By independently varying the thickness of all three layers and measuring the change of the switching currents, we test the theoretical models for spin-transfer switching. In addition, the changes in the switching current and magnetoresistance as a function of the Cu layer thickness give two independent measurements of the room-temperature spin-diffusion length in Cu.     

Persistent currents in superconducting quantum interference devices

Starting from the reduced dynamical model of a two-junction quantum interference device, it shown that a quantum analog of the system can be exhibited. This quantum model extends the well-known properties of the device when its characteristic dimensions are of the order of mesoscopic length scales. By finding eigenvalues of the corresponding Hamiltonian operator, the persistent currents flowing in the ring have been obtained. The resulting quantum analog of the overdamped two-junction quantum interference device can be seen as a supercurrent qubit operating in the limit of negligible capacitance and finite inductance.     

Understanding and modeling turbulent fluxes and entrainment in a gravity current

We present an experimental study of the mixing processes in a gravity current flowing on an inclined plane. The turbulent transport of momentum and density can be described in a very direct and compact form by a Prandtl mixing length model: the turbulent vertical fluxes of momentum and density are found to scale quadratically with the vertical mean gradients of velocity and density. The scaling coefficient, the square of the mixing length, is approximately constant over the mixing zone of the stratified shear layer. We show how, in different flow configurations, this length can be related to the shear length of the flow (ε/∂_zu³)^1/2. We also study the fluctuations of the momentum and density turbulent fluxes, showing how they relate to mixing and to the entrainment/detrainment balance. We suggest a quantitative measure of local entrainment and detrainment derived from observed conditional correlations of density flux and density or vertical velocity fluctuations.     

渐变周期弯曲光栅的衍射和成像特性

阐述了渐变周期弯曲光栅的原理,对其衍射特性和成像特性进行了分析,结果表明:渐变周期弯曲光栅具有分束和聚焦的双重作用;其对称衍射级起到焦距相等的正透镜和负透镜的作用;它可把不同景深的的物体聚焦成像于空间分离的同一焦面上.     

Saturation current densities at the critical point of a spherical probe in a moving collisional plasma with negative ions or dust grains

The problem is considered of the probe diagnostics of a moving, weakly ionized, collision-dominated plasma containing singly charged negative ions or dust grains (heavy multicharged ions). Based on an asymptotic analysis, expressions are obtained that describe the saturation current densities of the electrons and of the charged particles of other species at the point where the plasma flowing around a spherical probe in the laminar boundary layer regime stagnates.     

Localized ferromagnetic resonance in inhomogeneous thin films

The effect of sample inhomogeneity on the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth is determined by diagonalization of a spin wave Hamiltonian for ferromagnetic thin films with inhomogeneities spanning a wide range of characteristic length scales. A model inhomogeneity is used that consists of size D grains and an anisotropy field H(p) that varies randomly from grain to grain in a film with thickness d and magnetization M(s). The resulting linewidth agrees well with the two-magnon model for small inhomogeneity, H(p)DpiM(s)d, the precession becomes localized and the spectrum approaches that of local precession on independent grains.     

Modelling of toroidal moment switching and dynamics in ferromagnetic nanorings

Switching between right and left vortex magnetization states in annular ferromagnetic nanostructures, was studied. The study was performed by numerically solving the modified Landau-Lifshitz equation with consideration of the effect of spin transfer and full-scale consideration of the magnetostatic field, exchange energy, and anisotropy energy. The dynamics of magnetization reversal of the ferromagnetic nanoring, caused by the electric current flowing perpendicularly to the object plane and penetrating the structure, was studied taking into account two mechanisms of the current effect on magnetization: by the Oersted field and spin transfer. It was found that the presence of the spin polarization both perpendicular and parallel to the nanoring plane decreases the critical current at which the object is switched by an order of magnitude. It was shown that the toroidal moment \(\vec T\) is a convenient characteristic for describing magnetization reversal processes in annular magnetic nanostructures.