Ultrasonically determined thickness of long cortical bones: two-dimensional simulations of in vitro experiments

Previously it has been demonstrated that cortical bone thickness can be estimated from ultrasonic guided-wave measurements, in an axial transmission configuration, together with an appropriate analytical model. This study considers the impact of bone thickness variation within the measurement region on the ultrasonically determined thickness (UTh). To this end, wave velocities and UTh were determined from experiments and from time-domain finite-difference simulations of wave propagation, both performed on a set of ten human radius specimens (29 measurement sites). A two-dimensional numerical bone model was developed with tunable material properties and individualized geometry based on x-ray computed-tomography reconstructions of human radius. Cortical thickness (CTh) was determined from the latter. UTh data for simulations were indeed in a excellent accordance (root-mean-square error was 0.26 mm; r2=0.94, p<0.001) with average CTh within the measurement region. These results indicate that despite variations in cortical thickness along the propagation path, the measured phase velocity can be satisfactorily modeled by a simple analytical model (the A(0) plate mode in this case). Most of the variability (up to 85% when sites were carefully matched) observed in the in vitro ultrasound data was explained through simulations by variability in the cortical thickness alone.     

Analysis of ultrasonic guided waves propagating in long bones and cortical thickness based on time-frequency methods

The ultrasonic signals in long bones contain multiple guided modes which are mutual superposed.The velocities of guided waves in long bones are very sensitive to cortical thickness (CTh).In this paper,Hilbert-Huang transform(HHT) was proposed to analyze multi-mode guided waves,which can decompose superposed waves into many independent modes.Then the group velocity of each mode was obtained at corresponding frequency,which was compared with the results of short time Fourier transform(STFT).The CTh was also obtained by comparing with the theoretical calculation.The results showed that the experimental determined thickness was in agreement with the actual CTh,indicating that measuring the velocity of the guided mode can be used to estimate the CTh.The HHT is an effective method to identify multimode guided waves.     

Ultrasonically assisted turning of aviation materials: simulations and experimental study

Ultrasonically assisted turning of modern aviation materials is conducted with ultrasonic vibration (frequency f approximately 20 kHz, amplitude a approximately 15 microm) superimposed on the cutting tool movement. An autoresonant control system is used to maintain the stable nonlinear resonant mode of vibration throughout the cutting process. Experimental comparison of roughness and roundness for workpieces machined conventionally and with the superimposed ultrasonic vibration, results of high-speed filming of the turning process and nanoindentation analyses of the microstructure of the machined material are presented. The suggested finite-element model provides numerical comparison between conventional and ultrasonic turning of Inconel 718 in terms of stress/strain state, cutting forces and contact conditions at the workpiece/tool interface.     

Three-dimensional finite element modeling of guided ultrasound wave propagation in intact and healing long bones

The use of guided waves has recently drawn significant interest in the ultrasonic characterization of bone aiming at supplementing the information provided by traditional velocity measurements. This work presents a three-dimensional finite element study of guided wave propagation in intact and healing bones. A model of the fracture callus was constructed and the healing course was simulated as a three-stage process. The dispersion of guided modes generated by a broadband 1-MHz excitation was represented in the time-frequency domain. Wave propagation in the intact bone model was first investigated and comparisons were then made with a simplified geometry using analytical dispersion curves of the tube modes. Then, the effect of callus consolidation on the propagation characteristics was examined. It was shown that the dispersion of guided waves was significantly influenced by the irregularity and anisotropy of the bone. Also, guided waves were sensitive to material and geometrical changes that take place during healing. Conversely, when the first-arriving signal at the receiver corresponded to a nondispersive lateral wave, its propagation velocity was almost unaffected by the elastic symmetry and geometry of the bone and also could not characterize the callus tissue throughout its thickness. In conclusion, guided waves can enhance the capabilities of ultrasonic evaluation.     

时频方法分析长骨中的超声导波及皮质骨厚度

超声导波在长骨中传播时,接收信号中含有相互叠加的多个导波模式。本文提出将希尔伯特-黄变换(HHT)用于分析叠加的多模式导波信号,将其分解成许多单个独立的模式,然后对分解出的模式求得其对应频率下的群速度,并与短时傅里叶变换所得的结果进行比较。通过与理论计算结果比较,可得到长骨皮质骨的厚度。研究结果表明,实验得到的厚度与实际厚度一致。说明通过测量导波模式的速度可以评价皮质骨的厚度,也说明HHT方法是一种识别叠加多模式导波信号的有效方法。     

Granular Rayleigh-Taylor instability: experiments and simulations

A granular instability driven by gravity is studied experimentally and numerically. The instability arises as grains fall in a closed Hele-Shaw cell where a layer of dense granular material is positioned above a layer of air. The initially flat front defined by the grains subsequently develops into a pattern of falling granular fingers separated by rising bubbles of air. A transient coarsening of the front is observed right from the start by a finger merging process. The coarsening is later stabilized by new fingers growing from the center of the rising bubbles. The structures are quantified by means of Fourier analysis and quantitative agreement between experiment and computation is shown. This analysis also reveals scale invariance of the flow structures under overall change of spatial scale.     

Oxygen K-edge in vanadium oxides: simulations and experiments

Band-structure (BS) calculations of the density of states (DOS) using the full potential augmented plane waves code WIEN97 were performed on the four single-valence vanadium oxides VO, V₂O₃, VO₂ and V₂O₅. The DOS are discussed with respect to the distortions of the VO₆ octahedra, the oxidation states of vanadium and the orbital hybridisations of oxygen atoms. The simulated oxygen K-edge fine structures (ELNES) calculated with the TELNES program were compared with experimental results obtained by electron energy-loss spectrometry (EELS), showing good agreement. We show that changes in the fine structures of the investigated vanadium oxides mainly result from changes in the O-p DOS and not from the shift of the DOS according to a rigid band model. Received 17 December 2001 / Received in final form 19 June 2002 Published online 13 August 2002     

Coupled aggregation and sedimentation processes: Three-dimensional off-lattice simulations

Coupled aggregation and sedimentation processes were studied by means of three-dimensional computer simulations. For this purpose, a large prism with no periodic boundary conditions for the sedimentation direction was considered. Furthermore, three equally sized and mutually excluded regions were defined inside the prism, a top, a middle and a bottom region. This allows to study the time evolution of the cluster size distribution and the cluster structure separately for each region. The mass distribution profile and the center-of-mass position were also accessed as a function of time. For the bottom region, the effects of the sediment formation on the kinetics of growth and on the cluster structure were clearly observed. The obtained results not only agree with the experimental data obtained by Allain et al. (C. Allain, M. Cloitre, M. Wafra, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1478 (1995)) and with the simulations made by Gonzalez (A.E. Gonzalez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1243 (2001)), but also allow to gain further insight into the details. Received 7 November 2001     

Bridging simulations and experiments in microstructure evolution

We demonstrate the importance of anisotropic interface properties in microstructure evolution by comparing computed evolved microstructures to final experimental microstructures of 5170 grains in 19 thin aluminum foil samples. This is the first time that a direct experimental validation of simulation has been performed at the level of individual grains. We observe that simulated microstructures using curvature-driven grain boundary motion and anisotropic interface properties agree well with experimentally evolved microstructures, whereas agreement is poor when isotropic properties are used.     

Quantification of guided mode propagation in fractured long bones

Guided modes propagation in intact, fractured and healing long bone has drawn significant research interests. However, mode quantifications for the direct comparison are still necessary to address. The aim of the study is to analyze the mode interaction with a notch-fracture in the long bone and find quantitative ultrasound parameters sensitive to depth and width variation of the fracture. We analyzed the impacts of the partially and completely diaphyseal osteotomy on fundamental guided modes propagation using the two-dimension finite-difference time-domain (2D-FDTD) simulations. The long bones were built as three layer models by a cortical plate embedded between overlying soft tissue and inner-coated marrow. Narrowband low-frequency sinusoids (100 kHz) were employed to only excite two fundamental guided modes. The mode amplitude variations were investigated as functions of the gap-breakage width and depth. It is found that the transverse fractures have strong influences on the anti-symmetric mode A0 transmission and reflection, whereas amplitudes of the symmetric mode S0 are not sensitive to the fracture degree. The quantitative results consistently indicate that reflection energy and transmission coefficients of the S0 and A0 modes can be used to quantify the mode interaction in the fractured long bone and further to evaluate long bone fracture status. Future study is needed to investigate the physical experiments on realistic fractured long bone and to insure that the proposed ultrasound parameters can be used to quantitatively evaluate the long bone fracture in clinical application.     

Target thickness correction in polarized neutron-and-target experiments

Factors influencing the effective degree of neutron beam polarization in thick polarized targets are discussed. The calculation of creroction formulae is outlined.     

Three-dimensional numerical simulations of cellular jet diffusion flames

Recent experimental investigations have demonstrated that the appearance of particular cellular states in circular non-premixed jet flames significantly depends on a number of parameters, including the initial mixture strength, reactant Lewis numbers, and proximity to the extinction limit (Damköhler number). For CO₂-diluted H₂/O₂ jet diffusion flames, these studies have shown that a variety of different cellular patterns or states can form. For given fuel and oxidizer compositions, several preferred states were found to co-exist, and the particular state realized was determined by the initial conditions. To elucidate the dynamics of cellular instabilities, circular non-premixed jet flames are modeled with a combination of three-dimensional numerical simulation and linear stability analysis (LSA). In both formulations, chemistry is described by a single-step, finite-rate reaction, and different reactant Lewis numbers and molecular weights are specified. The three-dimensional numerical simulations show that different cellular flames can be obtained close to extinction and that different states co-exist for the same parameter values. Similar to the experiments, the behavior of the cell structures is sensitive to (numerical) noise. During the transient blow-off process, the flame undergoes transitions to structures with different number of cells, while the flame edge close to the nozzle oscillates in the streamwise direction. For conditions similar to the experiments discussed, the LSA results reveal various cellular instabilities, typically with azimuthal wavenumber m = 1–6. Consistent with previous theoretical work, the propensity for the cellular instabilities is shown to increase with decreasing reactant Lewis number and Damköhler number.     

Challenges in numerical simulations of solid-state NMR experiments: spin exchange pulse sequences

While simulations are essential for interpretation of solid-state NMR experiments, large spin systems involved in e.g. spin-diffusion experiments and/or dynamic effects like chemical exchange pose great challenges for the numerical simulations, where we typically want to include effects of finite pulses and other external manipulations in the simulation. In this paper, these topics are reviewed and addressed by simple numerical simulations. The numerical simulations comprise a 2-spin simulation of (2)H two-site jumps and a 332-spin simulation of a CHHC experiment for a small protein.     

Properties of long superconducting variable thickness bridges

We have studied the properties of long (lengthL20m) superconducting threads (Pb of Sn) formed by pulse electrical breakdown in monocrystalline silicon. These variable thickness bridges have well defined dc and ac Josephson effects in wide temperature range. Some interesting results on the quasiparticle subharmonic gap structures are also reported.The authors would like to express their thanks to J.Móza and A.Neasová for technical assistance.     

Catalytic ignition and extinction of hydrogen: comparison of simulations and experiments

Surface ignition and extinction of hydrogen/air mixtures on platinum surfaces are modeled using a detailed surface kinetic mechanism and transport phenomena. It is shown that the platinum surface can be poisoned by different adsorbates, and the dynamic process of catalytic ignition and extinction is associated with a phase transition from one poisoning species to another. For certain temperatures, multiple poisoned states of the surface coexist. Comparison of simulations with experiments is conducted, and it is shown that the self-inhibition of hydrogen catalytic ignition is caused by poisoning of platinum by atomic hydrogen.     

Rate processes on fractals: Theory,simulations, and experiments

Heterogeneous kinetics are shown to differ drastically from homogeneous kinetics. For the elementary reaction A + A products we show that the diffusion-limited reaction rate is proportional tot ^– h[A]² or to [A]^x, whereh=1- d _s/2, X=1+2/d _s =(h-2)(h-1), andd _s is the effective spectral dimension. We note that ford = d _s =1, h =1/2 andX = 3, for percolating clustersd _s = 4/3,h = 1/3 andX = 5/2, while for dust ds <1, 1 >h > 1/2 and >X > 3. Scaling arguments, supercomputer simulations and experiments give a consistent picture. The interplay of energetic and geometric heterogeneity results in fractal-like kinetics and is relevant to excitation fusion experiments in porous membranes, films, and polymeric glasses. However, in isotopic mixed crystals, the geometric fractal nature (percolation clusters) dominates.     

Virtual experiments: Combining realistic neutron scattering instrument and sample simulations

A new sample component is presented for the Monte Carlo, ray-tracing program, McStas, which is widely used to simulate neutron scattering instruments. The new component allows the sample to be described by its material dynamic structure factor, which is separated into coherent and incoherent contributions. The effects of absorption and multiple scattering are treated and results from simulations and previous experiments are compared.