Influence des brandons sur la propagation d'un feu de forêt

A two-dimensional weighed-site small-world network is proposed to study the action of firebrands (lofted flaming or glowing debris) on fire spread through homogeneous or heterogeneous systems. The firebrand emission distance obeys an exponentially-decreasing distribution law. For homogeneous systems, the effect of firebrands is strengthened when the fire impact length decreases and the characteristic firebrand emission distance increases. As a result, jumps in the rate of spread appear and time oscillations in the burning area can occur. For heterogeneous systems, this effect becomes weaker as the degree of disorder and the distance of firebrand emission increase. The influence of characteristic lengths of radiation, firebrand emission, and medium heterogeneity on fire spread is discussed. To cite this article: B. Porterie et al., C. R. Physique 6 (2005).     

The effects of winds from burning structures on ground-fire propagation at the wildland–urban interface

A simple physics-based mathematical model is developed for prediction of the propagation of a grass-fire front driven by an ambient wind and by entrainment winds generated from one or more burning structures. This model accounts for the heterogeneous nature of the burning in a particular wildland–urban-interface (WUI) setting, where the entrainment from fundamentally three-dimensional structure-fire plumes can change the propagation of a two-dimensional ground-fire front. Data on grass fires and estimates of structure fires are presented and compared to justify the model. Scaling effects on the fire-front propagation-speed are given as a function of the location of the front, of the heat release rate of a single burning structure, of the total number of burning structures and of the burning-structure density. Also, detailed front propagation changes due to a single and multiple burning-house scenarios are presented.     

Conversion of wood pyrolysates to PCDD/F

This contribution assesses the propensity of wood components to form polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) in fires and in combustion in stoves, heaters and burn barrels. Volatiles generated from model lignocellulosic compounds or fractions isolated from wood are reacted with a surrogate ash positioned in a tubular reactor under inert pyrolysis atmospheres. The surrogate ash contains copper and chlorine salts to simulate heterogeneous PCDD/F formation during combustion of preservative-treated wood. Pyrolysis temperatures were selected to fall within the range in which the component decomposes, while the surrogate ash temperature was set at 400 °C which is typical of pyrolysis during fires, and corresponds to conditions which were favourable to PCDD/F formation. PCDF are favoured over PCDD in all experiments. Lignin yields considerably more PCDD/F than the carbohydrates. The ratio of PCDD to PCDF varies according to the chemical structure of the feed; with carbohydrates demonstrating greater relative preference for PCDD than lignin. PCDD/F formation via direct chlorination of dibenzofuran and dibenzo-p-dioxin dominates the pyrolysis of lignin, as evidenced by a significant preference for 2,3,7,8 congeners. Carbohydrates likely produce PCDD/F as a result of formation and condensation of chlorophenol.     

铁基添加剂增强细水雾灭火性能的实验研究

采用实验模拟的方法,研究了添加氯化亚铁的细水雾在不同添加剂浓度、不同喷头压力下,熄灭不同性质的液体池火的性能。实验结果表明:添加有氯化亚铁的细水雾,其灭火性能发生了显著变化。存在一个最佳的灭火浓度,其对应的灭火时间最短,耗水量最少,灭火效率最高。细水雾喷头的工作压力和燃料的性质也对细水雾的灭火性能有影响:工作压力越大,细水雾的平均灭火时间越短。在相同的实验条件下,细水雾扑灭煤油池火的时间要短于扑灭酒精池火的时间。     

Complex signal analysis for wind turbine planetary gearbox fault diagnosis via iterative atomic decomposition thresholding

The vibration signals from complex structures such as wind turbine (WT) planetary gearboxes are intricate. Reliable analysis of such signals is the key to success in fault detection and diagnosis for complex structures. The recently proposed iterative atomic decomposition thresholding (IADT) method has shown to be effective in extracting true constituent components of complicated signals and in suppressing background noise interferences. In this study, such properties of the IADT are exploited to analyze and extract the target signal components from complex signals with a focus on WT planetary gearboxes under constant running conditions. Fault diagnosis for WT planetary gearboxes has been a very important yet challenging issue due to their harsh working conditions and complex structures. Planetary gearbox fault diagnosis relies on detecting the presence of gear characteristic frequencies or monitoring their magnitude changes. However, a planetary gearbox vibration signal is a mixture of multiple complex components due to the unique structure, complex kinetics and background noise. As such, the IADT is applied to enhance the gear characteristic frequencies of interest, and thereby diagnose gear faults. Considering the spectral properties of planetary gearbox vibration signals, we propose to use Fourier dictionary in the IADT so as to match the harmonic waves in frequency domain and pinpoint the gear fault characteristic frequency. To reduce computing time and better target at more relevant signal components, we also suggest a criterion to estimate the number of sparse components to be used by the IADT. The performance of the proposed approach in planetary gearbox fault diagnosis has been evaluated through analyzing the numerically simulated, lab experimental and on-site collected signals. The results show that both localized and distributed gear faults, both the sun and planet gear faults, can be diagnosed successfully.     

Numerical modelling of acoustic pressure fields to optimize the ultrasonic cleaning technique for cylinders

Fouling build up is a well-known problem in the offshore industry. Accumulation of fouling occurs in different structures, e.g. offshore pipes, ship hulls, floating production platforms. The type of fouling that accumulates is dependent on environmental conditions surrounding the structure itself. Current methods deployed for fouling removal span across hydraulic, chemical and manual, all sharing the common disadvantage of necessitating halting production for the cleaning process to commence. Conventionally, ultrasound is used in ultrasonic baths to clean a submerged component by the generation and implosion of cavitation bubbles on the fouled surface; this method is particularly used in Reverse Osmosis applications. However, this requires the submersion of the fouled structure and thus may require a halt to production. Large fouled structures such as pipelines may not be accommodated. The application of high power ultrasonics is proposed in this work as a means to remove fouling on a structure whilst in operation. The work presented in this paper consists of the development of a finite element analysis model based on successful cleaning results from a pipe fouled with calcite on the inner pipe wall. A Polytec 3D Laser Doppler Vibrometer was used in this investigation to study the fouling removal process. Results show the potential of high power ultrasonics for fouling removal in pipe structures from the wave propagation across the structure under excitation, and are used to validate a COMSOL model to determine cleaning patterns based on pressure and displacement distributions for future transducer array design and optimization.     

Controllable synthesis of fullerene nano/microcrystals and their structural transformation induced by high pressure

Fullerene molecules are interesting materials because of their unique structures and properties in mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and optical aspects. Current research is focusing on the construction of well-defined fullerene nano/microcrystals that possess desirable structures and morphologies. Further tuning the intermolecular interaction of the fullerene nano/microcrystals by use of pressure is an efficient way to modify their structures and properties, such as creation of nanoscale polymer structures and new hybrid materials, which expands the potential of such nanoscale materials for di- rect device components. In this paper, we review our recent progress in the construction of fullerene nanostructures and their structural transformation induced by high pressure. Fullerene nano/microcrystals with controllable size, morphology and structure have been synthesized through the self-assembly of fullerene molecules by a solvent-assisted method. By virtue of high pressure, the structures, components, and intermolecular interactions of the assemblied fullerene nano/microcrystals can be finely tuned, thereby modifying the optical and electronic properties of the nanostructures. Several examples on high pressure induced novel structural phase transition in typical fullerene nanocrystals with C60 or C70 cage serving as build- ing blocks are presented, including high pressure induced amorphization of the nanocrystals and their bulk moduli, high pressure and high temperature （HPHT） induced polymerization in C60 nanocrystals, pressure tuned reversible polymeriza- tion in ferrocene-doped C60/C70 single crystal, as well as unique long-range ordered crystal with amorphous nanoclusters serving as building blocks in solvated C60 crystals, which brings new physical insight into the understanding of order and disorder concept and new approaches to the design of superhard carbon materials. The nanosize and morphology effects on the transformations of fullerene nanocrystals have also been discussed. These results provide the foundation for the fabrication of pre-designed and controllable geometries, which is critical in fullerenes and relevant materials for designing nanometer-scale electronic, optical, and other devices.     

油池火焰前锋的数值研究

应用化学流体力学基本定律,建立了描述油池火灾过程的基本控制方程组和油池表面平衡方程,并对油池火灾过程进行数值模拟,注重研究来流风速变化对油池火焰前锋的影响,计算结果定性合理.     

Crystal structure of simple metals at high pressures

The effects of pressure on the crystal structure of simple (or sp-) elements are analysed in terms of changes in coordination number, packing density, and interatomic distances, and general rules are established. In the polyvalent elements from groups 14–17, the covalently bonded structures tend to transform to metallic phases with a gradual increase in coordination number and packing density, a behaviour normally expected under pressure. Group 1 and 2 metallic elements, however, show a reverse trend towards structures with low packing density due to intricate changes in their electronic structure. Complex crystal structures such as host–guest and incommensurately modulated structures found in these elements are given special attention in this review in an attempt to determine their role in the observed phase-transition sequences.     

Studies on segmented polyurethane—urea elastomers: Structure and properties of segmented polyurethane—ureas having the binary hard segment components

Studies on the structure and properties of segmented polyurethane-ureas having binary hard segment components have been made using infrared dichroism, small-angle x-ray diffraction, and mechanical testing. The results clarify the effect of the domain structure of the hard segments on the mechanical hysteresis behavior of the segmented polyurethane—urea elastomers. Experiments were carried out for film specimens prepared from poly(tetramethylene glycol), 4, 4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and chain extenders such as ethylenediamine and hydrazine. The domain structures of the hard segments were controlled by blending segmented polyurethane-ureas having different chain extenders. The chain-extending reactions were conducted both simultaneously and in a stepwise manner during polymerization using two different chain extenders. The experimental results revealed that the mechanical hysteresis greatly decreased for the specimens of segmented polyurethane-ureas with binary component hard segments which were randomly copolymerized using the mixture of two different chain extenders. It is suggested that the decrease of hysteresis is related to the microdomain structure of segmented polyurethane-ureas composed of small fragments of lamellae. The small lateral size is caused by the restriction of crystal growth in the direction of hydrogen bond formation due to the heterogeneous hard segment components. This hysteresis phenomenon could be verified by the fact that the transverse orientation of the hard segments decreased in the case of the segmented polyurethane-ureas having randomly copolymerized hard segments. To impart the property of ideal rubber elasticity to segmented polyurethane-urea, it is deduced that it is important to control the hard segment domain structure so that it does not form higher-order structures such as lamellae of large lateral size.     

Modelling non-equilibrium self-assembly from dissipation

Non-equilibrium self-assembly is ubiquitous in physico-chemical and biological systems, and manifests itself at different scales, ranging from the molecular to the cosmological. The formation of microtubules, gels, cells and living beings among many others takes place through self-assembly under nonequilibrium conditions. We propose a general thermodynamic non-equilibrium model to understand the formation of assembled structures such as gels and Liesegang patterns and at the same time able to describe the kinetics and the energetics of the structure formation process. The model is supported for a global mechanism to obtain self-assembled structures from building blocks via activation, deactivation, assembly, and disassembly processes. It is proposed that the resulting structures can be characterised by a structural parameter. Our model may contribute to a better understanding of non-equilibrium self-assembly processes and give deeper insight as to how to obtain a specific structural architecture to materials, such as hydrogels which are of great importance in the design of advanced devices and novel materials.     

基于局部结构模型库的建筑物LiDAR点云去噪

通过研究建筑物结构中点、线基本结构模型,构建了相应的基本结构模型库。为了验证该模型库的有效性,利用模型库产生的仿真数据构造训练数据实现了一种在K-SVD框架下的建筑物屋顶LiDAR点云数据去噪方法。实验结果表明,所构建的建筑物模型库对建筑物点云数据具有非常好的表示能力,能够有效地应用于点云数据的去噪。     

Bending wave intensity in a thick beam

I.IntroductionMeasurementSofbendingwaveintensityinoneortwodimensi0na1structuresbecomequitepopularandgetavarietyofindustria1app1icati0ns.Theexistingintensitytheory['-']wasderivedbasedontheclassicaIBernou11i-Eu1ertheorywhichisanapproximatetheoryforana-lyzingstructuralvibration.Inthe1ow-frequencylimitwherebendingwavelengthsaremuchlongincomparisonwiththethicknessofthestructurealongwhichtheypr0pagate(i.e.,thinstructurcs),theuse0ftheclassica1theorywi1lresu1tinanegligiblyerro/`].Forshortwave-1ength…     

Comparison of resonances and spectral properties for microstructures incorporating singular layered metal dielectric subwavelength grating with different profiles

A multilayered structure incorporating a single metal-dielectric subwavelength grating is a structure with characteristic of polarization separation for visible light, enabling creating visible color aspect. Based on that, two specific structures separately with grating layers of rectangular and sinusoidal refractive index profiles are designed and their related resonant behaviors and spectral properties are compared respectively for s and p polarized incident lights. The impacts of structural parameters of the structures together with dielectric materials on their resonances and spectra in reflection are studied in detailed. Similarities of resonant behaviors, reflection spectra and variations in resonant locations and spectral profiles between both structures are also demonstrated for both polarizations, especially for s polarized light. Due to such similarities and convenience in fabrication, the structure with a sinusoidal grating can replace that with a rectangular grating in mass production for color-based various applications such as color security, image reproduction.     

Geometry and electronic properties of Cu2(n≤9)

The equilibrium geometries and the atomization energies of Cu_n(n≤9) clusters have been calculated using the B3LYP/LANL2DZ method. It is shown that the clusters do not copy the bulk structures and undergo significant geometrical changes with size and the atomization energy per atom increases monotonically with size. By analysing the energy level distribution, the Fermi level, HOMO－LUMO gaps, the electron affinities and the ionization potentials are calculated and the results are in reasonable agreement with experiment. These electronic properties are found to be strongly structure dependent, which can be used to determine which of the low-lying structures is observed experimentally.     

Emergence of self-replicating structures in a cellular automata space

Past cellular automata models of self-replication have always been initialized with an original copy of the structure that will replicate, and have been based on a transition function that only works for a single, specific structure. This article demonstrates for the first time that it is possible to create cellular automata models in which a self-replicating structure emerges from an initial state having a random density and distribution of individual components. These emergent self-replicating structures employ a fairly general rule set that can support the replication of structures of different sizes and their growth from smaller to larger ones. This rule set also allows “random” interactions of self-replicating structures with each other and with other structures within the cellular automata space. Systematic simulations show that emergence and growth of replicants occurs often and is essentially independent of the cellular space size, initial random pattern of components, and initial density of components, over a broad range of these parameters. The number of replicants and the total number of components they incorporate generally approach quasi-stable values with time.     

A high‐pressure single‐crystal‐diffraction experimental system at 4W2 beamline of BSRF

Information on the structural evolution of materials under high pressure is of great importance for understanding the properties of materials exhibited under high pressure. High‐pressure powder diffraction is widely used to investigate the structure evolution of materials at such pressure. Unfortunately, powder diffraction data are usually insufficient for retrieving the atomic structures, with high‐pressure single‐crystal diffraction being more desirable for such a purpose. Here, a high‐pressure single‐crystal diffraction experimental system developed recently at beamline 4W2 of Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) is reported. The design and operation of this system are described with emphasis on special measures taken to allow for the special circumstance of high‐pressure single‐crystal diffraction. As an illustration, a series of diffraction datasets were collected on a single crystal of LaB₆ using this system under various pressures (from ambient pressure to 39.1 GPa). The quality of the datasets was found to be sufficient for structure solution and subsequent refinement.     

Theoretical modeling and experimental realization of dynamically magnified thermoacoustic-piezoelectric energy harvesters

Conventional thermoacoustic-piezoelectric (TAP) harvesters convert thermal energy, such as solar or waste heat energy, directly into electrical energy without the need for any moving components. The input thermal energy generates a steep temperature gradient along a porous medium. At a critical threshold of the temperature gradient, self-sustained acoustic waves are developed inside an acoustic resonator. The associated pressure fluctuations impinge on a piezoelectric diaphragm, placed at the end of the resonator. In this study, the TAP harvester is coupled with an auxiliary elastic structure in the form of a simple spring–mass system to amplify the strain experienced by the piezoelectric element. The auxiliary structure is referred to as a dynamic magnifier and has been shown in different areas to significantly amplify the deflection of vibrating structures. A comprehensive model of the dynamically magnified thermoacoustic-piezoelectric (DMTAP) harvester has been developed that includes equations of motions of the system?s mechanical components, the harvested voltage, the mechanical impedance of the coupled structure at the resonator end and the equations necessary to compute the self-excited frequencies of oscillations inside the acoustic resonator. Theoretical results confirmed that significant amplification of the harvested power is feasible if the magnifier?s parameters are properly chosen. The performance characteristics of experimental prototypes of a thermoacoustic-piezoelectric resonator with and without the magnifier are examined. The obtained experimental findings are validated against the theoretical results. Dynamic magnifiers serve as a novel approach to enhance the effectiveness of thermoacoustic energy harvested from waste heat by increasing the efficiency of their harvesting components.     

Optimization of a hybrid vibration absorber for vibration control of structures under random force excitation

A recently reported design of a hybrid vibration absorber (HVA) which is optimized to suppress resonant vibration of a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system is re-optimized for suppressing wide frequency band vibration of the SDOF system under stationary random force excitation. The proposed HVA makes use of the feedback signals from the displacement and velocity of the absorber mass for minimizing the vibration response of the dynamic structure based on the H₂ optimization criterion. The objective of the optimal design is to minimize the mean square vibration amplitude of a dynamic structure under a wideband excitation, i.e., the total area under the vibration response spectrum is minimized in this criterion. One of the inherent limitations of the traditional passive vibration absorber is that its vibration suppression is low if the mass ratio between the absorber mass and the mass of the primary structure is low. The active element of the proposed HVA helps further reduce the vibration of the controlled structure and it can provide significant vibration absorption performance even at a low mass ratio. Both the passive and active elements are optimized together for the minimization of the mean square vibration amplitude of the primary system. The proposed HVA are tested on a SDOF system and continuous vibrating structures with comparisons to the traditional passive vibration absorber.     

On the mechanism of quartz surface crimping under laser irradiation

The influence of an artificial inhomogeneity on the surface of a solid on the formation of periodic structures under laser irradiation has been studied experimentally. Inhomogeneities of this kind are found to catalyse the arising of periodic structures which appear in the vicinity of inhomogeneities and are of a regular nature. A theory is suggested to explain the principal experimental patterns such as the size of a periodic structure, its only weak dependence on laser radiation intensity, angular dependences, etc.