Comparison of methods for calculating the shock hugoniot of mixtures

Various methods used to determine the shock Hugoniot of condensed phase multi-component mixtures are reviewed and compared to available experimental data. The assumptions inherent in the different models are presented in this overview and their implications are discussed. The comparisons of the various models demonstrate that the predicted shock Hugoniots are in good agreement with published data despite the simplifying assumptions that are associated with the models. Averaging models are shown to be among the simplest methods to implement and result in the closest agreement with experimental data.     

Mechanics of fish skin: A computational approach for bio-inspired flexible composites

Natural materials and structures are increasingly becoming a source of inspiration for the design novel of engineering systems. In this context, the structure of fish skin, made of an intricate arrangement of flexible plates growing out of the dermis of a majority of fish, can be of particular interest for materials such as protective layers or flexible electronics. To better understand the mechanics of these composite shells, we introduce here a general computational framework that aims at establishing a relationship between their structure and their overall mechanical response. Taking advantage of the periodicity of the scale arrangement, it is shown that a representative periodic cell can be introduced as the basic element to carry out a homogenization procedure based on the Hill-Mendel condition. The proposed procedure is applied to the specific case of the fish skin structure of the Morone saxatilis, using a computational finite element approach. Our numerical study shows that fish skin possesses a highly anisotropic response, with a softer bending stiffness in the longitudinal direction of the fish. This softer response arises from significant scale rotations during bending, which induce a stiffening of the response under large bending curvature. Interestingly, this mechanism can be suppressed or magnified by tuning the rotational stiffness of the scale-dermis attachment but is not activated in the lateral direction. These results are not only valuable to the engineering design of flexible and protective shells, but also have implications on the mechanics of fish swimming.     

Analysis and visualization tools in CFD, part II: A case study in grid adaptivity

The objective of the present paper is to show, in the context of a configurable resolution and analysis environment, how grid adaptivity methodology can be made configurable and rapidly applied to various problems. In order to reach this objective, our error estimation and grid adaptation tools were configured to integrate Zienkiewicz and Zhu's local error estimator. The environment was then applied to the simulation of incompressible isothermal flow and natural convection problems.     

Tracing sewage water by 15N in a mangrove ecosystem to test its bioremediation ability

Mangrove forests could be a simple and effective alternative to conventional sewage treatment, particularly for island communities given its low cost and low maintenance. Due to their high adaptation capacity, these plants are able to tolerate and bioremediate the high levels of nutrients and pollutants found in sewage water. This solution could be applied to small tropical islands with high population density such as Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. This paper reports on a trial by stable isotopic (15)N tracing of such a bioremediation process on pre-treated wastewater near the village of Malamani, in the middle of the large coastal mangrove in the bay near Chirongui. The first results show a boost in the mangrove growth, but a longer period of observation is needed to confirm the beneficial effects, and also to clarify the role of the local crab population, whose engineering activities play an important part in the ecosystem. The exact denitrification process is not yet understood, and the mass balance equation also reveals loss of nitrogen-containing compounds, which needs to be analyzed more closely.     

An allenic Pauson-Khand approach to 6,12-guaianolides

Cyclocarbonylation of α-methylene butyrolactone-containing allene-ynes affords 6,12-guaianolide ring systems. Incorporation of the α-methylene butyrolactone early in a synthetic sequence is rare for reactivity reasons; however, this moiety proves to be beneficial to the allenic Pauson-Khand reaction. The three double bonds and the ketone in the resulting 5-7-5 ring system bear significant differences in their reactivity and are ideally positioned for synthetic application to 6,12-guaianolides and analogs.     

Study by differential scanning calorimetry of the structure of aliphatic chains and water in Cs soaps-water systems

Summary Caesium stearate- and caesium palmitate-water systems are investigated by DSC measurements. Thermodynamical data of transition between crystallized form and mesomorphic state indicate a greater disorder of the chains for these soaps than for lecithin, in the same lamellar structure. The study of the water melting in an extended range of concentration allows us to distinguish different behaviors: the simplest two phases model for the two extremes ranges of concentration (y < 20% and > 60%) is proposed to explain the stability of the freezing temperature and enthalpy; the solubilization of conter-ions in water and the bonding of some water molecules could explain the depression of freezing temperature and the decrease of enthalpy, in the intermediate range of concentration.

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Résumé Nous avons étudié par DSC les transitions de phase dans les systemes stearate et palmitate de cesium-eau. Les parametres thermodynamiques de la fusion des chaines paraffiniques révèle que dans les phases mésomorphis le désordre des chaines est plus grand que dans les systemes lecithine-eau. L'étude de la fusion de l'eau, a l'intérieur d'une phase lamellaire bien caractérisée, nous permet de distinguer plusieurs comportements: le modele le plus simple ä deux phases permet d'interpreter la stabilité de l'enthalpie et de la température de fusion dans les deux domaines extremes de concentration en eau (y < 20% et > 60%); la solubilisation des contre ions dans l'eau et la fixation de quelques molecules d'eau pourrait expliquer l'abaissement de la température de fusion et la diminution d'enthalpie, dans le domaine intermédaire de concentration.

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With 4 figures and 1 table