Determination of strain and stress distribution on shearwalls by using the speckle photography technique

Speckle photography (SP) is a powerful tool that is adequate to determine small displacements in micrometer range. This information shows other characteristics of structure deformation under loads and can be determined as stress and strain distribution. In this paper we present the results of the application of the SP technique used to study the behaviour of discontinuities in a shearwall model. These structural elements are very important to the stability of buildings. The displacement whole field around the discontinuities and loading points was determined using the pointwise method. This allows us to determine stress distribution at the point of interest by means of the suitable equations. We also present the stress distribution obtained through the finite element method in order to compare the results obtained by means of these two techniques. Good correspondence was found between the displacements determined by both techniques (r=0.982) and also between the stress values we obtained.     

Synthesis and characterization of hollow ��-Fe2O3 sub-micron spheres prepared by sol�Cgel

In this work we report the preparation of magnetic hematite hollow sub-micron spheres (??-Fe₂O₃) by colloidal suspensions of ferric nitrate nine-hydrate (Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O) particles in citric acid solution by following the sol?Cgel method. After the gel formation, the samples were annealed at different temperatures in an oxidizing atmosphere. Annealing at 180°C resulted in an amorphous phase, without iron oxide formation. Annealing at 250°C resulted in coexisting phases of hematite, maghemite and magnetite, whereas at 400°C, only hematite and maghemite were found. Pure hematite hollow sub-micron spheres with porous shells were formed after annealing at 600°C. The characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).     

High-pressure crystal structure of elastically isotropic CaTiO3 perovskite under hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic conditions

The structural evolution of orthorhombic CaTiO3 perovskite has been studied using high-pressure single-crystal x-ray diffraction under hydrostatic conditions up to 8.1 GPa and under a non-hydrostatic stress field formed in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) up to 4.7 GPa. Under hydrostatic conditions, the TiO6 octahedra become more tilted and distorted with increasing pressure, similar to other 2:4 perovskites. Under non-hydrostatic conditions, the experiments do not show any apparent difference in the internal structural variation from hydrostatic conditions and no additional tilts and distortions in the TiO6 octahedra are observed, even though the lattice itself becomes distorted due to the non-hydrostatic stress. The similarity between the hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic cases can be ascribed to the fact that CaTiO3 perovskite is nearly elastically isotropic and, as a consequence, its deviatoric unit-cell volume strain produced by the non-hydrostatic stress is very small; in other words, the additional octahedral tilts relevant to the extra unit-cell volume associated with the deviatoric unit-cell volume strain may be totally neglected. This study further addresses the role that three factors--the elastic properties, the crystal orientation and the pressure medium--have on the structural evolution of an orthorhombic perovskite loaded in a DAC under non-hydrostatic conditions. The influence of these factors can be clearly visualized by plotting the three-dimensional distribution of the deviatoric unit-cell volume strain in relation to the cylindrical axis of the DAC and indicates that, if the elasticity of a perovskite is nearly isotropic as it is for CaTiO3, the other two factors become relatively insignificant.     

Tailored pump-probe transient spectroscopy with time-dependent density-functional theory: controlling absorption spectra

Recent advances in laser technology allow us to follow electronic motion at its natural time-scale with ultra-fast time resolution, leading the way towards attosecond physics experiments of extreme precision. In this work, we assess the use of tailored pumps in order to enhance (or reduce) some given features of the probe absorption (for example, absorption in the visible range of otherwise transparent samples). This type of manipulation of the system response could be helpful for its full characterization, since it would allow us to visualize transitions that are dark when using unshaped pulses. In order to investigate these possibilities, we perform first a theoretical analysis of the non-equilibrium response function in this context, aided by one simple numerical model of the hydrogen atom. Then, we proceed to investigate the feasibility of using time-dependent density-functional theory as a means to implement, theoretically, this absorption-optimization idea, for more complex atoms or molecules. We conclude that the proposed idea could in principle be brought to the laboratory: tailored pump pulses can excite systems into light-absorbing states. However, we also highlight the severe numerical and theoretical difficulties posed by the problem: large-scale non-equilibrium quantum dynamics are cumbersome, even with TDDFT, and the shortcomings of state-of-the-art TDDFT functionals may still be serious for these out-of-equilibrium situations.     

High temperature Mössbauer studies of 57Fe: YSr2Cu3O7 related compounds containing oxyanions

Oxyanion substitutions at the copper sites can stabilize the Ba free phase YSr₂Cu₃O₇ and allow synthesis to occur under ambient conditions (P.R. Slater and C. Greaves, 1991; P.R. Slater et al., 1993). Here we report in situ ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy experiments done in Y--Sr--Cu--O related oxides containing sulphate (SO₄ ^2-), phosphate (PO₄ ^3-) and borate (BO₃ ^3-), in the temperature range 300 K ? T ? 723 K. From the results obtained it has been possible to study the kinetics of oxygen loss, as well as the temperature dependence of the Fe species.     

Efficient and accurate modeling of electron photoemission in nanostructures with TDDFT

We derive and extend the time-dependent surface-flux method introduced in [L. Tao, A. Scrinzi, New J. Phys. 14, 013021 (2012)] within a time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) formalism and use it to calculate photoelectron spectra and angular distributions of atoms and molecules when excited by laser pulses. We present other, existing computational TDDFT methods that are suitable for the calculation of electron emission in compact spatial regions, and compare their results. We illustrate the performance of the new method by simulating strong-field ionization of C₆₀ fullerene and discuss final state effects in the orbital reconstruction of planar organic molecules.     

Aggregation Mode,Host-Guest Chemistry in Water,and Extraction Capability of an Uncharged,Water-Soluble,Liquid Pillar[5]arene Derivative

An uncharged, water-soluble per-ethylene-glycol pillar[5]arene derivative ( 1 ) was synthesized and its aggregation mode, host-guest chemistry in water and extraction ability was explored. Compound 1 is a liquid at room temperature; in water, limited self-aggregation occurred at high concentrations as deduced from diffusion NMR and dynamic light scattering. Compound 1 forms pseudo-rotaxane-like 1 : 1 host-guest complexes with 1,ω-di-substituted alkanes with association constants on the order of 10³–10⁴ m ⁻¹. Interestingly, NMR experiments showed that the guest location relative to the host ring system differs among the different complexes. In proof-of-concept experiments, compound 1 was shown to extract structurally related organic compounds from benzene into water with significant selectivity. Compound 1 , which is a liquid at room temperature and has only limited interactions with its side arms, can, in principle, be regarded as a complement to or as a kind of type I porous liquid.     

Calculations of molecular multipole electric moments of a series of exo-insaturated four-membered heterocycles,Y = CCH2CH2X

The influence of ring puckering angle on the multipole moments of sixteen four-membered heterocycles (1-16) was theoretically estimated using MP2 and different DFTs in combination with the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. To obtain an accurate evaluation, CCSD/cc-pVDZ level and, the MP2 and PBE1PBE methods in combination with the aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets were performed on the planar geometries of 1-16. In general, the DFT and MP2 approaches provided an identical dependence of the electrical properties with the puckering angle for 1-16. Quantitatively, the quality of the level of theory and basis sets affects significant the predictions of the multipole moments, in particular for the heterocycles containing C=O and C=S bonds. Convergence basis sets within the MP2 and PBE1PBE approximations are reached in the dipole moment calculations when the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set is used, while the quadrupole and octupole moment computations require a larger basis set than aug-cc-pVTZ. On the other hand, the multipole moments showed a strong dependence with the molecular geometry and the nature of the carbon-heteroatom bonds. Specifically, the C-X bond determines the behavior of the μ(?), θ(?) and ?(?) functions, while the C=Y bond plays an important role in the magnitude of the studied properties.     

Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy: A Powerful Technique to Directly Study Small Gas Molecules Adsorbed in Metal–Organic Frameworks

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great potential in gas separation and storage, and the design of MOFs for these purposes is an on-going field of research. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopy is a valuable technique for characterizing these functional materials. It can provide a wide range of structural and motional insights that are complementary to and/or difficult to access with alternative methods. In this Concept article, the recent advances made in SSNMR investigations of small gas molecules (i.e., carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen gas and light hydrocarbons) adsorbed in MOFs are discussed. These studies demonstrate the breadth of information that can be obtained by SSNMR spectroscopy, such as the number and location of guest adsorption sites, host–guest binding strengths and guest mobility. The knowledge acquired from these experiments yields a powerful tool for progress in MOF development.     

A numerical approach on hybrid nanofluid behavior in laminar duct flow with various cross sections

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, a three-dimensional analysis is used to study the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in ducts with various cross-sectional...