DYNAMIC STABILITY OF SKEW PLATES SUBJECTED TO AERODYNAMIC AND RANDOM IN-PLANE FORCES

This paper presents an investigation into the dynamic stability of skew plates acted upon simultaneously by an aerodynamic force in the chordwise direction and a random in-plane force in the spanwise direction. Due to this random in-plane force, the plate may become unstable before the aerodynamic force reaches its critical value. In this work, the finite element formulation is applied to obtain the discretized system equations. The system equations are then partially uncoupled and reduced in size by the modal truncation method. Finally, the unsmoothed and the smoothed versions of the stochastic averaging are used to calculate the system response, and the second-moment stability criterion is utilized to determine the stability boundary of the system. Numerical results show that the stability boundary obtained by the smoothed stochastic averaging is less conservative than that obtained by the unsmoothed version, and the former is the tangent of the latter at zero spectral density of the random in-plane force.     

EFFECT OF PHASE ON HUMAN RESPONSES TO VERTICAL WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION AND SHOCK—ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION

The effect of the “phase” on human responses to vertical whole-body vibration and shock has been investigated analytically using alternative methods of predicting subjective responses (using r.m.s., VDV and various frequency weightings). Two types of phase have been investigated: the effect of the relative phase between two frequency components in the input stimulus, and the phase response of the human body. Continuous vibrations and shocks, based on half-sine and one-and-a-half-sine accelerations, each of which had two frequency components, were used as input stimuli. For the continuous vibrations, an effect of relative phase was found for the vibration dose value (VDV) when the ratio between two frequency components was three: about 12% variation in the VDV of the unweighted acceleration was possible by changing the relative phase. The effect of the phase response of the body represented by frequency weightings was most significant when the frequencies of two sinusoidal components were about 3 and 9 Hz. With shocks, the effect of relative phase was observed for all stimuli used. The variation in the r.m.s. acceleration and in the VDV caused by variations in the relative phase varied between 3 and 100%, depending on the nature of stimulus and the frequency weighting. The phase of the frequency weightings had a different effect on the r.m.s. and the VDV.     

A NEW MATRIX METHOD FOR SOLVING VIBRATION AND STABILITY OF CURVED PIPES CONVEYING FLUID

This paper proposes a new matrix method for calculating critical flow velocity of curved pipes conveying fluid, which have arbitrary centerline shape and spring supports. Its main advantage over other methods is that the corresponding characteristic equation can be reduced to a third order one, no matter how many elements are discretized in calculation. This will lead to saving computer time and obtaining a solution with good precision.     

ON GROUP VELOCITY OF ELASTIC WAVES, IN AN ANISOTROPIC PLATE

A proof is offered for the equivalence of the group velocity and the energy velocity for elastic waves in a free anisotropic homogenous plate. The proof is valid in the case where the group velocity may be negative while the wave number is positive.     

APPLICATION OF MODIFIED VLASOV MODEL TO FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF BEAMS RESTING ON ELASTIC FOUNDATIONS

The purpose of this paper is to apply the modified Vlasov model to the free vibration analysis of beams resting on elastic foundations and to analyze the effects of the subsoil depth, the beam length, their ratio and the value of the vertical deformation parameter within the subsoil on the frequency parameters of beams on elastic foundations. This analysis has been carried out by the aid of a computer program based on the finite element method. The first ten frequency parameters are presented in tabular and graphical forms to evaluate the effects of the parameters considered in this study. Then mode shapes corresponding to the first six of the frequency parameters are given in figures. It is concluded that the effect of the subsoil depth on the frequency parameters of beams on an elastic foundation is generally larger than those of the other parameters considered in this study.     

DISCRETE HUYGENS' MODELLING APPROACH TO WAVE PROPAGATIONS IN A HOMOGENEOUS ELASTIC FIELD

The application of the discrete Huygens' modelling has been discussed for acoustic wave propagation problems, in which the scalar wave field problems have been focused. The present paper extends the application of the modelling to the elastic wave propagation in a homogeneous elastic medium in which two types of waves, the longitudinal wave and the shear wave, are independent except at the boundary. Each wave can be treated like a scalar wave until the two waves reach the boundary where they couple so as to satisfy the displacement or stress boundary condition. We propose the approach confining ourselves to the two-dimensional field. Some examples are demonstrated, whose solutions are compared with the vectorial wave modelling and finite difference modelling solutions whenever they are available.     

Scattering of electromagnetic waves from a half-space of randomly distributed discrete scatterers and polarized backscattering ratio law

Summary The effective-medium approximation is applied to investigate scattering from a half-space of randomly and densely distributed discrete scatterers. Starting from vector wave equations, an approximation, called effective-medium Born approximation, a particular way, treating Green's functions, and special coordinates, of which the origin is set at the field point, are used to calculate the bistatic- and back-scatterings. An analytic solution of backscattering with closed form is obtained and it shows a depolarization effect. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements in the cases of snow, multi- and first-year sea-ice. The root product ratio of polarization to depolarization in backscattering is equal to 8; this result constitutes a law about polarized scattering phenomena in the nature.     

57Fe and57Co Mössbauer studies of highT c Y-Ba-Cu oxides

The⁵⁷Co emission Mössbauer spectra from YBa₂Cu₃O_6.92 (1-2-307) and YBa₂Cu₃O_6.00 (1-2-306) have been measured and compared with the⁵⁷Fe absorption spectra from YBa₂Cu_2.95Fe_0.05O_7?δ in order to clarify decisively the site assignments for the⁵⁷Fe quadrupole-split doublets in these compounds. Mössbauer spectra obtained from both specimens consist of four components whose hyperfine interaction parameters well agree with each other. It is shown that the Co and Fe atoms mainly substitute at Cu1 chain sites in 1-2-307, but in 1-2-306 the Co atoms occupy randomly the Cu2 plane sites and indicate magnetically-split sextet which converts to a paramagnetic doublet of S-state Fe³⁺ in 1-2-307 by a post-annealing in O₂ gas.