Unsupervised cell identification on multidimensional X‐ray fluorescence datasets

A novel approach to locate, identify and refine positions and whole areas of cell structures based on elemental contents measured by X‐ray fluorescence microscopy is introduced. It is shown that, by initializing with only a handful of prototypical cell regions, this approach can obtain consistent identification of whole cells, even when cells are overlapping, without training by explicit annotation. It is robust both to different measurements on the same sample and to different initializations. This effort provides a versatile framework to identify targeted cellular structures from datasets too complex for manual analysis, like most X‐ray fluorescence microscopy data. Possible future extensions are also discussed.     

Probabilistic approaches to compute uncertainty intervals and sensitivity factors of ultrasonic simulations of a weld inspection

For comprehension purpose, numerical computations are more and more used to simulate the propagation phenomena observed during experimental inspections. However, the good agreement between experimental and simulated data necessitates the use of accurate input data and thus a good characterization of the inspected material. Generally the input data are provided by experimental measurements and are consequently tainted with uncertainties. Thus, it becomes necessary to evaluate the impact of these uncertainties on the outputs of the numerical model. The aim of this study is to perform a probabilistic analysis of an ultrasonic inspection of an austenitic weld containing a manufactured defect based on advanced techniques such as polynomial chaos expansions and computation of sensitivity factors (Sobol, DGSM). The simulation of this configuration with the finite element code ATHENA2D was performed 6000 times with variations of the input parameters (the columnar grain orientation and the elastic constants of the material). The 6000 sets of input parameters were obtained from adapted statistical laws. The output parameters (the amplitude and the position of the defect echo) distributions were then analyzed and the 95% confidence intervals were determined.     

Residual‐based artificial viscosity for simulation of turbulent compressible flow using adaptive finite element methods

In this paper, we present a finite element method with a residual‐based artificial viscosity for simulation of turbulent compressible flow, with adaptive mesh refinement based on a posteriori error estimation with sensitivity information from an associated dual problem. The artificial viscosity acts as a numerical stabilization, as shock capturing, and as turbulence capturing for large eddy simulation of turbulent flow. The adaptive method resolves parts of the flow indicated by the a posteriori error estimates but leaves shocks and turbulence under‐resolved in a large eddy simulation. The method is tested for examples in 2D and 3D and is validated against experimental data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multiaxial mechanical behavior of aramid fibers and identification of skin/core structure from single fiber transverse compression testing

The transverse and longitudinal mechanical properties of aramid fibers like Kevlar? 29 (K29) fibers are strongly linked to their highly oriented structure. Mechanical characterization at the single fiber scale is challenging especially when the diameter is as small as 15 µm. Longitudinal tensile tests on single K29 fibers and single fiber transverse compression test (SFTCT) have been developed. Our approach consists of coupling morphological observations and mechanical experiments with SFTCT analysis by comparing analytical solutions and finite element modeling. New insights on the analysis of the transverse direction response are highlighted. Systematic loading/unloading compression tests enable to experimentally determine a transverse elastic limit. Taking account of the strong anisotropy of the fiber, the transverse mechanical response sheds light on a skin/core architecture. More importantly, results suggest that the skin of the fiber, typically representing a shell of one micrometer in thickness, has a transverse apparent modulus of 0.2 GPa. That is around more than fifteen times lower than the transverse modulus of 3.0 GPa in the core. By comparison, the measured longitudinal modulus is about 84 GPa. The stress distribution in the fiber is explored and the critical areas for damage initiation are discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 374–384     

Three‐dimensional vortex simulation of unsteady flow in hydraulic turbines

On the basis of the Helmholtz decomposition, a grid‐free numerical scheme is provided for the solution of unsteady flow in hydraulic turbines. The Lagrangian vortex method is utilized to evaluate the convection and stretch of the vorticity, and the BEM is used to solve the Neumann problem to define the potential flow. The no‐slip boundary condition is satisfied by generating vortex sticks at the solid surface. A semi‐analytical regularization technique is applied to evaluate the singular boundary surface integrals of the potential velocity and its gradients accurately. The fast multipole method was extended to evaluate the velocity and velocity gradients induced by the discretized vortex blobs in the Lagrangian vortex method. The successful simulation for the unsteady flow through a hydraulic turbine's runner has manifested the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Issue Information

An integrated finite element method (FEM) is proposed to simulate incompressible two‐phase flows with surface tension effects, and three different surface tension models are applied to the FEM to investigate spurious currents and temporal stability. A Q2Q1 element is adopted to solve the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations and a Q2‐iso‐Q1 to solve the level set equation. The integrated FEM solves pressure and velocity simultaneously in a strongly coupled manner; the level set function is reinitialized by adopting a direct approach using interfacial geometry information instead of solving a conventional hyperbolic‐type equation. In addition, a consistent continuum surface force (consistent CSF) model is utilized by employing the same basis function for both surface tension and pressure variables to damp out spurious currents and to estimate the accurate pressure distribution. The model is further represented as a semi‐implicit manner to improve temporal stability with an increased time step. In order to verify the accuracy and robustness of the code, the present method is applied to a few benchmark problems of the static bubble and rising bubble with large density and viscosity ratios. The Q2Q1‐integrated FEM coupled with the semi‐implicit consistent CSF demonstrates the significantly reduced spurious currents and improved temporal stability. The numerical results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreements with those of the existing studies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two dimensional Euler–Lagrangian model of wood gasification in a charcoal bed—Part II: Parameter influence and comparison

A Euler–Lagrangian simulation was employed for a comprehensive parameter study of wood gasification in a fluidized charcoal bed. The parameters that were varied include the initial bed temperature, fuel mass flow rate, inert tar fraction, and kinetic energy losses caused by particle–particle and particle–wall collisions. The results of each parameter variation are compared with a base scenario, previously described in detail in Part I of this study (Gerber & Oevermann, 2014). The results are interpreted by comparing the reactor outlet temperature, averaged particle temperature, overall wood mass, overall charcoal mass, concentrations of several gaseous species, and axial barycenter data for particles obtained with different sets of parameters. The inert tar fraction and fuel mass flow rate are the most sensitive parameter, while the particle–particle and particle–wall contact parameters have only a small impact on the results. Increasing the reactive tar components by 19% almost doubled the amount of reactive tars at the reactor outlet, while decreasing the restitution coefficients of the particle collisions by 0.2 results in higher overall gas production but almost no change in bed height. Herein, our numerical results are discussed in detail while assessing the model restrictions.     

A moving mesh algorithm for aero‐thermo‐mechanical modelling in turbomachinery

This paper describes the development of a mesh deformation method used for aero‐thermo‐mechanical coupling of turbo‐engine components. The method is based on the nonlinear solution of an elastic medium analogy, solved using finite element discretisation and modified to let the boundary nodes be free to slide over the deflected surfaces. This sliding technique relies on a B‐spline reconstruction of the moving boundary and increases the robustness of the method in situations where the boundary deflection field presents significant gradients or large relative motion between two distinct boundaries. The performance of the method is illustrated with the application to an interstage cavity of a turbine assembly, subjected to the deformations computed by a coupled thermo‐mechanical analysis of the engine component. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.