Torsion balances with fibres of zero length

Torsion balances have good immunity to tilt and low rotational stiffness. However precise control of the position of the suspended torsion ‘bob’ is difficult in the presence of ground vibrations and tilt and this is a limiting factor in applications where Casimir forces or putative non-Newtonian short-range forces are being measured. We describe how the desirable characteristics of torsion balances can be reproduced in a rigid body that is suspended using applied forces rather than a torsion fibre. The suspension system can then provide a more precise control of the degrees of freedom of the suspended body. We apply these ideas to a superconducting levitated torsion balance, developed by the authors, and a generic electrostatic suspension. We present results of preliminary experiments that provide support for our analyses.     

Field-temperature phase diagrams in chiral tilted smectics,evidencing ferroelectric and ferrielectric phases

Usual ferroelectric compounds undergo a paraelectric-to-ferroelectric phase transition when the susceptibility of the electric polarization density changes its sign. The temperature is the only thermodynamic field that governs the phase transition. Chiral tilted smectics may also present an improper ferroelectricity when there is a tilt angle between the average long axis direction and the layer normal. The tilt angle is the order parameter of the phase transition which is governed by the temperature. Although the electric susceptibility remains positive, a polarization proportional to the tilt appears due to their linear coupling allowed by the chiral symmetry. Further complications come in when the chirality increases, as new phases are encountered with the same tilt inside the layers but a distribution of the azimuthal direction which is periodic with a unit cell of two (SmC(A)*, three (SmC(Fi1)*, four (SmC(Fi2)* or more (SmC(alpha)* layers. In most of these phases, the layer normal is a symmetry axis so there is no macroscopic polarization except for the SmC(Fi1)* in which the average long axis is tilted so the phase is ferrielectric. By studying a particular compound with only a SmC(Fi2)* and a SmC(alpha)* phase, we show that we recover the uniformly tilted ferroelectric SmC* when applying an electric field. We are thus led to build field-temperature phase diagrams for this class of compounds by combining different experimental techniques described here.     

Steady drainage in emulsions: corrections for surface Plateau borders and a model for high aqueous volume fraction

We compare extensive experimental results for the gravity-driven steady drainage of oil-in-water emulsions with two theoretical predictions, both based on the assumption of Poiseuille flow. The first is from standard foam drainage theory, applicable at low aqueous volume fractions, for which a correction is derived to account for the effects of the confinement of the emulsion. The second arises from considering the permeability of a model porous medium consisting of solid sphere packings, applicable at higher aqueous volume fractions. We find quantitative agreement between experiment and the foam drainage theory at low aqueous volume fractions. At higher aqueous volume fractions, the reduced flow rate calculated from the permeability theory approaches the master curve of the experimental data. Our experimental data demonstrates the analogy between the problem of electrical flow and liquid flow through foams and emulsions.     

Investigation of flexural properties and failure behaviour of biaxial braided CFRP

In this research, the experimental tests of quasi-static three-point bending and three-point bending fatigue were carried out for a ±25° biaxial braided carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) manufactured using vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM). A finite element (FE) model was also set up for quasi-static testing and the prediction results revealed that local fibre volume fraction (FVF) is a primary source affecting the mechanical properties of braided CFRP. The fatigue of the braided CFRP was defined as three different stages according to the flexural modulus results. The damage modes of the test specimens were observed via a digital microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the process-induced defects were summarised. With compiled results and observations, this study provides a better understanding of failure and fatigue behaviour of biaxial braided composites and their flexural properties which offers a good basis for any further research in fibre volume fractions, structure design and manufacturing for braided CFRP.     

Amphibious sensor of temperature and refractive index based on D-shaped photonic crystal fibre filled with liquid crystal

ABSTRACT

A D-shaped photonic crystal fibre filled with liquid crystal was demonstrated as an amphibious sensor for detection of both temperature and refractive index, when combined with plasma materials. Specifically, the optical component is implanted into a complete optical system ensuring modulation of the external electric field. When the refractive index of the external solution changes from 1.0 to 1.6, the y-polarised mode has a loss spectrum with a wavelength sensitivity of up to 2275 nm/RIU, and the corresponding amplitude sensitivity is ?88.2RIU^?1. When the perceived temperature changes from 15°C to 50°C, the temperature of the sensor is correspondingly expressed as the maximum wavelength sensitivity of 9.09 nm/°C and the amplitude sensitivity of ?0.311°C^?1. In addition, the actual micro-operation processes have been studied in detail, such as polishing depth, coating thickness and coating method. This provides practical ideas for real-time sensing analysis that requires harsh environments.     

纳米悬浮液热导率测量及其预测模型的探讨

纳米颗粒悬浮液具有广泛应用于强化传热的潜在优势。本文采用加入表面活性剂的方法提高纳米悬浮液的悬浮稳定性,并用瞬态热线法测量了热导率。在分析现有理论模型和纳米悬浮液热导率影响因素研究的基础上,从弹性传动和非弹性传动两方面分析了纳米尺度效应导致纳米悬浮液热导率提高的机理。发现已有的理论公式仍然存在一定欠缺,预测值比实验值偏低,有关机理尚有待于深入探讨。     

Use of early acoustic emission to evaluate the structural condition and self-healing performance of textile reinforced cements

Textile reinforce cements (TRC) are innovative materials that are used for repair of existing structures or recently as stand-alone lightweight structural members. Fracture and thermal behavior of these materials are very complicated due to multiple failure modes. The undergoing processes cannot be described by the simple constitutive equation. In this perspective the contribution of monitoring techniques is crucial. Acoustic emission (AE) is used to check the behavior of TRC beams and plates in different states of structural health: intact, thermally pre-cracked and self-healed by polymer powder. This is the first time that the AE behaviors of intact, cracked and self-healed TRC laminates are compared in literature.     

Incorporation of smooth spherical bodies in the Lattice Boltzmann method

A method to simulate bodies suspended in a Lattice Boltzmann solvent is proposed. It is based on a generalized reaction force that enforces no-slip boundary conditions at the fluid–body interface as the limiting case of an iterative procedure. A smooth version of the Heaviside function allows to treat spherical particles of arbitrary size and produces smooth hydrodynamic forces as particles move in the continuum. Numerical tests demonstrate the accuracy of the method in reproducing the hydrodynamic field around a single particle and the fluid-mediated forces between pairs of particles. The drag force experienced by a particle moving in a straight channel and at various Reynolds numbers is studied as a non-trivial testcase.     

Fast Legendre spectral method for computing the perturbation of a gradient temperature field in an unbounded region due to the presence of two spheres

The temperature distribution around two spheres is considered when the main field has a constant gradient at infinity. Bispherical coordinates are used, together with a transformation of the dependent variable that leads to separation of variables. Then the solution can be sought in Legendre series with respect to one of the bispherical coordinates. An important element of the proposed work is the effective way to reduce an essentially 3D problem to a set of three 2D problems. The Legendre spectral method is shown to have an exponential convergence which is confirmed by the computations. The efficiency is so high that even for the hard cases of two closely situated spheres, an accuracy of 10^?10 is achieved with as few as 20 terms in the expansion. Solutions with both longitudinal and transverse gradients at infinity are obtained, and the contour lines of the temperature field are presented graphically. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010