Effect of Vibrations on Pore Fluid Distribution in Porous Media

Understanding the role of shuttle vibrations in pore fluid distribution is an essential task in the exploration of plant growth in root modules aboard space flights. Results from experimental investigations are reported in this paper on the distribution of immiscible fluid phases in glass beads under vibrations. Hexadecane, a petroleum compound immiscible with and lighter than water, was used in the experiments. The higher freezing point of Hexadecane (18 °C) allowed the solidification of the entrapped blobs in the presence of water in porous media, so that their size distribution can be obtained. van Genuchten function, commonly used to express moisture retention curves, is found to be an adequate fit for blob size distribution at residual saturation. The effect of vibrations on the fate (mobilization, stranding, or breakup) of a solitary ganglion in porous media was studied using a network model. A mobility criterion considering viscous, gravity, and capillary forces was developed to determine the fate of a solitary ganglion in a porous medium. It is concluded that the effect of vibrations is to increase the likelihood of breakup and mobilization of blobs entrapped in porous media at residual saturation. The pore fluid distributions after vibrations are less uniform than those before vibrations.     

Natural Vibrations of a Cylindrical Shell with Circular Ribs Attached by Means of Discrete Elastic Elements

The vibrations of a cylindrical shell reinforced with circular ribs attached to it by means of discrete elastic elements are studied. The problem is solved by the finite-element method. The shell and ribs are modeled by a plane four-node finite element, which is a combination of a four-node plane stress element and a four-node flexural element. The effect of the stiffness of the elastic elements on the natural frequencies and modes is examined __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 10, pp. 108–113, October 2005.     

Fluid-Damping Controlled Instability in Tube Bundles Subjected to Air Cross-Flow

There are different excitation mechanisms that cause fatal damages due to undesirable vibrations in heat exchanger tube bundles subjected to cross-flow. One of them is the fluid-damping-controlled instability (galloping) that is characterised by a sudden appearance of large amplitudes of the tubes exclusively in cross-flow direction. This paper reports on investigations using an experimental set-up in a wind tunnel where the galloping mechanism in a tube bundle can be observed as an isolated phenomenon. The apparatus allows to realise several tube bundle configurations and geometry's of real heat exchangers. The position of a flexible test tube with a linear iso-viscoelastic mounting inside the tube array is variable. The test tube is equipped with dynamical pressure sensors which are placed directly under pressure holes inside the tube. For the investigation of the acting fluid forces the non-stationary pressure distribution is measured simultaneously at 30 points on the circumference in mid plane and at 15 points in line along the tube together with the tube motion. The acting fluid forces are determined by integration of the whole pressure field process. The study gives insights into the effect of the fluid-damping-controlled instability that is still not fully understood. Moreover, a flow visualization gives an impression of the mechanism at relevant Reynolds-numbers. The results show that in case of instability due to galloping the correlation length of the forces acting along the tube axis increases suddenly to large values. The fluid forces are correlated well for the whole tube when galloping is dominant. The exciting fluid forces show harmonic character and lead to a classical resonance behaviour. Instead of a simple free vibration test in vacuum or still air, which is done mostly for fluid excited structures, the damping coefficient of the oscillating system is determined under operating conditions on the basis of the measured fluid forces. A comparison of the results with those of a free vibration test in still air is shown. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Resonance Vibrations and Dissipative Heating of Thin-Walled Laminated Elements Made of Physically Nonlinear Materials

The dynamic thermomechanical problem for thin-walled laminated elements is formulated based on the geometrically linear theory and Kirchhoff–Love hypotheses. A simplified model of vibrations and dissipative heating of structurally inhomogeneous inelastic bodies under harmonic loading is used. The mechanical properties of materials are described using strain-dependent complex moduli. A nonstationary vibration-heating problem is solved. The dissipative function, derived from the stationary solution, is used to specify internal heat sources. The amplitude–frequency characteristics and spatial distributions of the main field variables are studied for a sandwich beam subjected to forced vibrations     

Rain-wind-induced vibrations of a simple oscillator

In this paper a relatively simple mechanical oscillator which may be used to study rain-wind-induced vibrations of stay cables of cable-stayed bridges is considered. In recent publications, mention is made of vibrations of (inclined) stay cables which are excited by a wind field containing rain drops. The rain drops that hit the cables generate a rivulet on the surface of the cable. The presence of flowing water on the cable changes the cross section of the cable experienced by the wind field. A symmetric flow pattern around the cable with circular cross section may become asymmetric due to the presence of the rivulet and may consequently induce a lift force as a mechanism for vibration. During the motion of the cable the position of rivulet(s) may vary as the motion of the cable induces an additional varying aerodynamic force perpendicular to the direction of the wind field. It seems not too easy to model this phenomenon, several author state that there is no model available yet.The idea to model this problem is to consider a horizontal cylinder supported by springs in such a way that only one degree of freedom, i.e. vertical vibration is possible. We consider a ridge on the surface of the cylinder parallel to the axis of the cylinder. Additionally, let the cylinder with ridge be able to oscillate, with small amplitude, around the axis such that the oscillations are excited by an external force.It may be clear that the small amplitude oscillations of the cylinder and hence of the ridge induce a varying lift and drag force. In this approach it is assumed that the motion of the ridge models the dynamics of the rivulet(s) on the cable. By using a quasi-steady approach to model the aerodynamic forces, one arrives at a non-linear second-order equation displaying three different kinds of excitation mechanisms: self-excitation, parametric excitation and ordinary forcing. The first results of the analysis of the equation of motion show that even in a linear approximation for certain values of the parameters involved, stable periodic motions are possible. In the relevant cases where in linear approximation unstable periodic motions are found, results of an analysis of the non-linear equation are presented.     

Numerical analysis of free vibrations of a beam with oscillators

The problem of free vibrations of a beam with free ends of variable cross section and mass, from which point masses (oscillators) are suspended by bars, is considered. It is shown that parametric resonances can occur in this oscillating system. Numerical examples showing the efficiency of the calculation method proposed are given. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 135–144, July–August, 2006.     

Convection laminaire forcée dans le sillage d'une plaque chaude placée dans un canal

In this Note, a numerical investigation of laminar convection wake above a heated plate placed in a channel is carried out. An analytical study based on a three region structure is proposed in the immediate neighbourhood of the trailing edge. Velocity and temperature at the centerline channel as well as the pressure gradient are presented in asymptotic expressions. Comparison of these results with numerical solutions enhances the analytical study. To cite this article: Z. Doulfoukar, A. Achiq, C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).     

Non-linear vibrations and frequency response analysis of piezoelectrically driven microcantilevers

Microcantilevers have recently received widespread attentions due to their extreme applicability and versatility in both biological and non-biological applications. Along this line, this paper undertakes the non-linear vibrations of a piezoelectrically driven microcantilever beam as a common configuration in many scanning probe microscopy and nanomechanical cantilever biosensor systems. A part of the microcantilever beam surface is covered by a piezoelectric layer (typically ZnO), which acts both as an actuator and sensor. The bending vibrations of the microcantilever beam are studied considering the inextensibility condition and the coupling between electrical and mechanical properties in the piezoelectric materials. The non-linear terms appear in the form of quadratic expression due to presence of piezoelectric layer, and cubic form due to geometrical non-linearities. The Galerkin approximation is then utilized to discretize the equations of motion. In addition, the method of multiple scales is applied to arrive at the closed form solution for the fundamental natural frequency of the system. An experimental setup consisting of a commercial piezoelectric microcantilever attached on the stand of a state-of-the-art microsystem analyzer for non-contact vibration measurement is utilized to verify the theoretical developments. It is found that the experimental results and theoretical findings are in good agreement, which demonstrates that the non-linear modeling framework could provide a better dynamic representation of the microcantilever than the previous linear models. Due to microscale nature of the system, excitation amplitude plays an important role since even a small change in the amplitude of excitation can lead to significant vibrations and frequency shift.     

Nonlinear random coupled motions of structural elements with quadratic nonlinearities

The second-order closure method is used to analyze the nonlinear response of two-degree-of-freedom systems with quadratic nonlinearities. The excitation is assumed to be the sum of a deterministic harmonic component and a random component. The case of primary resonance of the second mode in the presence of a two-to-one internal (autoparametric) resonance is investigated. The method of multiple scales is used to obtain four first-order ordinary-differential equations that describe the modulation of the amplitudes and phases of the two modes. Applying the second-order closure method to the modulation equations, we determine the stationary mean and mean-square responses. For the case of a narrow-band random excitation, the results show that the presence of the nonlinearity causes multi-valued mean-square responses. The multi-valuedness is responsible for a jump phenomenon. Contrary to the results of the linear analysis, the nonlinear analysis reveals that the directly excited second mode takes a small amount of the input energy (saturates) and spills over the rest of the input energy into the first mode, which is indirectly excited through the autoparametric resonance.     

Water revealed as molecular mirror when measuring low concentrations of sugar with near infrared light

Near infrared spectroscopy is an overtone spectroscopy regarded as a quick and non-destructive method that provides analytical solutions for components that represent approximately 1% or more of the total mass of the investigated composite samples. Aquaphotomics offers the possibility for disentanglement of information remaining hidden in the spectra when conventional data evaluation methods are used, since this concept utilizes changes of the water structure induced by the measured solute as specific molecular vibrations at water bands. Here, near infrared technique and aquaphotomics are applied for non-destructive identification and quantification of mono- and di-saccharide solutes at 100–0.02 mM concentration that is accepted as unachievable with near infrared spectroscopy. The results presented in this study support the aquaphotomics' water molecular mirror concept that explores spectral changes related to water molecular rearrangements caused by minute changes of the solutes in the aqueous systems. The method provides quick and accurate alternative for classical analytical measurements of saccharides even at millimolar concentration levels.