Reducing Huge Gyroscopic Eigenproblems by Automated Multi-level Substructuring

Simulating numerically the sound radiation of a rolling tire requires the solution of a very large and sparse gyroscopic eigenvalue problem. Taking advantage of the automated multi-level substructuring (AMLS) method it can be projected to a much smaller gyroscopic problem, the solution of which however is still quite costly since the eigenmodes are non-real and complex arithmetic is necessary. This paper discusses the application of AMLS to huge gyroscopic problems and the numerical solution of the AMLS reduction. A numerical example demonstrates the efficiency of AMLS.     

Stability testing in an integrated scheme

ISO Guide 35 deals with RM stability issues and scrutinizes the evaluation of stability testing results under the assumption that either there is no trend at all (a rather rare situation), or any observed deterministic change is insignificant and thus can be neglected. However, market demands for reliable reference materials are obviously not limited to stable or at least seemingly stable materials. In many analytical applications, analytes and measurands under consideration are known, or at least suspected, to be unstable on time scales that may vary widely from measurand to measurand. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) has developed (and successfully uses) an integrated approach in its certification practice. The approach is based on an initial stability study and subsequent post-certification monitoring. Data evaluation is model-based and takes advantage of all information collected in the stability testing scheme(s). It thus allows one to deal with any kind of instability observed, to assess limiting time intervals at any stress condition in the range tested, to estimate a final expiry date for materials with detected instabilities or the maximum admissible re-testing interval for seemingly stable materials, and to assess maximum admissible stress loads during delivery of the material to the customer. The article describes (and exemplifies) typical study layout, the model selection, and the integrated data assessment.     

Probability Collectives for Unstable Particles

Unstable particles, together with their stable decay products, constitute probability collectives that are defined as Hilbert spaces with dimension higher than one, nondecomposable in a particle basis. Their structure is considered in the framework of Birkhoff-von Neumann's Hilbert subspace lattices. Bases with particle states are related to bases with a diagonal scalar product by a Hilbert-bein involving the characteristic decay parameters (in some analogy to the n-bein structures of metrical manifolds). Probability predictions as expectation values, involving unstable particles, have to take into account all members of the higher dimensional collective. For example, the unitarity structure of the S-matrix for an unstable particle collective can be established by a transformation with its Hilbert-bein.     

Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis investigation of the thermal properties and degradation of some radiation‐grafted films and membranes

The influence of irradiation and grafting on the crystallinity of three base polymers has been investigated with differential scanning calorimetry. Grafting has the largest effect on the base polymer crystallinity and results in a reduction of the crystallinity. The thermal degradation of the base polymers and grafted films has been investigated with thermogravimetric analysis. The extent of the fluorination of the base polymer, the irradiation method, and the graft level all influence the thermal degradation and its activation energy. It is proposed that the variation of the chain lengths of the grafted polystyrene chains is actually a primary underlying factor responsible for the influence of these various parameters on the degradation process. The first results of a comparative thermal analysis of some fuel‐cell membranes are also presented, and the promise and shortcomings of this method are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2612–2624, 2004     

Annealing behavior of gel‐spun polyethylene fibers at temperatures lower than needed for significant shrinkage

The annealing at 373 K of ultrastrong, gel‐spun polyethylene (PE) has been studied. At this temperature, the fibers show no significant shrinkage. Still, a significant decrease in the mechanical properties is observed. The fibers have been analyzed with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), temperature‐modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS). During the annealing, the glass transition of the intermediate phase is exceeded, as shown by DSC. When split for structure analysis by AFM, the annealed fibers undergo plastic deformation around the base fibrils instead of brittle fracture. The quasi‐isothermal TMDSC experiments are compared to the minor structural changes seen with SAXS and AFM. The loss of performance of the PE fibers at 373 K is suggested to be caused by the oriented intermediate phase, and not by major changes in the structure or morphology. The overall metastable, semicrystalline structure is shown by TMDSC to posses local regions that can melt reversibly. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 403–417, 2003     

On the Causes and Effects of Contaminations during rf Diode Deposition of Cr-Si Alloys

Investigations to the causes and effects of contaminants at the rf diode deposition of CrSi films in a non-heated high vacuum apparatus were carried out comparing an oxygen-free fusion target with an oxygen-containing cermet target. The films of the fusion target contained considerable amounts of oxygen; analogously the oxygen concentration in the films was increased in the case of the cermet target. Moreover, hydrogen was found. The concentration of the contaminants decreased with the sputtering power, however the rate of incorporation increased. For high sputtering rates the contamination process was reproducible and independent of the plant conditioning; the deposited films were depth-homogeneous. The reasons for this behaviour lie in water sources which are activated first of all by the discharge itself. The electrical properties found are explained by the contaminants and the deposition conditions.     

A numerical study of a rotationally degenerate hyperbolic system. Part I. The Riemann problem

We study numerically the Riemann problem for a 2 x 2 system of conservation laws with a cubic flux function, a particular case of the class of models introduced by Keyfitz and Kranzer. The system is not strictly hyperbolic, and the classical Lax theory for hyperbolic systems is not directly applicable. Correspondingly, some numerical schemes which are accurate for strictly hyperbolic systems are not well behaved for this example. When they do work, different schemes yield markedly different results for certain data. We explain this effect by observing that, near these data, viscous regularization is non-uniform as the viscosity tends to zero. This fact does not contradict the well-posedness of the hyperbolic model; it does imply that precise control of the viscosity introduced into a computational method is crucial for generating the correct numerical solutions. We examine all of these issues and comment on their implications for similar systems which arise in continuum mechanics.