Effect of transverse cracks on the effective thermal expansion coefficient of aged angle-ply composites laminates

A modified shear-lag analysis, taking into account the concept of stress perturbation function, is developed and applied to evaluate the effect of transverse cracks on the effective thermal expansion coefficient of aged angle-ply composites laminates. Effects of number of 90° layers and number of θ° layers in the outer angle-ply laminates on the reduction of the effective axial coefficient of thermal expansion have also been studied. The results of this paper represent well the dependence of the reduction of the effective axial coefficient of thermal expansion on the hygrothermal conditions, the fibre orientation angle of the outer layers, the number of cracked cross-ply layers and the number of un-cracked outer θ° layers in laminate.     

Steroids contents in waters of wastewater purification plants: determination with partial-filling micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography and UV detection

Partial-filling micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (PF-MEKC) with UV detection was applied for determination of human-based steroids in water samples of Finnish wastewater treatment plants. The samples were purified with solid-phase extraction (SPE) on octadecyl substituted polymer sorbents obtaining analyte enrichment of 20,000-fold. The steroids studied were androgens, estrogens, and progesterone. Three of the steroids could be quantified with the PF-MEKC method. The detection and quantification limits were 0.05–1.06 μg/mL and 0.15–3.2 μg/mL, meaning in the SPE concentrates as 2.5–53 pg/L and 7.5–160 pg/L, respectively. In the influent waters, the total amount of testosterone glucuronide, androstenedione, and progesterone was up to 350 ng/L. In effluent water samples the total steroid quantity was maximum at 320 ng/L. Remarkably high quantity of androstenedione was quantified in both influent and effluent water samples. The cleanest effluent waters were produced in Western Finland. Correspondingly, the highest quantities were located near the largest lake and river areas in South-Eastern Finland. The concentration variation in effluent waters was explained with differences in the purification materials and processes at the plants and with steroid adsorption on soil and organic material suspended into water.     

Low-frequency variable charge solitary waves in a collisionless dusty plasma with a Cairns-Gurevich ion velocity distribution

In this paper, the problem of large amplitude dust acoustic (DA) solitons has been addressed in a charge varying dusty plasma with ions following a Cairns-Gurevich distribution. Based on the orbit motion limited approach, the correct Cairns-Gurevich ion charging current is presented for the first time. The expression relating the variable dust charge to the plasma potential is given in terms of the Lambert function and we take advantage of this transcendental function to, carefully, analyse DA solitons in a charge varying dusty plasma with trapped nonthermal ions. Our results show that the spatial patterns of the variable charge solitary wave are significantly changed due to the presence of ion population modelled by the Cairns-Gurevich distribution. An addition of a small concentration of trapped nonthermal ions makes the solitary structure less spiky, grows the net negative charge residing on the dust grain surface, and contributes to the electron depletion. Finally, our investigation is extended to highlight the effect of the grain dust charge variation. We have shown that under certain conditions, the impact of dust charge fluctuation may furnish an alternate physical mechanism rasing anomalous dissipation, which becomes more strong and may predominate over the dispersion as the nonthermal character of ions following the Cairns-Gurevich distribution increases.     

Propagation of Transient Acoustic Waves in Layered Porous Media: Fractional Equations for the Scattering Operators

Acoustic waves scattering from a rigid air-saturated porous medium is studied in the time domain. The medium is one dimensional and its physical parameters are depth dependent, i.e., the medium is layered. The loss and dispersion properties of the medium are due to the fluid-structure interaction induced by wave propagation. They are modeled by generalized susceptibility functions which express the memory effects in the propagation process. The wave equation is then a fractional telegraphists equation. The two relevant quantities are the scattering operators—transmission and reflection operators—which give the scattered fields from the incident wave. They are obtained from Volterra equations which are fractional equations for the scattering operators.     

Varying the metal/metal ratio in related Cu–Ca complexes

We demonstrate with the help of structural determinations and spectroscopic data that the nuclearity of Cu–Ca complexes derived from compartmental Schiff base ligands does not depend on the ionic radius of calcium. The main factors governing these reactions are the different affinities of the calcium ions for the anionic species present in solution: the tetradentate O₂O₂ coordination site of the ligand and the nitrato ions. Because these affinities do vary upon going from calcium to lanthanide ions, it is not possible to use the template effect of the trinuclear Cu–Ca–Cu complexes in order to prepare the corresponding Cu–Ln–Cu complexes.     

Hidden electrochemistry in the thermal grafting of silicon surfaces from grignard reagents

Covalent grafting of alkyl chains on silicon can be obtained by thermal treatment in Grignard reagents. Alkyl halide present in the Grignard solution as an impurity appears to play a key role in the grafting process. Grafting efficiency is improved when the alkyl halide concentration is increased. It is also enhanced on n-type substrates as compared to p-type substrates and when alkyl bromides are present in solution rather than alkyl chlorides. The grafting reaction involves a zero-current electrochemical step. A reaction model in which simultaneous Grignard oxidation and alkyl halide reduction take place at the silicon surface accounts for all these observations. Alkyl halide reduction is the rate-determining step. Negative charging of the silicon surface lowers the energetic barrier for this reaction, allowing for efficient grafting on n-Si.     

Direct and inverse scattering of transient acoustic waves by a slab of rigid porous material

This paper provides a temporal model of the direct and inverse scattering problem for the propagation of transient ultrasonic waves in a homogeneous isotropic slab of porous material having a rigid frame. This new time domain model of wave propagation takes into account the viscous and thermal losses of the medium as described by the model of Johnson et al. [D. L. Johnson, J. Koplik, and R. Dashen, J. Fluid. Mech. 176, 379 (1987)] and Allard [J. F. Allard (Chapman and Hall, London, 1993)] modified by a fractional calculus based method applied in the time domain. This paper is devoted to the analytical calculus of acoustic field in a slab of porous material. The main result is the derivation of the expression of the scattering operators (reflection and transmission) which are the responses of the medium to an incident acoustic pulse. In this model the reflection operator is the sum of two contributions: the first interface and the bulk of the medium. Experimental and numerical results are given as a validation of our model.     

Ultrasonic characterization of human cancellous bone using the Biot theory: inverse problem

This paper concerns the ultrasonic characterization of human cancellous bone samples by solving the inverse problem using experimental transmitted signals. The ultrasonic propagation in cancellous bone is modeled using the Biot theory modified by the Johnson et al. model for viscous exchange between fluid and structure. The sensitivity of the Young modulus and the Poisson ratio of the skeletal frame is studied showing their effect on the fast and slow wave forms. The inverse problem is solved numerically by the least squares method. Five parameters are inverted: the porosity, tortuosity, viscous characteristic length, Young modulus, and Poisson ratio of the skeletal frame. The minimization of the discrepancy between experiment and theory is made in the time domain. The inverse problem is shown to be well posed, and its solution to be unique. Experimental results for slow and fast waves transmitted through human cancellous bone samples are given and compared with theoretical predictions.     

Amplitude-modulated acoustic radiation force experienced by elastic and viscoelastic spherical shells in progressive waves

The dynamic acoustic radiation force resulting from a dual-frequency beam incident on spherical shells immersed in an inviscid fluid is examined theoretically in relation to their thickness and the contents of their interior hollow regions. The theory is modified to include a hysteresis type of absorption inside the shells' material. The results of numerical calculations are presented for stainless steel and absorbing lucite (PolyMethyMethacrylAte) shells with the hollow region filled with water or air. Significant differences occur when the interior fluid inside the hollow region is changed from water to air. It is shown that the dynamic radiation force function Yd deviates from the static radiation force function Yp when the modulation size parameter deltax = mid R:x2 - x1mid R: (x1 = k1a, x2 = k2a, k1 and k2 are the wave vectors of the incident ultrasound waves, and a is the outer radius of the shell) starts to exceed the width of the resonance peaks in the Yp curves.