The Acceleration Severity Index in the impact of a vehicle against permanent road equipment support structures

The acceleration Severity Index (ASI), described in European Standard EN12767 (The passive safety of support structures for road equipment. Requirements, classification and the test method) is regarded as the most important indicator of impact on the occupants. The requirements for experiments are described, having in mind that the results depend on many factors. One of them is the selection of a vehicle to be used in the crash test. To perform numerical vehicle crash simulation, the finite-element models of permanent road equipment support structures were developed using the LS Dyna software available. To examine the response of the vehicle upon the impact, the acceleration severity index curves were calculated and visualised in Matlab.     

Understanding the acceleration in the ring-opening of lactones delivered by microwave heating

This paper reports the first detailed study focussed upon identifying the influence that microwave heating (MWH) has upon the mechanic steps involved in the tin catalysed ring-opening of lactones such as ?-caprolactone (CL). Direct comparison of conventional (CH) and microwave (MWH) heated kinetic studies showed that a key factor in the reduction of the polymerisation cycle time with MWH was the elimination of the induction period associated with in situ catalyst manufacture and initiation. NMR studies demonstrated that the most significant mechanistic change contributing to the observed induction time reduction/elimination was faster initiation (i.e., reaction of the initiatior/catalyst complex with the first monomer unit). Consequently, analysis of the dielectric properties of the reaction components predicted that this MWH induced change was related to the selective volumetric heating of both the catalyst and the monomer. Furthermore, this indication of the greater significance of the initiation step in defining the length of the induction period suggests that this is the rate determining step of the process, whether conducted by CH or MWH. Increasing the catalyst concentration was demonstrated to produce significant reductions in reaction heat-up time and to induce a significant (up to 30 °C) overshoot in reaction mixture bulk temperature in with MWH only. Thus supporting the conclusion that selective heating of the organometallic species in the system contributes directly to differences in the reaction conditions and which need to be taken into account when drawing comparisons with CH systems. Consequently, both effects were concluded to be thermally generated from selective volumetric heating.     

Contradictory effect of gold nanoparticle-decorated molybdenum sulfide nanocomposites on amyloid-β-40 aggregation

The effect of gold nanoparticle-decorated molybdenum sulfide (AuNP-MoS₂) nanocomposites on amyloid-β-40 (Aβ₄₀) aggregation was investigated. The interesting discovery was that the effect of AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites on Aβ₄₀ aggregation was contradictory. Low concentration of AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites could enhance the nucleus formation of Aβ₄₀ peptides and accelerate Aβ₄₀ fibrils aggregation. However, although high concentration of AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites could enhance the nucleus formation of Aβ₄₀ peptides, it eventually inhibited Aβ₄₀ aggregation process. It might be attributed to the interaction between AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites and Aβ₄₀ peptides. For low concentration of AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites, it was acted as nuclei, resulting in the acceleration of the nucleation process. However, the structural flexibility of Aβ₄₀ peptides was limited as the concentration of AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites was increased, resulting in the inhibition of Aβ₄₀ aggregation. These findings suggested that AuNP-MoS₂ nanocomposites might have a great potential to design new multifunctional material for future treatment of amyloid-related diseases.     

Jordan–Cattaneo waves: Analogues of compressible flow

We review work of Jordan on a hyperbolic variant of the Fisher–KPP equation, where a shock solution is found and the amplitude is calculated exactly. The Jordan procedure is extended to a hyperbolic variant of the Chafee–Infante equation. Extension of Jordan’s ideas to a model for traffic flow are also mentioned. We also examine a diffusive susceptible–infected (SI) model, and generalizations of diffusive Lotka–Volterra equations, including a Lotka–Volterra–Bass competition model with diffusion. For all cases we show how a Jordan–Cattaneo wave may be analysed and we indicate how to find the wavespeeds and the amplitudes. Finally we present details of a fully nonlinear analysis of acceleration waves in a Cattaneo–Christov poroacoustic model.     

Modeling of non-stationary ground motion using the mean reverting stochastic process

This paper presents a new method for modeling amplitude and frequency non-stationary earthquake ground motions using a scalar first order dynamic mean reverting stochastic differential equation driven by Brownian motion with parametric time varying coefficients. It determines the proper relationship between these time varying parametric coefficients and presents the statistical and probability distribution characteristics of the response solution. It demonstrates the applicability of the method by presenting some simulations of amplitude and frequency non-stationary earthquake ground motions. The verification of the amplitude and frequency non-stationary contents of the mean reverting stochastic ground motions is demonstrated using the Hilbert–Huang transform method. Also a corresponding interpretation between the coefficients of the proposed model and the coefficients of the usual oscillatory second order differential equation driven by white Gaussian noise is presented along with some comments how it can be applied to simulate ground motions consistent with acceleration target records such as boxcar, trapezoidal, other exponential functions, or compound and target records at source, near field, and far field distances.     

Minimum-Time Travel for a Vehicle with Acceleration Limits: Theoretical Analysis and Receding-Horizon Implementation

A methodology is proposed to generate minimum-time optimal velocity profiles for a vehicle with prescribed acceleration limits along a specified path. The necessary optimality conditions are explicitly derived, allowing the construction of the optimal solution semianalytically. A receding horizon implementation is also proposed for the on-line implementation of the velocity optimizer. Robustness of the receding horizon algorithm is guaranteed by the use of an adaptive scheme that determines the planning and execution horizons. Application to a real-life scenario with a comparison between the infinite and finite receding horizon schemes provides a validation of the proposed methodology. This work has been supported in part by the US Army Research Office, Awards DAAD19-00-1-0473 and W911NF-05-1-0331. The authors thank an anonymous reviewer for his insightful comments regarding the results in Sect. 5.     

Projectile acceleration in a single-stage gun at breech pressures below 50 MPa

Experimental studies were carried out to investigate projectile acceleration in a single-stage gun at breech pressures below 50 MPa. The gun was driven by firing either liquid or solid propellant. In-bore projectile velocity was continuously recorded using the well-known, precise VISAR interferometer technique so that accurate projectile acceleration data could be deduced. Both the attained projectile acceleration and muzzle exit velocity depend upon the charge-to-mass ratio and the pressure at which the blow-out disk ruptures. The results obtained from these experiments render information on the interplay between propellant combustion and projectile acceleration for low in-bore pressure regimes, and they provide the input data required for adequate numerical simulation.     

Beschleunigungsreaktionen von Neutronen

Acceleration of neutrons by isomeric nuclei. The inelastic neutron acceleration (INNA) by long living isomeric nuclei is studied. The theoretical estimates of the INNA cross-sections for thermal neutrons for a number of isomers give the values in the range 0.1 - 10²b. Inelastic acceleration of thermal neutrons was observed by ^152mEu and ^180mHf, and confirmed the high value of the INNA cross-sections. As a result of the high probability of acceleration some isomeric nuclei ^113mIn, ^115mIn, are not usual moderators but accelerators of neutrons. The use of the INNA reaction for the study of high excited levels and the nature of various nuclear hindrances are discussed.     

Lifting Surface in Subsonic Unsteady Regime

The paper refers to the solution of the integral equation for the acceleration (or pressure) potential for the study of subsonic linearized unsteady flow in view of aeroelastic applications. The case considered is relevant to a trapezoidal wing infinitely thin surface without discontinuities. As is well known [1, 2], the kernel of the integral equation exhibits three singularities, two of which are integrable in elementary form, whereas, for the third one integration in principal part according to Hadamard's rule is necessary. The kernel is therefore reworked in such a way that all the singularities are separated from the regular part, and eventually the discretization is performed in such a way that only the regular part is to be recalculated for each new value of the reduced frequency. Convergence tests, comparison with other methods of solution, and time saving associated with the technique of separation are also shown.Sommario. II lavoro tratta la risoluzione del problema relativo alla equazione integrale nel potenziale di accelerazione (o di pressione) per lo studio di una corrente subsonica linearizzata nonstazionaria, in vista di applicazioni aeroelastiche. Il caso considerato è quello di una superficie alare a pianta trapezoidale in assenza di discontinuità di spessore infinitesimo. Come è noto [1, 2], il nucleo della equazione integrale in parola presenta tre singolarità, due sole delle quali sono integrabili in forma elementare, (o riconducibili ad essa), mentre per la terza è necessario far ricorso alla integrazione in parte principale alla Hadamard. Il nucleo stesso viene quindi rielaborato in modo da isolare tutte le singolarità dalla componente regolare del nucleo; si procede così alla discretizzazione dell' equazione integrale, e, per ogni valore della frequenza ridotta, va ricalcolata solo la parte regolare della matrice risolvente. Vengono poi effettuati tests di convergenza, confronti con altri metodi di soluzione, analisi sui tempi di calcolo e risparmio di tempo di calcolo dovuto alla tecnica di separazione.     

地震作用下基于ADMF和系统参数组合的最优MTMD

多重调谐质量阻尼器 ( MTMD)是由许多频率成线性分布的调谐质量阻尼器组成。可能的系统参数组合形成 5种 MTMD,即 MTMD-1～MTMD-5。基于在基底加速度作用下具有一般 MTMD时结构的加速度传递函数 ,建立了 MTMD-1～ MTMD-5加速度动力放大系数 ( ADMF)的统一模式。利用 ADMF和数值寻优技术进行了详细的最优参数研究。最优参数包括 :最优频率间隔、最优阻尼比、最优调谐频率比。大量的数值比较表明 :在MTMD地震反应控制工程中 ,应优先选择 MTMD-1。