Electronic shell effects and the stability of alkali nanowires

Experimental conductance histograms for Na nanowires are analyzed in detail and compared to recent theoretical results on the stability of cylindrical and elliptical nanowires, using the free-electron model. We find a one-to-one correspondence between the peaks in the histograms and the most stable nanowire geometries, indicating that several of the commonly observed nanowires have elliptical cross sections

Behaviour of concrete filled stainless steel elliptical hollow sections

This paper presents the behaviour and design of axially loaded concrete filled stainless steel elliptical hollow sections. The experimental investigation was conducted using normal and high strength concrete of 30 and 100 MPa. The current study is based on stub column tests and is therefore limited to cross-section capacity. Based on the existing design guidance in Eurocode 4 for composite columns, the proposed design equations use the continuous strength method to determine the strength of the stainless steel material. It is found to provide the most accurate and consistent prediction of the axial capacity of the composite concrete filled stainless steel elliptical hollow sections due largely to the more precise assessment of the contribution of the stainless steel tube to the composite resistance

Jahn-Teller Distortions and the Supershell Effect in Metal Nanowires

A stability analysis of metal nanowires shows that a Jahn-Teller deformation breaking cylindrical symmetry can be energetically favorable, leading to stable nanowires with elliptic cross sections. The sequence of stable cylindrical and elliptical nanowires allows for a consistent interpretation of experimental conductance histograms for alkali metals, including both the shell and supershell structures. It is predicted that for gold, elliptical nanowires are even more likely to form since their eccentricity is smaller than for alkali metals. The existence of certain metastable ``superdeformed'' nanowires is also predicted

Structural design of concrete filled steel elliptical hollow sections

This paper presents the behaviour and design of axially loaded elliptical steel hollow sections filled with normal and high strength concrete. The experimental investigation was conducted with three nominal wall thickness (4mm, 5mm and 6.3mm) and different infill concrete cube strengths varied from 30 to 100 MPa. The effect of steel tube thickness, concrete strength, and confinement were discussed together with column strengths and load-axial shortening curves were evaluated. The study is limited to cross-section capacity and has not been validated at member level. Comparisons of the tests results together with other available results from the literature have been made with current design method used for the design of composite circular steel sections in Eurocode 4 and AISC codes. It was found that existing design guidance for concrete filled circular hollow sections may generally be safely applied to concrete filled elliptical steel tubes

Structural behaviour of elliptical hollow sections

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Non-axisymmetric oscillations of stratified coronal magnetic loops with elliptical cross-sections

We study non-axisymmetric oscillations of a straight magnetic tube with an elliptic cross-section and density varying along the tube. The governing equations for kink and fluting modes in the thin tube approximation are derived. We found that there are two kink modes, polarised along the large and small axes of the elliptic cross-section. We have shown that the ratio of frequencies of the first overtone and fundamental harmonic is the same for both kink modes and independent of the ratio of the ellipse axes. On the basis of this result we concluded that the estimates of the atmospheric scale height obtained using simultaneous observations of the fundamental harmonic and first overtone of the coronal loop kink oscillations are independent of the ellipticity of the loop cross-section

Magnetohydrodynamic waves in a compressible magnetic flux tube with elliptical cross-section

Aims. The propagation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in a finite, compressible magnetic flux tube with an elliptical cross-section embedded in a magnetic environment is investigated. Methods. We present the derivation of the general dispersion relation of linear magneto-acoustic wave propagation for a compressible magnetic flux tube with elliptical cross-section in a plasma with finite beta. The wave modes of propagation for the n = 0 (symmetric) sausage and n = 1 (anti-symmetric) kink oscillations are then examined within the limit of the thin flux tube approximation. Results. It is shown that a compressible magnetic tube with elliptical cross-section supports slow and fast magneto-acoustic waves. In the thin tube approximation, the slow sausage mode and the slow and fast kink modes are found in analogue to a circular cross-section. However, the kink modes propagate with different phase speeds depending on whether the axial displacement takes place along the major or minor axis of the ellipse. This feature is present in both the slow and the fast bands, providing two infinite sets of slow kink modes and two infinite sets of fast kink modes, i.e. each corresponding cylindrical mode splits into two sets of modes due to the ellipticity. The difference between the phase speeds along the different axis is dependent on the ratio of the lengths of the two axes. Analytical expressions for the phase speeds are found. We show that the sausage modes do not split due to the introduced ellipticity and only the phase speed is modified when compared to the appropriate cylindrical counterpart. The percentage difference between the periods of the circular and elliptical cross-sections is also calculated, which reaches up to 21% for oscillations along the major axis. The level of difference in period could be very important in magneto-seismological applications, when observed periods are inverted into diagnostic properties (e. g. magnetic field strength, gravitational scale height, tube expansion parameter). Also shown is the perturbation of focal points of the elliptical cross-section for different modes. It is found that the focal points are unperturbed for the sausage mode, but are perturbed for all higher modes